To Be or Not to Be a Published Writer

To Be or Not to Be: a Published Writer?

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I decided to publish my work on what can only be called a whim.

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There really was no deep thinking about it. No complex machinations or plans.

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I just fancied seeing a book with my name upon it, in the most comfortable place where I spent most of my time...

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a library.

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When I first became interested in getting published, traditional publishing was pretty much the only way to go.

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It had a great respectability about it.

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It was the gold standard...

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and to some extent, still is.

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After all... it chooses you.

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You can't really choose it!

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And of course there were all of the obstacles, barriers and trials that you had to go through in the process of becoming a traditionally published author.

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Somehow, that initiation process, that pain

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attracted me.

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In hindsight I'm still trying to work out why in my mind I was attracted to such a degree of pain?

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Maybe I should consider getting some counseling?

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Oops, almost forgot - as well as being a writer I'm also a trained counselor!

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Anyway... of course there are now many ways that you can publish, 

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including Hybrid and Self-Publishing.

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Publishing methods to suit every need, pocket and craving.

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Publishing your work into the world has never been easier.

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Publishing has now been democratized.

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Hallelujah!

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So... how did I get Traditionally Published ?

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Was I a celeb?

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No.

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Did I come from a family of writers?

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No.

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Did my parents work in publishing?

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No.

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I did it the hard way.

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By sending my bulky 1,000 page manuscripts into publishing houses (in those days A4 paper was King; there was no other way!)

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Some 125 reject letters later,

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although many had very encouraging comments, I realized that this simply wasn't working.

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And yes, sometimes I can be a little “slow on the uptake”, and to adapt.

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After 60 more reject letters, this time from the rather secretive world of Literary Agents, I found one who loved my manuscript.

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'Loved?'

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'My manuscript?'

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It felt counterintuitive, those two phrases appearing together in the same sentence.

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Counterintuitive that an agent would love my work, after so many publishers and other agents had rejected it.

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Such rejections can, after all,

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diminish you and erode your confidence. Quite simply, you have to hold onto your self-belief.

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The trust in yourself that you have written something special.

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Luckily I'm 'Pig-headed' and had done exactly that.

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My agent saw what I had known...

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that my manuscript filled a gap in the market.

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That it was unique in it's setting.

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Idiosyncratic in its telling.

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A new genre.

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So he took me on...

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but that's just the start!

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Editing... the necessary but dreaded word that writers hate to hear,

reared it's ugly head.

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Followed on a regular basis by my agent's copious editing notes written, without any empathy, onto the back of other unknown writers' rejected manuscript pages,

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in a Doctor's overly-casual, spider-like scrawl.

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Pile after pile of writers' dreams spilled onto paper, littering his London mansion floor to ceiling

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in spilling, spiraling columns.

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As if several Roman temples had been viciously sacked and hurriedly dismantled in the disarray of battle.

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To visit that house I am sure would be the same for any writer:

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a very unwelcome experience.

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Except of course for the lukewarm Earl Grey leaf tea that his over-perfumed wife regularly serviced us with…

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Anyway, after just twenty-five very painful edits later,

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it was at last ready to go.

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The baby was born.

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And a very painful birth it was too.

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After such a grueling process,

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why had my agent taken me on,

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I once asked him?

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His answer was simple and complex at the same time - 

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'Because your manuscript was 'unputdownable... '

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he had said between sips of a Red Wine with a name I couldn't even pronounce.

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'... and of course the promise of more to come,' he added,

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Pound Sterling signs in his eyes.

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I learnt a lot during that torturous process.

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Firstly, believe in yourself and your writing.

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But it must be an informed belief.

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A belief...

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and not an 'airey-faery' diluted hope!

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Secondly, try to write what has not been written.

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Something new.

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Don't be afraid to break conventions and boundaries.

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Thirdly, make your work 'unputdownable,' a quality that you'll not find in any writing course.

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Fourthly, leave them wanting more.

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When approaching an agent tell them about all of the other half-finished manuscripts that you have in your office,

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under the bed and in the boot of the car.

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Make them sound unbelievably good...

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Somewhere in-between 'War and Peace' and Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye.'

There's no point in aiming low, is there!

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Why do that?

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Because no agent wants a 'one trick pony.'

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They, and publishers, want and need writers to invest in, authors to nurture.

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Writers that are going to produce,

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to start off with:

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two publishable manuscripts a year.

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So give them that.

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I have faith in you, but you have to have faith in yourself to deliver.

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So... always want them leaving more.

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Four months later I was sitting in the sun on the grass watching my two children at their school's Sports Day.

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Children throwing bean bags.

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Children, with one leg tied to another's, stumbling along in a 'Three-Legged Race.'

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Children, balancing boiled eggs on spoons in the 'Egg and Spoon' race, as they attempted an awkward sprint.

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Children crying because they came fifth in the 100 yards sprint,

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out of a race of five runners.

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I had been ignoring the constant buzzing of my mobile phone,

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like an angry bee trapped in a bottle.

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Finally picking it up and answering it.

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It was my agent.

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He'd sold my debut novel to Pan MacMillan and had negotiated a Three book deal...

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for a rather large monetary advance.

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And then the thinking...

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the doubts.

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'Did I really want to be a published writer...

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an author?

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After all, I write about some pretty edgy things.

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Pretty racy things.

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My books are tough, uncompromising.

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Violent.

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I even swear in them.

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In fact, several times!

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What would people who know me, think of me?

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Readers, as with film fans,

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sometimes cannot distinguish the writer or the actor from those that they are writing about or acting the part of!

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Your published book might well change how people see you,

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think of you!

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I agonized over these critical issues for a full minute.

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Of course I wanted to be published.

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After all, you can never control how and what people out there think of you, can you?

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So... I said yes and banked the well-earned check.

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Six months later, another call.

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Again, my agent.

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He had sold nine foreign rights of my book to big publishers around the world. Again, for large advances.

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Nine months later.

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My agent once more.

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My debut novel has won the 'European Crime and Mystery Prize,'

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which was to be awarded to me at a ceremony in Paris.

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The publishers, the agents who had rejected me were wrong.

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I never doubted it.

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Well, maybe a tad!

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It happens.

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Today's lesson...

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Don't give up!

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