Everyone Wants to be a Writer

Whenever I used to go to a party someone would always ask, “What do you do”?  I used to tell them the truth that I was a publisher or I did until I got fed up of being forced into a corner and tongue-lashed by someone with an idea for a book.  If I had a pound for everyone who said to me, “I have a great idea for a best-selling book,” I wouldn’t be here now.  I would be on my luxury yacht with a bevy of young girls, somewhere out in the Pacific, that is until the wife found out!

How many people have you met who wants to write a book but have no idea how to go about it.  I have always tried to explain to people how the publishing industry works and just how difficult it is to get a book published today.  Anyway, my wife suggested I write an article on exactly how publishing works and how, if they are determined enough everyone can get published, one way or another.  So here goes.

There are two forms of publishing – one is the mainstream commercial publishing company that takes your idea for book and offers you a contract to write it in return for a royalty on each copy sold.  The publisher then prints your book at his expense and distributes the copies to bookshops and supermarkets – this is the Commercial Publisher. You have a one in 20 million odds on geting your manuscript to a publisher, you would have more chance of getting the Queen to read your manuscript. So please don’t go that route, you will only become a very upset little bunny. However, if your uncle’s neice is the hot shot publisher of MacMuffin Publishers or you have a cousin who works for a litterary agency, then by all means send your manuscript to both of them and Good Luck.

The second form of publishing is called Private or Vanity Publishing.  This is where a book has been written but the commercial publisher does not want to publish it.  The writer then has a choice of either forgetting the whole idea or publishing the book themselves – it’s called vanity publishing, because it’s a personal or vanity thing to want to see your book published.

But first we will look at the role of the Commercial Publisher and how books get published.

Publishing is governed by ideas of books and/or by books in manuscript form.  If a publisher likes your idea or your manuscript then he may decide to publish it. The publisher takes all the risks and publishes the book at his own expense and if it sells the author will receive an advance royalty fee based on the sale price.

That’s for me, I can hear you saying!

Unfortunately, in the UK alone, over 95,000 new books were published last year, mainly on the criteria “will it sell 30,000 copies in Tescos or WH Smiths?”  If the publishing company thinks yes it will, then the lucky writer gets a contract.  If not, then the writer gets a rejection note!

For very Jeffrey Archer, there are several thousand so-called professional writers who get more from social security than from their publisher. There are in fact many of today’s best-selling authors who if they would admit it, probably have had rejection slips before they found a publisher who agreed to accept their first book. Jeffrey himself was rejected by 16 publishers before he found one to publish his first book. Publishing is a personal thing, you either like the book or you don’t.   We used to have one or our secretaries read the unsolicited manuscripts that arrived by post each year.  When I say read, I mean take a glance at the first three pages and if it doesn’t jump out at you – bin it and send a rejection slip.

There is a famous publishing story that has been told many times of a publisher’s secretary who also read manuscripts when she wasn’t typing.  One day she came in to the senior editor and said that there was a very nice book about lions in Africa.  He told her that books on wild animals don’t sell very well, so reject it!  Later it was found out that the book was “Born Free” one of the greatest best sellers of all time.

What I am saying is that commercial publishing mostly boils down to personal taste, mostly the personal taste of the Tesco book manager! 

Let me tell you that only criteria for publishing a popular book today is:

Will it sell more in value than butter or baked beans if it gets the same shelf space.

So where do the 95,000 new books come from each year I hear you ask.  Good question!

(a) From existing best-selling authors who are contracted to produce one book per year and,
(b) New authors who have come to the publisher via a literary agent, or,
(c) Packaged spin-offs form TV, Films, Games, Toys “Celebrity” autobiography, ghost written biography, etc.

So anyone’s chances of getting a book published by a commercial publishers stands somewhere between zero and zilch.  Consequently, there are thousands of frustrated would-be writers who will never be published.

So, let’s have a look at the alternative – private or vanity publishing.  Now you may think that your idea for a book about “Seashells of the Sussex Coast” will be of interest to thousands of people.  But if you were honest, it’s only your vanity that makes you think that way.  It does not, however, prevent you from paying for your book on seashells to be published.

Many privately published books have been seen later by a commercial publisher and republished for the mass market.  Two great bestsellers – “Watership Down” and “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”, were both originally published and paid for privately by their authors.  Later, a commercial publisher saw them, made an offer and the rest is history.

Now, what is Vanity Publishing and Self Publishing and how does it work?  The British Advertising Standards Authority in July 1997, stated that Vanity Publishing means, “any company or persons who provide a book publishing service and charges for that service”.

Vanity Publishing is exactly what it says on the tin.  If you have written – your memoirs, your book of poems, your account of the Second World War or your book on Seashells, etc., and you would like to have it made into a book, with a small number of copies printed, so that you can give them away to friends and relatives for Christmas.  Then this is the publishing system for you.

In Vanity Publishing, the writer agrees to pay for his/her book to be published and is not concerned about selling the book or receiving royalties, since he/she will most likely be giving the book away to friends and relatives.  That is not to say that you can’t try to sell your book to booksellers, but that’s another story.

Think of it, after you have produced your book and given copies away to your family and friends, there you are basking in the limelight of being a published author.  You also know that they will be handed down to your grandchildren and their children and that means that there will always be a record of that part of your life.

“Look!  Great Grandpa/Grandma wrote this book!”  That’s what Vanity Publishing is all about, it is vanity on the part of the would-be writer to not only want to have their book published but be willing to pay for it as well.

It doesn’t matter what type of book it is, autobiography, children’s book, poetry, novel, reference, natural history, gardening, cookery, military, etc., etc.  No one is going to reject it, because you are the one paying for it to be published.  You become the writer, agent and publisher, all in one.

The local bowling club might like to have a book produced with their history, their triumphs and trophies, presidents, officers and members of the club, photographed and listed.  Women’s Associations often produce a cookery book or gardening book to sell and raise money for their charity work.  Lots of groups use this type of publishing as a form of raising money. Plus Uncle Charlie has written a book about Italian artillery during the First World War.

But what of the cost I can hear you say.

Well a rough idea of costs would be: an A5 (10cm x 15cm) paperback book of 64 pages with text, colour pictures or illustrations would cost about Euros 6500. This is all inclusive of help and expertise in writing, editing and production.  There are no hidden extras.  Alternatively, you can produce the whole book yourself, known as self publishing, set it in layout form on your computer and add in any photographs, then send it to a local printer who will print and bind your book. That is going to cost you about Euros 4,900.  It can cost less but you need to know what you are doing.

Of course, if you are a club or association then you would print more copies to sell them and raise money.   If you print 1,000 copies, the unit cost drops to below Euros 15.00 per copy, which leaves the association enough mark-up to sell the book at Euros 25.00 and make a good profit. 

Finally, for anyone who would like to get their book published, you can contact me any time by email and I can email you some sound professional advice on vanity publishing or self publishing and hopefully make your dream come true. Please do not send me your manuscript – email me about 100 words of description, that’s all. I can’t guarantee to reply, but I will try.

Copyright David Booth 2009
E-Mail: davidbooth3@yahoo.com