Lancashire author and publisher Keith Hoare has some sound words for writers…

‘For any serious and aspiring writer, the goal is to be published. But what does it mean? What are the pros and cons? Should you take the plunge and pay for it yourself, or use the number of free options available to you?

The Perception

For a start you can claim to be a published writer, by placing your work on the internet, or having your work appear in a local periodical. You could even go a step further and offer it for sale as an eBook and then be recognised as an author. Both methods are free and not difficult to achieve. This route should not be frowned upon, as they can create a substantial earnings stream. Many authors have achieved sales exceeding a 100,000 books.  But for many writers, to tell your friends they need a computer, or they should buy a Kindle, to read you book, is not what many perceive as publishing. After all, giving someone a download link, or the Amazon address, is not exactly like holding a book and receiving instant comment, or even praise and a pat on the back.

The Routes

For the very few and it is a few, you might be accepted by a publisher. Even then it’s a lottery. Some publishers only do a few titles a year, others do hundreds. Either way, unless you’re a big hit you won’t make a living. There is of course another sting in the tale. Most, if not all publishers, want more than one book. They will tell you, the first book makes your name, the second book gives them and perhaps you a profit. At that point many writers fall down. They put everything they have into their first book and struggle to repeat the operation.

You could of course use an agent. They will submit your work to publishers on your behalf. They often have a good track record and could well succeed in securing a contract, where you couldn’t. It comes with a cost, as they take a percentage, plus they may even want to charge an advanced reading fee. Those agents I wouldn’t touch. Either way, their fees come from your royalty, not from the publisher’s percentage.  As a publisher I receive a number of proposals via this avenue.

Then finally you could pay for it yourself, but already I can hear people saying, why should I pay for it, why shouldn’t someone else take the risk and give me money? They do, but then you are in the slush piles and publishers are very selective. After all, a publisher given a hundred options in front of him, every week, you need to stand out. They will not publish because you tell them your work is the best thing since sliced bread. They want to be convinced whatever they publish stands a good chance of giving a return.

Personal Experience

I began the rounds across publishers and agents with my first book. Was it published? Of sorts, the company was pretty bad, their work even worse, their marketing non existent. Yet they were a publisher and didn’t charge me a penny. Mind you they didn’t pay me a penny as well. Not a good start. Although when I read the book years later, I wouldn’t have published it. It wasn’t a bad story, a little naive perhaps, but it had a real problem. It just was too short for an adult book.

The Figures

To explain why I felt it too short is to explain the costs involved in producing a book.  For me to publish a book it will cost 86p for the cover and around a 1p for a page. The setup cost is around a hundred pounds to cover cost for typesetting, ISBN, entry into the US and UK registers, plus a sample book. A purchaser will pick up a book, look at its thickness and its price before they even open the pages, or read the blurb. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Perception of value is as important with a book as its content; a thin book looking more akin to a giveaway or a children’s book, will not even be picked up.

So let’s look at the reality. 90,000 words will produce a book with 250 pages around 15mm thick and a stand in print cost at £3.36. Double that cost for book shop profit and return to the author with a little extra for the publisher and you’re at £7.99 retail. Very few people pay retail, so with reduced margins it will take maybe 300 books to claw back setup cost. Providing that is, you don’t need to engage a cover designer. I do my own, so I absorb that cost as part of writing the book.  Can it sell that many? With the accelerating reduction in retail shelf space, tens of thousand of books vying for attention, it is high risk, so any publisher needs to be certain then have a winner. Even Amazon, the worlds biggest book seller will tell you e-books have exceeded paper books sales this year and still making inroads. But a small publisher will need to target a thousand paperbacks for each book

 Why did I Publish?

Why do I publish, if the risk is high and the return not certain? Apart from the hope that the book will catch on, the reviews give it a thumb up and it piles out the door, I publish paperbacks for a different reason. 

With my own books, my eBook sales have achieved 10,000 books sales this year alone. However, eBook sales don’t sell on word of mouth. They sit among 350,000 other books, with the numbers growing every day at an alarming rate. I use my paperback books for advertising. I lend them out, leave them on holiday and even carry one of each in my car, in case I get asked about my books. It is always good to be able to show a potential reader the book.  But more importantly, because a paperback exists, with an ISBN number, my name is on every book sellers list. Not just this country, but across the world. Even the library receives a copy.

What does this give a writer? It gives exposure. I’ll run into six or seven pages on the internet under my own name, with two to ten pages for each of my book titles. All the sites are crossed linked ensuring top places on the search engines. Unit T Special Forces sits at the top of 18 million Google entries. Every major book, or series I write (example ‘Tales from the Fairy circle’ www.raggedpage.com ) has its own website, its own You Tube movies and can not only be downloaded as an eBook, but can be printed across the world locally and dispatched.

Finally, the books I leave around for people to read, or I hand out, are always the starter book for my trilogies. If they like it, and it’s geared to act as a taster, readers will buy the other books in the series. Maybe, if I’m lucky and they like my style, they may even look at books written by me not of the series.

Why do I do this? For any writer, the bottom line is to get people to know you exist. I’m no celebrity, nothing special.  So a picture of me holding my book in the local paper, with a caption about me as a local author will do little for sales. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll pick up half a dozen. Then my friends, even with deep pockets, will only buy once, or expect a freebie.

A local book shop sitting me on a chair, to sign my book, raises very few sales with the reality that I’ve sat there for perhaps fifty pence an hour in royalty payments. My time’s more valuable than that. All this and still potential readers in the next town, the next county, or the rest of the world won’t get to know about me.

But for sales, it is vital they do, vital that I should turn over around two to three hundred sales per book at the very least a month. To do that, I need the world to know about me, not my town. I’m not even sure if anyone in my own area knows about me, let alone has bought one of my books. I’ve never had an invite to a readers circle, or done a local presentation.  So don’t get yourself paranoid that because the neighbours don’t know that you’re a published author, no one will buy your book, they will.

Will I Publish your Work

Now you know a little about the industry and about me, let me put my publisher hat on. Would I publish your work? I’ll read it, or to be more truthful, I’ll pass it to a reader who reads all the books people send me. If she is happy, then I will read it.

If it’s publishable, then I’ll tell you. I’ll even tell you what we would do for you. We won’t promise you the earth. We won’t promise you sales, we can only introduce your book to the reading public, they decide if they will buy your book, or not. The only thing I ask is that the book is proof read and edited. An agent would do that for you. You see to come to a publisher direct, very few, apart from the big boys, will want to put right a work that is slapdash and not even spelt properly. Believe me, I receive a great deal of those with some that start well, but the writer runs out of steam, or rushes the end showing little care. You can’t do that, it must be consistent. I’ll also want to see your next book, or at least the start of one.

Free Writers Guide

I have nearly completed a free writer’s guide, for any writer contemplating writing a book. It is based on my own writing experiences and contains structure, characterisation and story progression. There are also chapters that tell you how to begin your book with impact, serialise and how to tie up loose ends. I won’t tell you how to spell. I won’t tell you if your sentence structure is good or bad, but I will tell you how to write your book. If you’d like a copy, when it is available, just mail me.

Well that’s it.  A lot or words, maybe, but remember this is only around 1300 words, a novel is 90,000. I wish you well. I mean that, because I know just how difficult it is to write a book – but more importantly a book a stranger wants to buy.’

~

Keith has had so many requests on how to write a novel, he is writing

a free ebook on the subject which will be available later this year.

Keith is busy with his 'Tales from the Fairy Circle' books and a new website

 http://www.raggedpage.com really taking off, besides a new trafficker book

Goin Goin Sold due out before Christmas.

 For more information about Keith Hoare see  http://www.keithhoare.com

or his publishing page http://www.raggedcover.com

This entry was posted on Monday, September 5th, 2011 at 10:00 am and is filed under News, Opportunities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.