Facts Writers Who Want their Book Published and Fly off the Shelves should Know about the Stages a Book Goes Through

Sod this. I've had it with the literary agents, literary gurus and critics, book writing advisers and bloggers, published authors and all the literary 'experts' who churn out advice to new writers which is crap. What do you expect me to do when they say 'keep writing', 'don't give up' or 'follow your dream'?

Here's my favourite, 'write from the heart'! Yeah, sure. Now that I’ve fallen in love all I have to do is get a pen and start rolling. Utter rubbish.

Stop being a pompous ass and get real. Tell me not what I want to hear or how it ought to be. Tell me how it is. I may not like it; in fact, I'll hate it. But, I'll know where I stand. It’s all that matters because it makes for a good start.

So instead of telling me a sack load of empty words, tell me the basics. Show me what I'm against. Be specific. Why?

Because writing a book and, for that matter, any type of writing, isn't rocket science, or superior to any other human activity. It has the tricks and the ins and outs as any other activity does. It has basic principles one should know about and be aware of. Talk to me about these.

Think of it this way. Writing is similar to making a loaf of bread. You need to know the stages and the basic ingredients needed to make bread, and also have the right tools to pull it through.

It's the same with writing and publishing books...

There are steps to be taken in order to get a book out into the world. To write it you need a structure. Instead of telling me to write from the blinking heart show me how writing works. To make it readable you need to format your book so it reads with ease. Show me how to publish it. At least, explain to me how the system works.

This is what I’m going to talk about:

The basic stages a book goes through you should know about

So if you want to write you know what you are up against; it can also help you handle your book writing project better. Or ditch it altogether. One decision is as good as the other so long as it is an informed decision.

Here we go.  

There are three stages every book that has ever been or will ever be published has gone or will go through.

• The Idea
• The Product
• The Consumer

1. Book the Idea

At this stage, the book takes physical form, from the initial idea to the written manuscript. This stage can take from a few weeks to many years, and it can be the creation of one or more than one person. The work can be short, a few pages long, or entire volumes of thousands of pages.

At the idea stage the book has no value apart from the value its creator attaches to it. Such value is not realistic because the writer is emotionally attached to his or her work and cannot be impartial in judging its real value. Anything that begins with and takes shape from an idea involves emotion. And where emotion is involved reason and cool judgement go out of the window.

Try to tell a writer that his or her book isn’t that good and needs a bit of shaping. They won’t listen. It’s like telling parents their child is spoiled; you risk becoming public enemy number one.

I was talking to a writer not long ago. He had written a book and kept asking me to take a look at it and give some feedback. I didn’t want to but he wouldn’t let go. Someone had told him his book was going to be the next Harry Potter and I didn’t want to get involved. I didn’t want to upset him. Anyway, I gave in and read the first two chapters. It was dull and, on the top of it, in every three sentences, two ended with an exclamation mark. I said to the guy that his book was not that good. He hasn’t spoken to me ever since and defriended me from Facebook.

Writing a book becomes easier when there is a beginning, middle and end. In other words, you make a plan; do your research and then fill in the gaps. This topic has to wait.

The job of the writer ends up here and the book is ready for the second stage.

2. Book the Product

At the product stage, the book loses its emotional value and is treated as a product with the potential to sell and make money. There are many steps from proofreading and cover design to how to price it, market and advertise it that can increase the book's potential to sell more copies. Publishing books is costly; most titles don’t sell more than 5,000 copies a year. You have to break even early on otherwise as a publisher you’ll go broke.

The product stage can be the work of one or more than one person and can last from a few days to months, even years. The publishing industry is slow. The product stage ought to be detached emotionally to the work. Any work.

The first two stages do not get along. In fact, they hate each other’s guts. Their approach is different. The product stage welcomes and proposes changes to the manuscript. The first stage, the idea, resists them. Writers cannot detach themselves from what they write. It's unnatural. It’s painful. I’m with them on this.

Publishers, on the other hand, cannot afford to be emotionally attached to one’s book. It's impractical. They can change the entire book and leave very little from the first draft if needed (I’ll talk about copyright issues another time).

A balance must be found, otherwise, it won’t work. Remember, editing is not about finding faults with a book, it’s about finding ways…

How to make the book better

Here’s a snippet of what the product stage involves. There are three types of editing:

• Light
• Medium
• Heavy

Which are carried out through self-editing; peer editing; or a combination of both.

Now, I’m not going to go into details about editing because I’ll do it in a series of other posts. Even if I wanted to go into it now, fired up as I am, it’ll do more harm than good. It has to be done right. Editing needs a cool head.

Each stage aims for the third one.

3. Book the Consumer

At this stage, the book is released to the market and left to the reader’s judgment. Up to this point, every book is equal. It is the most unpredictable of the three stages. Books that were hyped up and expected to do well flopped. Others that were given no hope of selling more than a handful of copies became huge best-sellers. Did you see what happened to Fifty Shades of Grey?

The consumer stage involves the effort of one or more than one person, and it may last for as long as the book exists. Marketing and advertising is a vital part of this stage. Launching the book is one of the many steps of a long selling process. As with other products, there are many ways to skin a cat.

Do as much as you can and whatever it takes to polish your book during the second stage. This will make the job of the third stage easier. For example, the book cover must be designed to sell the book, not to make it look good. That is if you want the book to sell.

The third stage brings the first two stages closer. The writer reaches the aim of getting published and gaining recognition; making money is a by-product. The publisher, by selling the book makes money, recognition is a by-product.

These are the three stages every book goes through. Each is as important as and cannot do without the other stages. Nor can the order these stages go through be changed. And it doesn’t matter if the book is published by a third party, a publisher, or is self-published. These three stages apply the same.

This will do.

Now, let’s talk about your book

Trying to get through to a publisher to consider your book for publication is hard. Most works submitted get rejected without even being looked at. I don’t agree with this. Writing a book is extremely difficult. Anyone who has written one or has tried to knows what I’m talking about. A manuscript deserves a chance to be read, at least. Regardless of my ranting earlier, without writers we’ll be lost.

It is one thing to reject writers after reading their work, quite another throwing their book in the bin without ever reading a single sentence of it. It breaks my heart to see writers sending manuscripts around and have their hopes crushed by waiting in vain for a response or by bland and soulless rejection letters. I know the feeling. It’s not fair. If you are not going to consider it stop accepting submissions.

So if you have written a book, have an idea for one, fiction or non-fiction, feel free to submit a sample of it here. I can’t guarantee it’ll get published. But what I can guarantee is I’ll read it and come back to you with an answer, an honest one.

It’s the first step to getting your book published. You don’t need to send a cover letter or write a complicated synopsis. You don’t need to go through a long and hard process of filling out forms. You’ll submit your work and be able to see it as a real book. Which will make it easier to edit.

Here’s the link: http://www.paulsmithpublishing.co.uk/login/

But don’t forget to do it as soon as possible, In fact, do it right now. Not next week, not tomorrow. The longer you leave it the harder it’ll be to get through and see it published. Here’s the link again: http://www.paulsmithpublishing.co.uk/login/

If you have any questions or want to get in touch, here's is my email paul@paulsmithpublishing.co.uk

Make the world a better place; keep writing.

Paul

PS.  If you know any writer, friends, family or colleagues, who would benefit from this piece, please share it with them.

PS.2  I promised I would let you know when I would finish working on How to Polish Your Writing and Get Your Message through with Lightning Speed. Here it is: http://bit.ly/1y2mkxp 

About Paulin Prifti

I am based in London, UK, and I publish books. It doesn't matter the language you write in. What really matters is your thoughts and feelings. You use words to put your thoughts and feelings together in a simple and clear way. You can write about anything you want. It’s important to make your writing matter.

Now, writing a book is not easy. Yet, it is hugely rewarding and becomes easier when you have a structure: a beginning, middle and an end. And this is why I like publishing. It gives me the chance to help new writers like you write and get published. Make your book matter.

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© Paulin Prifti. No part of this piece may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission from the copyright owner. Paul Smith Publishing Ltd is registered in England & Wales: 08735912.

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