Five Tips For Writers Who Want To Get Published The Old Fashioned Way

RESIDING WITH US: Gabrielle Prendergast brings a wealth of knowledge about both writing and publishing to her residency at the Library. Right, one of her middle grade books, Pandas on the Eastside (2016)

BY GABRIELLE PRENDERGAST

Pretty much since books were invented people have dreamed of writing and publishing one— the only question has been, and probably always will be, how. The means to accomplish a published book have varied through the centuries, from carving letters into stone, to skipping letters all together and going straight to a podcast. But somewhere in the middle of those two extremes two popular options have emerged as clear winners: traditional publishing (that is selling your book to a publisher and letting them do a lot of the non-writing work) and independent (or indie) publishing, sometimes called self-publishing.

The learning curve on self-publishing is far too steep to cover in a short article. But for traditional publishing, if you’ve mastered the writing part, the rest is fairly straightforward. Here are five steps to take towards a traditionally published book.

1. Get an Agent

Not all traditionally published books are published through an agent. And indeed, depending on what kind of book you have written, an agent might not be the most appropriate path for you. But for most writers, an agent is a must. Agents find buyers for your book or proposal. They negotiate prices, schedules and contracts. They listen to you cry. If you can get an agent (and it’s HARD), you probably should. How do you get an agent? This brings us to step 2.

2. Write a “pitch”

The pitch for your book (sometimes called “flap copy” or even occasionally the “blurb”) is the two or three paragraph description of the book with which you entice agents to read your submission. Pick up any book you have lying around your house and you will find these brief enticing descriptions on the dust jacket flaps or the back of the paperback. About 200- 300 words long, this is the marketing copy for your book. You will use this in your query letter. Which brings us to tip 3.

3. Write a Query Letter

The query letter is what you send to agents and/or publishers, introducing both yourself and your book. Query letters should contain a business salutation, a short introduction, the pitch described above, and your bio. Query writing is VERY specific, so you will benefit from researching query writing on the Internet. There are a lot of resources.

4. Send out your queries

You can find lists of agents at agentquery.com, manuscriptwishlist.com and querytracker.net. Check each agent’s listing carefully to see if they might be a suitable target for your book, and make sure you follow their submission guidelines. Agents are queried by email or web form these days, never by post. And no—you can’t bulk mail these. Each one has to be personalized and specifically targeted. Tedious but necessary.

5. Wait.

It can take anywhere from a few minutes to forever for an agent to reply. If they do reply and decide to represent you and your book it can take more than a year for them to find that book a home (if ever). Then it will take an average of two years for your book to be published. There is a lot of waiting in this business—probably one of the reasons authors read so much.

Bonus tip: don’t give up

Reality check time: There’s a very good chance your first attempt at selling a book to a traditional publisher will not be successful. Mine wasn’t. Nor was my second. Or third. Or fourth. But somewhere in there I switched from writing picture books to a children’s novel, for which I got two agent offers. Neither of them was able to sell it to a publisher. I started again with a teen novel. FINALLY that one sold (Audacious, Orca Book Publishers, 2013), and since then I have published 10 more books with another six under contract for the next few years. Publishing, and success as an author is a long game, not for quitters.

All of the above might seem like bad news, but the good news is, you can always self publish. Many authors are financially and critically successful with self-published books, and depending on what you write, that may be the path for you. But if you’re set on a traditionally published book, following the above steps will get you on your way.

Want to get published? Gabrielle is here to help

qathet is home to dozens of excellent writers. I know this, because qL runs round-ups of their excellent and newly-published books each July and December. Most often, they are self-published – a large investment on their part.

This month, the Library is hosting its first Writer in Residence, Gabrielle Prendergast. She is a wealth of knowledge for anyone hoping to get published the old fashioned way – by a publisher. Here are some ways to connect with her:

• Book an individual consultation – for free! Call or email: 604-485-4796 / wir@prpl.ca.

• Appear at Gabrielle’s drop-in hours: Tuesdays 6 to 8 pm, and Thursdays and Saturdays 11 am to 1 pm (she is away October 4 and 6).

• Go to her two-part workshop, How to Write Children’s Picture Books October 12 and 19 from 6 to 8 pm.

• Try out her strategies in the Editing & Publishing Workshop on October 29, 2 til 4 pm.

• Take part in her NaNoWriMo global writing event kick-off at the Library November 1, 3:30 to 5 pm.

• Send her off in style at the WIR finale reading November 4 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

See much more at prpl.ca – PW