Blogger: Rachel Kent (Mary Keeley and I have switched blog days, so I’ll be posting on Friday now. Look for Mary’s posts on Wednesday.)
When I first started working at Books & Such as an intern back in 2005, I knew close to nothing about the publishing process. I was able to quickly catch on to quite a bit because Janet allowed me to work closely with her. (Janet is amazing to work with and I’m blessed!) I am very confident now but am thankful that I can turn to Janet at any time if I do have questions.
Three things surprised me about publishing back then and I’d like to share them with you. Maybe they surprised you as well.
1) It’s amazing to me how long everything takes in the publishing world. Producing a book–from writing to print–can take years.
- Writing a book takes time. (Though I’m shocked with how quickly some authors write!)
- Agents take forever to read projects when authors submit them.
- An editor takes forever to get around to reading a project when the agent sends it in.
- The contract process can occasionally take months.
- It usually takes around 1-2 years before a contracted book is printed–even if the book was written before contract.
A lot of this delay is because everyone is so busy and there are lots of submissions being handled all the time. I’ve also seen books rushed through the publishing process in a matter of months, but it’s much more common for a book to be in the works for a very long time before it arrives on the bookstore shelf.
2) I never knew that authors wrote books on contract. Before I started working in the publishing industry I believed that all of those books I was reading were written before the publishing houses agreed to publish them. I was very naive about how contracting worked. Learning that books could be contracted before they were written did help to explain why some subsequent books weren’t as good as the first book in the series though. I think that writing books on contract can sometimes damage the quality of a published story. Something else that goes along with this surprise–I never knew that authors are pretty much expected to write more than one book. Being a one-book-wonder is extremely rare.
3) The last big surprise I had when I entered the publishing world was this: Good writing doesn’t always mean strong sales figures. Sometimes the books that are filled with errors and plot mishaps are the books that sell the best for one reason or another. And a book that wins awards for it’s beauty and clarity can sell very few copies. It is certainly not fair, but it’s the way publishing goes more frequently than I would have ever thought possible.
Were any of these a surprise to you when you first started seeking publication and became involved in the world of publishing?
And what was the biggest surprise for you about publishing?
Tweetables
Three things that surprised Lit. Agent @rachellkent about publishing. Click to tweet.
What surprised you the most when you first became involved in the world of publishing? Click to tweet.
Literary Agent Rachel Kent shares 3 things that surprised her about the publishing process. Click to tweet.
For me, time is the biggest, ongoing surprise. I practically live in front of my computer, but the many things that are my responsibility as a writer are always more time-consuming than I thought they would be. It could be something as “simple” as updating social media. Sometimes figuring out the technology can eat up lots of time – and I have one of those techie husbands! I’m constantly reworking my writing schedule and breaking down the things on the to do list into manageable steps.
I think there are some great resources out there for time management (related to writing) and online tools for PHD students writing dissertations. I wonder if anyone is familiar with them and could share here. Although I’m not pursuing that, I think that those strategies would help most writers.
Yes, Carol! Technology seems to take a huge amount of time for me. I’ll spend 20 minutes writing a blog post, but then it’ll take at least another 20 to load it. And now FB is acting weird on my laptop, and I have no idea why. So, while I use my husband’s laptop to keep up with it (it’s fine on his), I probably ought to spend time figuring out what the problem is. I’m not necessarily complaining (okay, maybe a tad), but every day I am surprised at how much time goes into the non-writing parts of writing.
Very true. I spend so much time in front of mine too! It’s amazing.
And I believe Rachelle uses a time management tool. I’ll ask her about it and report back.
There is a tool – http://www.rescuetime.com – that helps you track the time you’re spending on various tasks, thereby allowing you to be more intentional about making changes if necessary.
Oh no…does the fact of “knowing about a tool” that will help me be more accountable mean I “should” use it? Yikes…decisions, decisions!
Thank you for this tip! I desperately need to get better about allocating my time.
Thank you both for this link! I will definitely check it out.
Thanks for stopping by to help, Rachelle!
Great post, Rachel. It’s nice to learn where you started and see the confidence you’ve gained come through in your helpful posts.
Timing was definitely something that surprised me when I first got started–not only in how long it takes to get from contract to published, but also how quickly an idea or article can be rejected.
Like Carol, I continue to be amazed by how time consuming everything can be from my end. I get to my computer somewhere between 8:30 and 9:00 each morning, and by the time I check and respond to emails and promote, it’s close to noon some days.
Though I guess this shouldn’t have surprised me, I’ve found writing to be a lonely business. I’m blessed to work from home, but not having a local writing group leaves me feeling like an unwilling hermit. If it weren’t for my online critique group and blogs such as this one where I could talk about writing, the loneliness would be too discouraging.
It can be very lonely. I like how you describe it: “an unwilling hermit”
I suppose, for all my disdain for social media, you bring up its redeeming feature, which is how it allows for writers to connect with each other, as well as readers.
Frankly, I consider the community here worth all the blogging, facebooking, tweeting, Good Reading, Vlogging, social media platform barn raising that comes with being a modern writer, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. 😉
Amen, Larry!
Interesting to read the perspective of someone who was new to the industry just eight years ago, Rachel. The book biz certainly isn’t a good fit for an impatient person. (Even articles and short stories I pen for magazines take 6 months to a year to appear in print.) And these observations don’t even mention the time needed to improve in the craft of writing and to find an agent who is a good match. Probably many potentially good authors drop out of the race as casualties of the time factor.
Thanks again for your interesting posts.
I believe you’re right! I think a lot of people get tired of waiting and just quit trying.
Right out of college I worked for one of the big Christian publishers, and what surprised me were all the meetings they had. Every day, morning and afternoon. Tons of them.
And then there were the publishing schedules with some books scheduled four or five years out. That’s when I realized people had been given contracts for books that hadn’t been written yet.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who didn’t know about contracting future works!
And it’s amazing that anyone can get work done with so many meetings.
Rachel, I appreciate your honesty today. The timing still surprises me, although the more I write and rewrite and self-edit the more I understand it. But your #3 still boggles my mind. There’s no guarantee that if you write a fantastic book you’ll have fantastic sales. I think a lot of us shake our heads over this one.
Hope you have a terrific weekend!
#3 Makes me sad. I hate that great books don’t always get the readership they deserve.
And you have a wonderful weekend too!
Maybe someone needs to write a book about how to recognize good writing for the general reading public. Of course there’s always the chance that whoever writes it also makes the features in their own style the ‘good writing’ to be recognized.
I started out writing poetry and freelance materials in the secular world. It was SO competitive. I’m surprised in a very good way by how supportive the CBA is. I’m now part of a world of writers who constantly love on one another, all trying to lift each other up. More surprises like that, please!
I love how supportive the community is too 🙂
The worst part about the competitive nature of the secular market is not that it is merely a rat race…
…..it’s a race to the bottom.
I used to subscribe to a few literary journals, to see what fresh, new writers or writing was out there.
When I realized I read better stuff from college kids I mentored, I decided to not renew, and use that money to supporting authors who actually deserve readers.
All of these surprised me as well, Rachel. That’s why I’m so glad to have agency blogs like this one that share wisdom with us.
That’s just what I wanted to say. I’m so thankful for agency blogs. I have learned so much! I must admit, I knew very little starting out.
Thanks for sharing your learning process and your surprises! I think your #3 was the most surprising to me also.
Appreciate your honesty and your encouragement Rachel.
Very good post today. One item that suprises me is how little most writers are paid in advance and in the long run. Also I am suprised at how hard it is to make a living as a writer. I know I will most likely make more money as a technical writer than I ever would as a novelist. However, I still want to publish a novel someday.
As a technical writer for five years, I am amazed at how much I have actually produced. I written enough (not including editing other people works) of a volume that would equal a series of novels.
Oh, those are great! Yes, advances are strange and it is very hard to make a living as a writer. Writing is something most people end up doing for the joy of it rather than for the money.
That’s part of the reason I finally sat down to write a book. As a newspaper reporter I’d written the equivalent of two or three novels so I KNEW it was possible.
I’ve definitely been surprised by how long publishers can “sit on” a proposal–over a year, in my case. So much for thinking I’d hear back in a month! The only thing you have any control over is when you start writing that NEXT book, regardless of what happens to the one out on submission.
The most surprising thing to me is how important “platform.” I’m still trying to find that magic number of subscribers before I begin approaching agents.
Number three makes me sad, too. On the other hand, I’ve scratched my head over the success of many NYT Bestsellers. I guess it’s the nasty subjectivity monster rearing his ugly head again. No matter how tasty a well-written story is – he dines at the mass appeal buffet.
I love reading your experiences, Rachel.
As I “re-entered” the book-writing world after a hiatus to care for my husband’s parents, my biggest surprise, and the largest change, was the amount of time I needed to spent learning about and using social media. I think I’ve arrived at somewhat of a helpful solution, although I surely do have a lot to learn. Right now, with my FB family helping me with plot points and names, etc. I’m combining writing, social networking and PR. It’s a fun mix.
Early in my career, I worked as one of the people assisting an executive editor to prepare proposals for presentation at monthly pub board meetings. We were always a bit nervous going in, but by the time we arrived at this stage, our proposals were always given a go. Also, the pool of people who wanted to write a book seemed smaller. We spent a lot of time seeking authors in order to acquire manuscript. I think this gave me the impression that getting published would be easier than it is. Things have changed. A lot.
I do wonder about that–it seems like EVERYBODY is writing a book now. Is this different or has it always been that way and we’re just more connected? Who knows!
I thought when I set about to write my first novel, that’s all Ihad to do. I had nary a notion of what I didn’t know that I didn’t know to get published. I thought “Social media” was the society page in the newspaper. “Platform” was where the preacher stands. “Twitter” was what birds do mostly when hungry, a”blog” was…maybe something that fell from a tree.. between the size of a ‘branch’ and a ‘log.’ Uh-huh.Now I’m working on it. Anybody want to be my facebook friend?
For me, I think it’s the layers. The author writes, critiques, and rewrites. It’s sent to an agent, rejected, sent again, etc. The contracted agent sends to publisher. One editor likes it and then it goes through many layers just in that house … only to get rejected and sent to a new one. Phew! I’m tired just typin’ all this stuff. It’s a slog. Definitely one must be patient–like watching water freeze.
Like you, Rachel, I was surprised by how long it took to get a book published after it had been accepted by a publishing house. Because of the wonderful education the Books and Such literary agents are giving me, I now understand some of the reasons it takes so long.
Another thing that I learned from this blog is that authors are expected to have a second book in progress while they are querying the first book and that they should have a third in mind. That definitely surprised me. After recovering from the initial shock, though, I realized that it only makes sense–for the author as well as the literary agency and the publishing house. After all, if a writer wants to have a career in writing, she needs to produce her product on a regular basis.
Branding also surprised me although it shouldn’t have. As a reader, I am familiar with it. I don’t buy Stephen King novels because I don’t like scary stories. On the other hand, when I bought a James Herriot book, I had definite expectations of what I would experience as I read his heart-warming, humorous stories. Sometimes wire A doesn’t connect to wire B in my head, so I hadn’t considered that I would need to create a brand with my writing. Fortunately, you all alerted me to this early in my journey. I was preparing to send out queries on my first novel, an adult psychological novel, and had begun a YA fantasy because I just love the genre and wanted to write about a Celtic folklore inspired magic world. After learning that I had to commit to a brand, I thought carefully about which path I should take. I came to the conclusion that I had a number of stories within me about the magical world, its residents and history. Also, I felt I would really enjoy writing those stories. I could not imagine writing another novel like my first one. I believe in that novel’s quality and worth but I just don’t think I could write another one like it.
Thank you for sharing the ways that you were surprised by the process and the industry. And thank you for educating me out of my own naivete. 🙂
Have a great weekend.
Christine–interesting thoughts on having to get that next book ready even while querying the first. I just had Jordyn Redwood on my blog today, and she mentioned for trilogy proposals, you need to have the synopses of those next books ready to roll. VERY HARD for the pantsers among us, I have to say!
Thank you, Heather.
Yes, I am by nature a planner, but I honestly never anticipated having to plan two other books before I’d finished the first. The great thing, though, about writing fantasy is having to do world building. I’ve had to learn not only how this world and society operate, but the history of the society, significant events, and people who’ve impacted the history and left a legacy. I already know who the main character of the second book is and what her conflict is. Also, I’m working out the plot of that novel while I’m writing the current one. I thought I knew what the third novel would be about. Both the current WIP and the second novel have teenage Faeries as main characters, so I thought I would go with a non-human-like character for the third novel. I considered an outcast teenage dragon as the protagonist. Since that time, however, I’ve learned more about the history of the magical land of Cu Tailte (it’s amazing, isn’t it, how characters decide what they’re going to do and stories inform you about things you hadn’t planned to write). There was a hugely disruptive and world-altering event called Caidth Dointean
Sorry! I accidentally hit the submit button…anyway, the event is the Great Dragon War and my current main character has discovered that her maternal great-grandmother and her paternal great-grandmother ended up on opposite sides of the war. So in writing the current book, I’ve come to realize that the third book needs to be about the Dragon War. I know how the war started and how it ended. Now I have to work out all the details in between! 😀
I hope you hear back from the publisher SOON. How nerve-wracking, but you have a great attitude about it.
Have a wonderful weekend!
If you don’t mind me asking, what are your thoughts about that other novel? I think Jan and Cheryl might have had similar experiences they talked about yesterday.
I suggested the e-book route (keeping their market visibility with the traditionally published novels seperate from the e-book market), though it might be helpful to see what others here think.
Thank you for asking, Larry.
After I get experience publishing and promoting (I am unpublished at present, but I have started trying to create a platform), I hope to self-publish it under a pseudonym. I’ve gotten feedback on it from Writer’s Digest’s Second Draft critique service and the editor / author who critiqued it felt it was professional and publishable. She wrote me a follow up email to her critique, giving me the name and address of her literary agent and offering to recommend me and the manuscript to the agent when I felt ready to send it out. It was right about then that I found out about branding and put my beloved novel on the shelf. I do believe in it, though, so I hope that in a few years, I’ll be able to self-publish it and to promote it with some level of effectiveness.
Have a great weekend. 🙂
Regarding genres, Rachelle has addressed that on her own blog the day after her Books&Such blog.
In “Making a Living as a Writer Part 2” she wrote that one way “to support yourself as a writer” is: “2. Write in another genre, possibly under another name.”
(http://www.rachellegardner.com/2013/03/make-a-living-as-a-writer-part-2/).
However, she also says “If you have traditional publishing contracts, there may be restrictions on your ability to self-publish.”
Be careful what you sign 🙂
Christine, you have already put tons of thought into your series, I can tell. Worldbuilding is SO important, as well as knowing your MCs for those future novels. But those stories can definitely take on a life of their own and veer out from what you’d planned when you start delving into them! And that Great Dragon War sounds interesting…and nice twist that the grandmothers were on opposing sides! All the best to you, too, Christine!
Back in my naive, much-younger days, I believed all you had to do was write a few chapters, send a query letter, and WHAM!, you were on your way to stardom.
It wasn’t until years later when my older and more mature self realized there were many layers to the publishing process and not everyone would ever “hit it big”, let alone become published in the first place.
I think I’m still fairly amazed by how long the process takes from sale to a publisher to actually publication date. E-books are changing some of this, of course, but it’s fascinating how so many things remain the same as they’ve been for many years.
I’d say what surprised me was when I started getting cover art from various artists, and realizing that others were able to connect to the protagonist and themes of the story, and translate that to the visual arts.
We writers are in the job of communication, after all, yet isn’t always wonderful, and humbling, when we realize we can actually connect with others through our art?
Yep, nothing like a typo when talking about being in the buisness of communcating….. 🙂
Should be an “it” after, “….yet isn’t…”
I didn’t notice the missing “it” until you mentioned it. First time I read it, I thought “it” was there all along.
That is really awesome, especially when you look at their art and discover that they share at least part of your vision.
I can’t imagine how exciting that would be to see some great cover art for your novel. I know I picture things in my head, but I think good cover artists can pick up on subtle themes in your books and bring those to life for readers.
After this many years writing, I was surprised at how few genre writers there are out there in the dog eat dog world of publishing.
Most canines I know seem content to write in the (high brow) literary format, while wearing their custom made sweaters and munching on expensive milk bones.
I write only action-packed adventure stories that are read and re-read so much, they end up dog-eared. (pun intended)
I guess it takes all kinds to keep the readers happy – huh?
The biggest surprise for me was the writing community. I’ve been so blessed by finding other like-minded authors out there. Before I ventured into blogging I knew one or two authors (being from a small town), but now I know hundreds. It feels like coming home in a lot of ways. And I’ll echo what everyone else has been saying, I’ve been shocked with how long the process takes – but amazed by how much I can learn as I wait.
I knew the publishing process was a long one, or at least my head did. My agent reassured me again today that my debut novel is on track, not derailed.
Thank you for another great blog today, Rachel. What really sticks out for me is this:
“Learning that books could be contracted before they were written did help to explain why some subsequent books weren’t as good as the first book in the series though. I think that writing books on contract can sometimes damage the quality of a published story.”
Interestingly, now that I know this is a possible reason, as a reader I feel more compassion for an author when I read his/her latest novel that may not be “as good as the first book in the series.”
I think that readers should try not to give up on their favorite authors if their latest novels slack a bit, for that possible reason.
That way, the author might be encouraged to keep on writing. Perhaps the next book in the series will be a blockbuster!
Maybe someone needs to write a book about how to recognize good writing for the general reading public. Of course there’s always the chance that whoever writes it also makes the features in their own style the ‘good writing’ to be recognized.
This blog answered a lot of my questions about the publishing industry.
I think the timing issue can be a trick bag–you don’t want to sit back passively, waiting for a publisher to read your work and possibly get overlooked, but you also want to be careful about nudging too aggressively and risk annoying a publisher by being pushy. It’s a fine line.
I tend to be on the pushier side, and while it may possibly turn off some people, chances are I wouldn’t be a good fit with a publisher who didn’t appreciate my personality anyway. My publisher seemed to be entertained by my tenacity, and we have never had any problems.
Thanks for the post, Rachel. One of the things that has surprised me is how many times a story will diverge from the path I thought it would take. This can make the writing process much longer, but results in a story that is more readable and interesting. I’ve learned so much about the publishing industry from blogs and writing communities…things I never thought about! Like Kirk, I thought that all I would have to do is write a story, find a publisher, and the rest would take care of itself. It’s been eye-opening to learn about all the other things a writer has to do!
Yes, there have been quite a few Ebooks that I have bought that have had spelling errors and such. Yet, people still buy them. To me it is the content of the book that these people are looking for, even if the story is not that good. It gives me hope that I might have a chance at getting a book to sell, except I still want one that is good.
The time taken from completion of the author’s editing to publication is one of the reasons some authors move towards self-publishing. Also, given your statement that some ‘not so well written books’ could sell well and well written books could have poor sales, the argument for speed of production could be attractive to some. I guess it’s a matter of what is important to the author at the time.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer for your blog. You have some really good articles and I think I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d
really like to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back
to mine. Please blast me an e-mail if interested. Thanks!
As so many have said above, #3 is the tough one – and all the more reason to keep writing and to find measures of success besides money.