How to get published

Hello folks,

Hope I can help with your queries.

To give you a sense of where I am coming from I started in publishing in 2005 at Nonsuch Ireland (now the History Press Ireland). I was lucky enough to be one of three graduates hired to set up and run the Irish imprint of a larger UK based publisher. it was very exciting and gave me something of a baptism of fire in publishing. We brought the list from 3 books in the first few months to 32 in the year I left the company, 2007.

I joined Mercier Press in April 2007 and worked with them until August 2009. There I commissioned dozens of books across many many genres, from fiction and children's to business, history and sport.

Now I work for myself as a publishing consultant and a publisher (on a very small scale) in my own right. I run Irish Publishing News a news and features website about Irish publishing.

So, ask away, I hope to check in as often as possible but don't be too worried if it takes a day or so sometimes for a final answer!

Eoin

Cosbie,

See the answers below. I've tried to answer by following the process of submission, review rejection/acceptance.

Submissions
It really depends on what publisher you are submitting to whether or not they read the slushpile. ALWAYS check the submissions guidelines for the publisher and follow them. They are there for a reason, probably to do with the in-house systems and resources. No matter how unique you believe your submission to be, the publisher will not take kindly to a submission that ignores freely given advice on how to submit.

Especially for larger publishers in the UK and Ireland, direct submissions are losing out to agent submitted manuscripts. Publishing slots are limited and the submission rate so high that publishers are narrowing channels to trusted agents to avoid overload and enable them to reduce headcount.

When they do have slushpiles, they are often read by more junior staff and so if a manuscript takes a reader's fancy, it can take longer to get approved and have less weight behind it. Still, some books do make it out of slushpiles at large publishers, but they are the exceptions that prove the rule.

Smaller publishers and some imprints of larger publishers in the UK and Ireland, will still accept submissions directly. I have found the following to be true in my time, but then the houses I worked for, published more non-fiction than fiction:

- For fiction the chances are lower that you will be plucked from the slush pile because the volume is so high and the publishing slots so restricted.
- For non-fiction because the volume is lower have a better success rate.

Synopses
Which brings me to the synopsis. Follow the submission guidelines. IF they don't have any call the office and ask and then follow that. Make sure they accept your genre as well otherwise your energy is wasted.

I often didn't read synopses, feeling that writers wasted too much effort in them and not enough on the opening lines of their submission. HOWEVER I stress that was a personal perspective and most publishers will want a one-page clear and concise summary of your work.

What Happens At The Reader level
When working through slushpiles I was ruthless and though most editors will fib and say they gave a manuscript time the reality is they don't have it to give.

I often read the first page and if it wasn't up to scratch I would skip ahead and read some more a few pages in hoping that the writer had buried the good stuff, they rarely had. Max time for a rejected submission that failed to grab 10 minutes. After that I would send the manuscript back with a short note. it is rare that an editor has the time to respond individually to a submission unless it came close to publishing.

If it did grab me, I would read more of the text and decide
1) Could we SELL it (we are there to make money after all)?
2) Could I convince the publishing committee that we SHOULD publish it?
3) How MUCH would it cost to produce?
4) Would it get MEDIA attention?
5) What's the AUTHORS story?
6) Have we sold to similar markets before?
7) Is this worth a SLOT on my program?

Then if it answered those questions I would run a Profit and Loss projection, talk with the author, bring the idea to committee, get it approved, negotiate a contract and agree delivery and publication dates. All the time thinking about sales material, possible covers and sales promotion.

Eoin

Good question.

I guess there are two answers (maybe even three).

1) Unsupported Fiction
by that I mean fiction that is not supported by an Arts Council grant. Some publishers are funded every year and have both program (the books) and core costs (staff/admin/etc) covered. Other (like those I worked for) only get a block grant to fund books. That is then assigned to certain titles. If a title is clearly commercial then arts council funding wouldn't be assign.

When I say clearly commercial I'd posit that projected sales would need to be in excess of 3000 units to justify publication without funding. That may sound low but it s few enough titles in Ireland that sell that well certainly fewer than 1000.

2) Supported Fiction
While the grant or funding would support the cost of production, sales would need to be enough to justify the time spent and provide some kind of return on investment and if an arts council work sold over 1500 units (again no mean feat) then you'd be happy with its performance. Sometimes of course they will do much better than that, but rarely.

3) Other reasons
You might publish a book for sentiment, for pr, because it is good and warrants publication, but rarely enough and generally if those things are true, a book will have some commercial appeal to it.

Thats the sales side. For a longer explanation of how the Irish market operates, try the series I wrote a whiel ago on Success In Irish publishing;
http://irishpublishingnews.com/2010/01/04/publishing-success-in-ireland-part-one/

There is no standard wordcount. But agents and publishers sometimes indicate guidelines. try and stick close to those. If you write for a genre, find out the average for books of that kind. Shoot for that.

The best guide is to follow the submissions policy by publisher. If they don't have one, but say they accept submissions, call and check.

If they do ask for three chapters, make it 1,2 and 3. Editors don't want 7, 10 and 23. How on earth could they judge a book that way. It just says you don't have confidence in 1,2 and 3! if YOU don't have confidence in 1,2 and 3, rewite them until you do!

Hi,

This may be way off your area, but how would the approach with a film script differ? Do the same publishers and agents deal with scripts and novels? Where and how do you find them?

I honestly have never dealt with movie scripts so I'll cry ignorance on that one! I think Lisa Richards do handle scripts though, but call them to check!

00112984 wrote: »

Hi Eoin.

Slightly different question, if you're ok with answering it.

I've always wanted to work in publishing, specifically in (initially) proof-reading and editing work. I'm currently self-employed in a role that requires lots of proof-reading but not in the literary arena.

Any tips or tricks for getting started?

Yes,

This is easier than you'd think.

The first thing to say is, if you are serious it might be worthwhile getting a professional accreditation and writing a proofreading cv. Then get in touch with the irish publishers offering your services!

Outsourcing is a pretty big part of the industry here and it will only grow as companies lay off full time staff!

Eoin

Tougher answer that one!

I'd say for non-fiction if the topic was one I had been thinking about or if it was an area we knew well and had published on before, so long as the text was decent and the facts right you could tell fairly easily and quickly.

For fiction it is harder because a single scene can break a narrative for you and throw your thinking. For me to be sure on fiction I need to finish the text and think it over!

Hi Eoin -this is a fascinating thread, thanks v much for your insight

If my book (teen fiction) has been rejected by a few publishers, would I be burning bridges with the publishing world if I posted it online for free?

If my book isn't fashionable now, it may be fashionable in a few years time (look at all those vampire books!). I don't want to rule myself out of contention for publication.

First of all, sorry for the delayed response.

I'd caution against this if it is fiction for two reasons:
1) if they like it they'll want the whole thing and you will piss them off by not having it
2) frankly, submitting an unfinished manuscript probably means it's not ready for submission

Eoin

Flushdraw wrote: »

Hi Eoin,

I've a similar idea. I've been telling the kids bedtime stories for the past 2 years. All the stories base themselves around a particular character who's the focal point of every story. The kids tell their school friends and i told the stories to about 7-8 of them on a couple of occassions when the kids had friends over and they loved it.

I'd like to have a go at getting some of these stories published but i'd like to patent/copyright the the central character. He has a couple of friends who help him in the stories, and the kids have said they'd love to have cuddly toys of these, so i'd beginning to think that their could be something at the end of this.

What's the best way to protect my work, or do i just need to send the stories to a couple of childrens publishers and see what happens?

Thanks for doing this thread.

Tony

Tony,

The best way to protect your work is to write it.

Once it's written make sure you have a digital and hardcopy version and back the digital copy up. Document your submissions to publishers or agents and submit selective to publishers or agents capable of delivering in a project of scale. Though keep in mind that more than likely, even if the concept is good, any initial launch will be modest (publishers, even big ones, like small bets or SURE THINGS).

If you are dealing with reputable publishers and agents your work will not be misused and even if it is you will have a trail of documentary evidence backing up your position.

But as I say, write the work first, worry about protection afterwards!

Eoin

Hi Eoin,

I am in the process of writing a novel and was originally planning to submit the synopsis and three chapters to an irish publishing house and /or seek a literary agent to act on my behalf.
My questions are:
1--Since my genre is sci-fi/horror , I feel that I may have a better chance by approaching a UK or US publisher. HOWEVER, I am aware that as a first time novelist, my work would have a better chance if it was presented by a literary agent. So, should I look for an irish agent to pitch my work to US publishing houses or should I seek a US agent to do so? Would an Irish literary agent typically pitch a manuscript to foreign publishing houses?

2-Is there any limit to the number of publishers I can approach? Just say for example, I aqquired a literary agent who successfully secured a book deal for me--could I also deal with separate publishers indepently and enter into another/multiple book deals/publishing arrangments with various publishers? IE- one in Ireland, two in UK, one in US? (Not that I ever expect to be so lucky...just wondering about submitting to different publishers at once)

Thanks in advance for your patience and time with my questions,
Ruth