Falkirk
Writers' Circle

PUBLISHING YOUR WORK

10/2010

Allan Brownlie

If you wish it to be published, what happens when you've
completed your manuscript? Well you check it carefully for
typing errors, pick a publisher from the 'Writers' and
Artists' Year Book and send it off together with a polite
covering letter.

After a few weeks a letter comes back offering you a deal
and a huge advance. A couple of months after that a cheque
arrives and with it a beautiful cover for your work. The
proofs arrive and you correct them and some weeks after that
the glowing reviews are appearing, the book is on the shelves
of every high street bookshop in the land; the Chinese
translation rights have been sold; Steven Spielberg is
making a movie with Johnny Depp in the lead role and you are
swigging back fine wines in discreet city clubs with the
cream of the literati. Zadie Smith has got your telephone
number and uses it. You're a regular on Question Time; You've
just been asked to appear on Desert Island Discs; and Ivy
League universities are bidding for your manuscripts and
letters and shopping lists.

You wish!

The reality is that if you simply send your manuscript off
to a publisher you will be placed on the slush pile. This
is a filing cabinet full of manuscripts awaiting the attention
of a 17-year-old intern who might, if you are lucky, pass
'your work upwards if she feels that it has any merit. She
might be a gifted and perceptive reader, but she's also
going to be very busy answering the phone, ordering paper
for the photocopier and making coffee for the more senior
executives. She's probably already suffering from novel
fatigue as she tries to stay enthusiastic about yet another
World War Two romance.

No, just sticking your manuscript, however brilliant, into
an envelope and punting it off to publishers is nmt giving
it your best shot. It is the equivalent of turning up on
a date late, scruffy, unwashed and broke. It shows alack
of respect towards the publishing industry and towards your
own work.
In the first instance what you need to do is send a covering
letter with your manuscript.

2.

Your covering letter should be short, polite and employ
judicious use of flattery -e.g."I've heard that you are
an outstanding publisher and you represent...X...whose
work I very much admire...' .Don't write too much about
yourself, just what is interesting. Don't mention your job
unless it's very interesting or relevant to your writing.
You are selling yourself as well as your work. Do mention
any writing courses you've taken. Mention also any successes
you have had with writing, prizes won or items published.
Don't forget to include you contanct details. 

The covering letter is the, last thing you will write before
you send off your work, but it is the first thing that a
publisher will read.

Rejection slips are badges of honour, battle scars in the
fight to produce your very best work. The desire to prove
the critics wrong should spur you on all the more.

You can console yourself with the thought that J.K. Rowling's
book 'Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone' was turned
down by nine publishers, Stephen King was rejected 84 times
before publishing his first short story. Robert Pirsig was
turned down by a staggering 122 publishers before going on
to sell millions of his classic 'Zen and the Art of Motor-
cycle Maintenance' .Even Zadie Smith was rejected by Harper
Collins before all her recent success with Penguin.

3.

Sample letter to a fiction editor: 

Dear (use the editor's name),

Enclosed for your consideration is a disposable copy of
my 1,000 word short story, 'Jack's Ripper'. I have written
fiction for...(list credits if any -if none, leave this
sentence out).

I enclose a stamped addressed envelope for your convenience.

Yours sincerely,

I. Wannawrite.

============================================================================

Sample letter to a feature editor:

Dear (use editor's name),

Would you be interested in a 1,200-word feature, 'The Butcher's
Hook', a light-hearted look at real-life murderers who have
disposed of their victims by putting food on the table? The
article covers ten famous felons, all of whom had fingers
in several pies.

An outline of the proposed feature is enclosed.

I have written for various publications including (here you
list the magazines and newspapers where your work has appeared
If you have not yet had any success, don't say so, just leave
this paragraph out of the letter) and have attached some
recent clips.

I look forward to hearing from you and have enclosed a stamped
addressed envelope for your reply.

Yours sincerely,

A. Goodwriter.



Editor's Note - Publishers normally give writers royalties of approximately 10%.
www.amazon.co.uk allow authors to set their own price for their books(£1.49 to £6.99)
Authors get 70% of the net cover price.
Before considering publishing, authors should have their work(s) copyrighted
See www.copyrightservice.co.uk who charge £39 for 5 years protection, £64 for 10 years,
and for works larger than 10MB they charge an extra 3p per MB