Louise Cusack - Getting Published
In November 2002, I attended my
agent, Selwa Anthony's "Succeed With Me in 2003" Popular Fiction Seminar in
Sydney. (Selwa is on the left of the photo with Jeannie Little presenting an
award to one of her authors) While there, I caught up with publishers,
editors, and other authors in Selwa's stable. I was specifically interested in
their advice to aspiring writers who have completed a novel, edited and polished
it ready for submission, but are unsure how to present their work for
publication. The detailed replies I received are as follows:
The EDITORS I spoke to all commented on the volume of submissions and the low standard of polishing and presentation many manuscripts displayed. Fiona Henderson from Transworld Random House said aspiring writers should read widely in the genre they're targeting to see which publishing house to submit to, as it wasted everyone's time if manuscripts were sent where they couldn't be published. She also suggested that when you've targeted the publishing house you want to submit to, ring reception to ask which editor your book should be addressed to. This saves them time and makes you look more professional. Your manuscript (accompanied by a synopsis of the story and a covering letter) should be double spaced with a 3cm margin all round, printed on one side only of white A4 paper and held together with a rubber band - not bound. Enclosing a reply paid envelope is a professional courtesy, and if you want your manuscript returned (if unsuccessful), be sure to include a bag/box and full postage for that.
The consensus among editors appeared to be that most manuscripts received could have done with many more redrafts before being submitted, and also that editors didn't have a lot of time to trawl through unsolicited manuscripts looking for a gem, or to give detailed critique to aspiring writers who hadn't made the grade. The old "10% inspiration, 90% perspiration" cliché seems more apt today than ever before. And for those lucky enough to receive critique, apparently there's nothing that irritates an editor more than when an author isn't surprised by a major editorial problem ("Oh, I hoped you wouldn't notice that."). Again, the theme of the advice seems to be, if you think it's not ready, don't send it in.
Another consideration editors mentioned in our "It's not the nineties anymore," discussion, was that nowadays an editor isn't at liberty to buy your manuscript based on their judgement alone. They have to present your book at an Acquisitions Meeting where they have to convince everyone from marketing and editorial to accounting of its potential sales. Even if the editor loves it, that's no guarantee they'll be able to buy it. But presenting your best work enthusiastically, in good clean copy, and with the commitment to edit as much as is necessary to bring the story to publication standard, is a great start. And remember, don't burn your bridges. The editor who rejects you today could be someone you'll work with in the future. Be courteous and professional (rather than gushy) to everyone.
After speaking to editors, I rounded up a group of fantasy authors, all multi-published, who generously offered more detailed instruction to help aspiring authors in their quest for that elusive contract:
Richard Harland (Author
of the "Ferren" series of YA fantasy novels)
said, "You need to read widely in the field you're hoping to publish in,
researching your publisher, etc. As regards getting to a publisher, the route
suggested at the last popular writers festival seems the best - pay to have your
manuscript edited by a reputable professional editor (specifically someone who's
worked in publishing, like Julia Stiles, Jody Lee etc). It'll cost - but at
least it's a genuine avenue."
I was thrilled when I heard this because Jody was my publisher at Simon & Schuster before she left to work freelance and Julia (who works as a freelance editor) has been my editor for the three books of my "Shadow Through Time" trilogy.
When I asked both women if they were accepting manuscripts to edit, Jody Lee said she was quite busy currently but could be contacted on email jomon@lisp.com.au, and Julia Stiles said, "A professional reading is a good idea, a structural report rather than a full line edit is usually enough and much more affordable, but I'm so busy with publishers I don't usually work on manuscripts that aren't already contracted, unless it is through an agent." I'm sure there would be other professional editors would could help and these might be most easily found through your state's Writer's Centre or the Australian Society of Authors. Just remember to ask if they have experience in the genre you're writing in (ie. fantasy, romance, crime, whatever). Ditto if you decide to use a manuscript assessment service. Make sure the person assessing your manuscript is an industry professional in your genre.
Traci Harding (multi-published
fantasy author of the Celestial Triad series)
said: "For those who feel your tale is ready for PROFESSIONAL ASSESSMENT, you
should chase up the contact details of a professional assessor. This option is
good for those of you who want to get your work to a publisher without going
through an agent. The thumbs up from a professional assessor with get you a
look in with the publishers. I didn't take this route so I can't say much about
it, but I know of authors who have. This is also a must for those with the
resources to self publish.
AGENTS are the very best way to get published in my opinion. Every author has a different story about how he or she found their agent. Mine found me before I'd even started looking. Some have found agents via Writer's organisations like the writer's guild etc. One Fantasy author found her agent in the yellow pages under Literary Agents. Really this is all about creating your own reality and using your imagination to get the interest of the right people, or to attract to right people to you, as I did. Still, agents can be hard to come by, my agent doesn't take on anyone new these days as she has so many writers in her stable already. But if you believe in your talent strongly enough - the right person will come along. Agents will charge anything between 10-20% of your earnings, but as I always say 80-90% of something, is better than 100% of nothing. You don't get charged until you earn, which is great when you're starting out.
Writer's Centres etc. may be able to help you with lists of agents and professional editors in your state.
PUBLISHERS – Never send a manuscript to any major publisher if it has not first been professionally assessed or read by an agent who is willing to pitch it for you. Publishers will not read your MS simply because they don't have the time or resources. As far as they are concerned, if it's not good enough to have been picked up by an agent, or recommended by an assessor then they've got other scripts that have been endorsed as having potential and those scripts are the ones that will get looked at.
Whatever you decide to do with your finished MS, remember how much time you put into writing it and be sure to take that little extra time to polish it up properly before sending it out into the world. That way you'll know, while your waiting for that feedback from an agent or a publisher, that you gave your story it's very best shot at publication."
Ian Irvine (Internationally
published in both fantasy and sci-fi, author of the "View from the Mirror"
quartet) said, "Once
you've written your first draft, and revised it a few times, you'll need some
help. Editors will probably buy a wonderful story in spite of its other faults,
but there's a lot of competition out there and the way to get published is to be
more professional than everyone else. Brilliant writers often don't get
published; professional ones do, particularly those who never, ever give up.
There are a lot of good books on writing. I've found these to be among the best and they cover just about everything you need to know:
Once you've done all that, take a writing course if you're so inclined, though bear in mind that YOU have to learn your trade, and the more time and effort you put into it, the better your chances.
It takes me (and most writers), the best part of a year to produce a finished book. The first draft of a 600 page book takes me a month or more, but by the time I send it to my editor I will have done another five or six drafts, starting at the beginning and working word by word to the end. And then, working with the editor, I'll do another two or three drafts. It's the rewriting that produces the quality.
As most editors of publishing houses will tell you - don't even bother to show it to them till you've done at least half a dozen drafts, because it's in the redrafting, not the original writing, that you really learn to become a writer. And it takes just as long to become a good writer as it does to become a good brain surgeon, so you need all the practice you can get.
Once you've done all that, and are looking to get it published, remember that the big publishers get upwards of FOUR THOUSAND fiction manuscripts a year, of which they might publish as few as two or as many as eight. So you've got roughly a one in a thousand chance of being accepted that way. Unsolicited manuscripts generally do get looked at, but expect it to take a long time. More than 90% are rejected on the first page, and 99% by the end of the first chapter, so your absolute best writing has got to be up front just to get the book read.
But to maximise your chances, you need an 'in', ie a contact in the industry who will at least look at your work. Do a good writing course (after you've learned to write), go to writing seminars, workshops, literary festivals, SF conventions and all the other places where writers, agents, editors and publishers congregate. And then, pester them (in the nicest possible way) to take a look at your stuff. If it's no good, they'll still reject it after reading the first few pages. But if your writing has something, at least you're getting personal attention, which puts you in the pile with thirty or forty manuscripts in it, rather than the dumpster with four thousand.
Good luck with it." (Note: Ian has a great article called "The Truth about Publishing" which you can read on his website: http://www.ian-irvine.com
Well, that's the advice, folks. For my own part I'd like to say that speculative fiction authors would do well to consider attending the EnVision Workshop in Brisbane July 4-9 2003 to polish their manuscripts. I'm one of the four published authors tutoring, and I can assure you we are all experienced in our genres and have a strong commitment to helping aspiring authors. In 2004 the six week Clarion South Workshop will also be run in Brisbane.
As to presenting your manuscript to a publisher, I'm very happy to be represented by Selwa Anthony so my advice would be to get an agent! But I understand that isn't always possible, and that there are writers who prefer to represent themselves. In that case I hope the advice I've assembled here proves helpful to you, and please don't be discouraged by the statistics on how few are accepted. It is challenging, but some writers do make it - usually those who believe in themselves and persist. I hope you'll be one of them.
Please note my big thank you to Arts Queensland's Regional Arts Development Fund for contributing towards my costs in attending this seminar.
Now , how did I achieve publication myself?
Well, I 'broke into' writing the slow way - started with a couple of TAFE creative writing courses then entered a Woman's Day short story competition and placed in the top fifty. That convinced me I was meant to be a romance writer so I headed down that path, writing category romances and sending them off to Mills & Boon. Four years later I decided I didn't have what it took to be a romance writer, but I'd made some wonderful friendships among the very professional romance writing fraternity and the discipline of finishing books, posting them away and accepting the rejection letters had proved invaluable training for an apprentice author.
I wrote some erotic short stories which were published in anthologies, and in 1995 I proposed the idea of writing a contemporary Australia erotic novel to agent Selwa Anthony whom I'd met at the Brisbane Writers Festival the year before. She looked at my work and agreed to represent me - the most important moment of my writing career thusfar. We worked together on "The Venus Obsession" with me finishing a few chapters at a time and sending them to Selwa for feedback. It was hard to change over from category romances to mainstream fiction because it's a completely different discipline but we got to the end and that was a great thing in itself. I'd written my first mainstream novel!
The Venus Obsession didn't sell but it was looked at by senior editors in a couple of major Australian publishing houses and that was a buzz in itself. I wrote another novel - an erotic thriller, and a collection of short stories, but Selwa was unable to sell any of them - whether because I wasn't at publication standard or because erotic fiction was on a downturn by then I'll never know. But when Selwa asked me what I wanted to write next I was sure of the answer, "My little princess story," I told her with confidence. It was a story I'd had in the back of my mind since I was a little girl and I think subconsciously I'd been waiting until I was good enough to write it.
I was excited about it and Selwa (who taught me that you should always write where your passions lie) agreed I should write that next. So I did. "Destiny of The Light" took 18 months to complete and Selwa showed it, along with the synopses for the remaining two books in the Shadow Through Time trilogy, to five major Australian publishing houses. Can't tell you what a thrill it was to think of all those senior editors reading my book at the same time. The upshot was that two of them bid for it and we went with Simon & Schuster who have done a great job with the series. The second novel "Daughter of The Dark" came out last June and is currently shortlisted in the Australian Aurealis Award. "Glimmer in the Maelstrom" is due for release in June 2003 and I've just finished editing it. So now, for the first time in three years I'm uncontracted.
Just like everyone else, I have to write something and sell it! Wish me luck.
Louise 2002