Sorry, to dwell on the subject of submissions, again but we’ve had another query in and this raises another point.
This author sent a very well written mini synopsis of his alternative history novel (very interesting as it’s my own main chosen field) and asked us if we would interested in the book. If so he would send us a couple of chapters. Yeah, right, you are right, he clearly hadn’t read the guidelines properly –whole manuscript does not mean a manuscript with holes!
He did, however provide a brief bio which if true would be a good marketing tool, let’s face it if the author has lived an interesting life then his book has more chance of being interesting. Not saying it has to be, but it’s more likely. At the bottom of the bio he states he’s a full time writer and has won many journalistic awards and has had four novels published previously.
Now, the journalism one is potential warning flag. The advantage authors with a journalistic background have is they know all about working with editors and working to deadlines. The disadvantage is they know all about working with editors and working to deadlines. Yes, that’s a deliberate repeat. They understand how to write factual pieces, and depending on the rag even faction pieces (i.e. fiction masquerading as fact – and I know I might well have insulted all journalists there – but it’s not meant, well not entirely).
I have worked with journalists turned fiction writer in the past and had great experiences, but I’ve also had massively bad experiences that way too. So it’s a warning flag but not a big one.
The second point is the main one here. He has had four novels previously published. Hmmm... Time to do some digging. Hello Amazon, how are you today? Good? So am I. How are you Google?
Two minutes later and his publishing track record is fully exposed. Amazon lists all four of his novels, and several collections of his articles. So far so good. It was time to dig a little deeper – and this exposes a very nice titbit of information. All of the above works were published by one company – one of the slightly less well known self publishing companies.
Now, I am in no way snobbish – we’re not big enough to be that way, and I have absolutely no quarrel with anyone who wants to go down the self-publishing route. But if you self-publish – can you really call yourself a published author in the accepted sense of the word within the publishing industry? Hell, I know some of the large publishers don’t regard someone who has been published by an indie publisher as being a published author – very snobby attitude.
If he had said he had previously self published his books, I would most certainly have given him brownie points for his honesty, and some more for his industry. Now, unfortunately for him, I will probably be reading his manuscript – if he submits it, with a slightly jaundiced eye.
The moral of the story is don’t try to pull the wool over a potential publisher’s eye by claiming to be more than you are. It doesn’t take long to stick a pin in the balloon of self-deceit – the web is all pervasive, and starting from behind in a race that is already very hard to win, is a handicap you don’t want.
So when exactly is an author published? When is it correct to claim a publishing credit? Over to you.
Self-published is to published as a part in a third grade play is to an actor. It's a place to start.
ReplyDeleteTo be "a published author", you must be a professional which means you must have been paid for writing. The fact that he's completed four manuscripts is a mark in his favor since most people never make it past chapter three.
That said, if he can cite significant sales figures for those novels, it would make a difference.
I'll have you know I stole the show in my third grade nativity play! LOL
ReplyDeleteI do know what yuo mean though, but I will reserve judgement and give it a read - he has actually submitted it now so we'll see.
Actually, I must pop in and say I do disagree with Deborah's comments. I'm proudly self-published with some of my work and equally proudly commercially published with other works, so am very happy indeed to have a foot in both camps.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, two of my novels (Pink Champagne and Apple Juice, and Thorn in the Flesh) are self-published in paperback and commercially published in Ebook - so that's been an eye-opening mix. So I like to think I'm one of the first authors who's a SP-comm crossover. :))
I'm also, of course, equally proud to be part of the Bluewood Publishing list of authors with two works coming out with them in the future.
:))
Anne B
I do know where you're coming from Anne, and we're just as pleased to have both you and Deborah on our books with both of you having had previous publishing experience.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, the problems with any channel to market in the book world come done to the quality of the editing. There are too many self published books out there which have not been edited to a reasonable standard.These then give others a bad reputation to overcome.
My issue is simply using the line "I have four books already published". This implies commerical publishing not self-publishing. As I said, I would have given him points for being honest and being industrious. Now I'm slightly jaundiced.
It's nice to see someone crossing over in both directions. LOL. Which came first?
Ooh, self-publishing came first, naturally, David! And strangely, up until very very recently, the self-published & original version of Pink Champagne and Apple Juice was above everything my bestselling book!
ReplyDeleteI also think times are a-changing, certainly in the last 2-5 years. These days, sensible self-publishers edit their work to within an inch of its life. With all my novels I've always had at least a two-stage (sometimes three) professional editing process before I take any of my books to market, so whether they end up self- or commercially published, they always have that experience behind them. In fact, by the time you get to edit The Gifting, that will be its 4th professional edit :))
Axxx