In so many industries, there are those willing to prey on the unwary, the companies that offer wanna be actors headshots for thousands of pounds (or dollars), the online colleges offering high priced courses that lead to no recognized qualifications, the publishing companies that ask for ridiculous amounts of money to publish your book. All these and many more are just waiting to take a desperate person’s money.
As an author, even a new one, money should flow to you and not away from you.
Seeing this happening to writers and even being preyed upon myself, I decided to fight back. With the help of some like-minded people, I started up a traditional, indie UK based publishing company.
We NEVER charge our authors for any services.
On running a publishing company
Mostly, I love it. But it has its downside.
One of the worst things that we have to do is send out rejections.
We all want to give a writer that moment of pure joy when their work is accepted. So, to have to say “NO” to a manuscript is never easy, nor is it a decision that we take lightly.
It is never personal when we decide to reject an author’s work. It is based on many aspects and here I would like to try to explain those decisions and help new writers to get accepted.
We have had a few authors get in touch and ask for more information on why their work was not accepted. That is a reasonable question, and I will always try to answer honestly.
What questions do publishers get?
There are three questions that come up regularly.
- “What are you looking for?”
- “What can I do differently?”
- “Can I resubmit?”
The first two are often impossible to answer.
On resubmitting
But, as it is the easiest one, I will answer the last question first.
Yes, of course, you can resubmit. If are happy to make any changes we have asked for or have another manuscript that you think might be better suited, by all means, send it to us.
On what publishers are looking for
Now, on to the harder questions,
The first question is an exceptionally difficult one.
“What are you looking for?”
It depends. Really, it does. Many aspects can weigh on the decisions we make, it can depend on the time of year, the other books we have taken on, your genre, your characters, and even your style of writing.
Tastes vary, nothing appeals to everyone. Even famous authors have people who will never read their work. No one can please all the people all the time, it is impossible.
At our publishing company, we ask beta readers to help us decide if a manuscript is interesting, well written, and fits with our ethos. If the feedback is encouraging, then as a team we will decide if we should move forward with the writer.
Because we are a small company, we need authors that want to be an active member of a writing family, that will help to boost each other’s books and support one another, and that will get involved with their marketing and promotion.
So, to sum up. As a publisher of fiction, I am primarily looking for a well-edited manuscript, a well written and entertaining story, a book that knows its target audience, relatable characters, consistency, and a passion from the writer for their work without blindness to the fact that changes will probably need to be made.
On what a writer can do differently
With regards to the second question, usually, I would say that you should not alter anything in your writing to please a publishing company unless they specifically ask for a modification and have offered to take it on if you make the small change. Even then, you must decide if you are happy to make that adjustment, it is your work and your story. So, it must be your decision.
There are plenty of anecdotes that circulate about well-known authors being rejected over and over before their big break. They are usually shared to give new writers hope, and you should have hope. A publishing house may turn down a bestseller, but if they had not turned it down and published it without having the zeal to really push the book, or the budget/market/connections for it…maybe the author would not have had the success that they did.
Of course, sometimes changes are necessary, if a manuscript is badly (or not) edited, has huge plot holes, or has an offensive theme, then maybe you need to look at it again and rethink the work before submitting elsewhere.
The most important thing to remember is editing. Edit, edit and edit some more. Then edit it again.
If you cannot afford to pay a professional editor, ask your friends and family to help, ask for honest opinions. Use online tools like Grammarly to help you, they can be a lifesaver.
Making connections in the industry is also essential. Join writing groups, follow blogs and vlogs. Do not be ashamed to ask for help, see if another writer (that you trust) will swap manuscripts with you, so you can both edit each other’s work. Be ready for criticism, it will be hard to take, but you can use it. You can improve and refine your manuscript. This is vital so that you are ready to submit the best version to publishers or agents.
On the other hand, If you are blighted by rejections from many different places, then maybe put the manuscript away and come back to it after a short time, it can be a way of spotting things that you did not see on previous read throughs. You could notice things about the work that you didn’t before, issues that need addressing, mistakes that were missed. Or you can try reading it aloud. This can help with finding plot inconsistencies or errors in the text.
Conclusion
I hope I have helped and given new writers a little bit of optimism.
Lastly, I would like to thank our authors for putting their trust in us, to all of you for reading this, to the wonderful resident blogger for giving me a chance to reach out to you all, and, to the new writers working hard out there, waiting for their turn to shine.
Keep writing, keep motivated, keep believing in yourselves, and keep editing.
Chrissy Brown – Creative Director of CAAB Publishing LTD – www.caabpublishing.co.uk
