Some great advice for aspiring authors!

Since the launch of our book 'Transform your work life: Turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling', Graham Power and I have asked by numerous people how one 'gets published'.

Of course this question arises out of the reality that statistically only one in ever ten thousand manuscripts get published by a mainstream publisher.  First, let me say that this doesn't mean that those books that get published are better than the ones that don't.  Rather, it means that those manuscripts that make it through the process of being read, vetted, edited, published, distributed and sold have a reasonable business model!  Let us never forget that publishers are in business - they want books that have a good chance of selling and making them money!

A friend of mine recently wrote one of the most remarkable manuscripts that I've read in some time.  When he sent it to two of South Africa's major Christian publishers they didn't even read it, one simply said that they are not looking to bring any 'new titles' into their catalogue. I suggested that he self publish it - I know it will encourage and bless others, so it is too good to NOT be published because it doesn't make 'business sense'.

So, what do you do if you have a great story to tell or a ground breaking idea to share?

Well, there are various options to consider... My advice is don't wait for a publisher to give you 'permission' to be published!  

Some of the greatest success stories in recent publiciation come from self published books - have you heard about William P Young's book 'The shack'.  That great book started its life as a self published book. There are many other great examples! 

If you're interested in connecting with some great publishers who will help you to get your work in print then please leave a comment below, or send me a note via the contact section of this page, and I'll send you details for people that I've used in the past.  

Of course it is worth trying a publisher first, but if you hear nothing back, or if the reply is negative consider getting your manuscript proof read, get a nice cover designed, get an ISBN number (all of which are incredibly easy to do), and then get it printed!

You'll soon discover, as I have, that simply having a publisher doesn't mean that your book will sell!  Even published authors have to spend their time and energy getting their books into people's hands, on book shelves, and you still find that most of your 'sales' come from speaking engagements, book clubs, and personally sold copies.

We sell quote a few copies of 'Transform your work life' via stores and the web, but we sell far more copies at speaking engagements. Remember that your publisher has hundreds of authors and titles to promote!  They have limited staff, time and budgets to keep their business running!  So, unless you make the effort to set up speaking engagements, tell others about your book, and sell copies yourself you may just get forgotten.

This section from Seth Godin's post below seems to agree with my ideas:

...the fledgling author, the one who has been turned down by ten agents and then copies his manuscript and fedexes it to twenty large publishing houses--what is he hoping for, exactly? Perhaps he's hoping to win the magic lottery, to be the one piece of slush chosen out of a million (literally a million!) that goes on to be published and revered.

You deserve better than the dashed hopes of a magic lottery.

There's a hard work alternative to the magic lottery, one in which you can incrementally lay the groundwork and integrate into the system you say you want to work with. And yet instead of doing that work, our instinct is to demonize the person that wants to take away our ticket, to confuse the math of the situation (there are very few glass slippers available) with someone trying to slam the door in your faith/face.

You can either work yourself to point where you don't need the transom, or you can play a different game altogether, but throwing your stuff over the transom isn't worthy of the work you've done so far.

Starbucks didn't become Starbucks by getting discovered by Oprah Winfrey or being blessed by Warren Buffet when they only had a few stores. No, they plugged along. They raised bits of money here and there, flirted with disaster, added one store and then another, tweaked and measured and improved and repeated. Day by day, they dripped their way to success. No magic lottery.

A great story (or idea), hard work, and self determination are certain to get you published and read! I've been reading 'Rework' over the last few days (written by the guys at 37signals).  They have some incredible advice for entrepreneurs, much of it can be related to writing.  I'd encourage you to buy a copy of it.  In particular they encourage one to get your product or service to market as soon as it can meet a need.  If you get caught in the cycle of trying to get it perfect (or published) it may never make it into people's hands!

Feel free to drop me a line with a comment, question or some advice of your own.