YOU CAN GET YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED--
JUST DO IT YOURSELF! (Part One of Two)
By Marcia L. McNair, Author, E-Males
Has anyone ever said to you, “You ought to write a book?” Maybe you’ve had amazing life experiences you’d like to share, or you’re brimming with advice that would benefit others. It could be that you have an idea for a fictional story that you know would make a great movie one day or are constantly being asked for copies of your poetry. Yet, even if you have summoned the courage to take the big leap and write a book, you then have the problem of what comes next? How do you get your work published? Should you approach a major publishing company or do it yourself? Well, believe it or not, getting your book in print is the easy part. Getting your book in writing is the hard part!
The publishing process itself only takes little more than a month, but writing a book can take years or decades. It took African American writer Edward P. Jones, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Unknown World, over ten years to finish his book. It took me about eight years to finish my novel E-Males, and I am a professional writer!
Now I have a small publishing company as well, called Aya Press, so when people approach me about publishing their books, I know from personal and professional experience to get the most important issue out of the way first: Do you have a completed manuscript?
It’s amazing to me how many people put the cart before the horse on this one. If you want someone to publish your book, you have to have a book to publish! Even if you decide to go the self-publishing route, and keep all the profits for yourself, you need a finished piece of writing as the starting point. Therefore, in Part One of this article, I’ll discuss what I feel is the most challenging aspect of the self-publishing business: getting your inner manuscript out.
Tip One: The Time Is Write. Just like the television game show, The Price is Right, make the time to write. Set aside at least an hour each day. One reason it took me so long to finish E-Males is that I didn’t have a schedule in the beginning. I would write whenever I had free time. The trouble was, as a single working mother of two, I never had free time! I had to make time. In my case, I committed to write for one hour a night after I put the boys to bed. For you, this could mean getting up an hour earlier, or designating all of your lunch hour. Whatever time is best for you, decide you must! Then, absolutely do not cheat, because really you are only cheating yourself! You must discipline yourself to write every day. Eventually, it will become a habit. Think of it this way: If you wrote just one page every day for a year, at the end of the year, you’d have a 365-page book!
Tip Two: Perspiration Vs. Inspiration. Many people feel they have to be inspired to write. They feel they are better off waiting for the right mood and then making up for lost time. They think they are more productive this way. This used to be me until five years into writing E-Males, I still wasn’t finished. My inspiration was often sporadic, and because I wasn’t on a disciplined schedule, it often took longer than if I’d had the warm-up of writing every day. In addition, I sometimes forgot where I left off or changes in the plot or characters, which created more work at revision time. Therefore, once you’ve set aside a specific hour to write each day, use it no matter what…even if you are just staring at the computer. If you condition yourself, eventually your ideas and words will begin to flow.
Tip Three: Perfection Obsession. One misconception that slows down writers is that they think each and every word must be perfect before they put it on paper. Besides being a writer, I am also a Professor of English at Nassau Community College. I’ve found that my students often waste so much time trying to make their writing perfect in the first draft, that they often run out of time to complete their work. What’s blocking you? Maybe one reason you have not written your book is the mistaken notion that you have to be perfect. Not only is perfection impossible, it will slow your writing down to a crawl. Your goal is to get your book on paper. You can revise and edit later, or even hire someone to do that (like I did). In terms of writing: an imperfect something is always better than a perfect nothing.
Tip Four: Compute This. You must buy a computer with the Microsoft Word program. Consider it an investment in your most important asset: you! Manuscripts have to be typed, and they have to be typed in the Word program. No matter how you feel about Microsoft’s monopoly, which led me to use another word processing program out of spite, you will have to submit your manuscript in Word. I wound up having to convert my book and all other related documents to Word. Before I decided to self-publish, I was contacting mainstream publishers. I had trouble fulfilling requests to email my manuscript and/or query letters because no one had my word processing program. Owning a computer is the single most essential step in the whole writing and publishing process. Word will correct your spelling and grammar. Plus, a lot of publishers will not even look at a hard copy of a manuscript. They want it downloaded to a disk. If you are self-publishing, your printer will charge you twice as much if you can’t send a copy of your book via the internet. Lastly, the internet is one of your greatest resources of information related to writing and publishing. For instance, I have my list of Submission Guidelines on my company’s website at www.Ayapressbooks.com. I will often refer writers to the website before discussing their work. This is a common practice nowadays.
Tip Five: Hire the Help. There are some things you should not do yourself. As a writer, only you can say when you should not have the last word. After numerous attempts at editing E-Males, and still finding mistakes, I knew I needed to hire someone. Before I decided on an editor, I asked for suggestions from an on-line writers group. (Another reason you must buy a computer and you must get internet service.) The group, called Black Writers Organization (www.blackwriters.org), has thousands of members throughout the country. I was able to benefit from their experience and knowledge. The head of the group, Tia Ross, is an excellent editor. She can be reached through her website at Tiaross.com. Editors routinely publicize their service through groups like Black Authors Showcase (www.blackauthors.ning.com). Join one of these groups to make contact with the help you need to complete your book. Remember to ask if the editor charges by the hour or page and get the price in writing before hiring the person. It cost me a little under four hundred dollars for E-Males which has 160 pages. Some other tasks you might outsource: typing, editing, and photocopying. Just make sure you get references before hiring any person or any company
Once you have a completed manuscript, you have two choices: either approach a publishing company or publish your book yourself. In Part Two, I will discuss the pros and cons of each method, and why I ultimately decided to form my own company to publish E-Males. I’ll also take you through the step-by-step process it took to get E-Males on bookshelves.
Author Bio: Novelist and playwright Marcia L. McNair has taught English at Nassau Community College for over fifteen years. Her first novel E-Males is available through http://www.Emalesonline.com or http://www.Ayapressbooks.com. You can contact her at info@Emalesonline.com.
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peace, marcia