Nigel 
August 26th,2010Having written a book maybe you’d like to get it published.
That is where many writers falter because they suddenly find they’re expected to be more than just an author.
When Joanne Harris completed her first book (Jenny my wife didn’t like it,but they republished it when Chocolat made Joanne famous) she bought a copy of the Writers’and Artists’Yearbook,made a list of potential literary agents,and one Saturday morning sat down with the list and a phone. Of course,most literary agents aren’t in the office on a Saturday,but Joanne was undaunted. Finally she found someone who worked from home.
“Oh no,not another bloody teacher that thinks they can write. What would you say if I said I thought I could teach French?”he said.
Quick as a flash she responded,“I’d say,no problem,come and take my year 11 class last lesson next Friday and we’ll see if you’re right.”
Most would-be authors do not have Joanne’s personality. They’re not good at approaching agents or publishers,and they’re not expecting to be involved in publicity –except maybe the odd book signing arranged by someone else.
So what will we be offering them? The intention is:a fairly comprehensive old-fashioned service which is friendly and on the side of the author.
We will only be dealing with non-fiction. Best sellers would be great,but realistically we’re interested in material that is worth buying and has a large enough potential market to be likely to break even.
Adam adds:“We are looking for real life stories,that is our inspiration,we want people to learn from mistakes,celebrate successes and break down barriers –I think that sums up what we are all about!”
From manuscript to publication
Once a book is accepted we’ll work with the author on knocking it into shape. Coming up with saleable material and writing well are not the same as marshalling the material into something that will sell. Extensive editing may be needed. The title and sub-title have to be right for the target market. The cover and other aspects of design including layout and fonts need to fit the material and to attract people to take a second look. We believe the author should be involved in these aspects of creating the final product. What is published should be something both the author and the publisher have contributed to and are happy with.
You might think all that is quite normal,but apparently not so. Publishers are increasingly expecting the manuscript to be ready for publication with little or no editing. They tend not to involve the author in design. We will be happy to accept good material that still needs a lot of work to knock it into shape,and we believe the author should be involved at every stage. That’s not to say the author can make final decisions,but their views should matter.
Publicity
That brings us to a key difference between us and most publishers. Authors need to be involved in marketing their book,but most have no idea how to do this,and many feel ill at ease with promoting themselves. We’ll be offering advice and discussion to each author we accept on what they can do to increase sales. The plan is to also put together a pamphlet of ideas,and once we’re happy with it then turn it into a book which our authors receive free. There are plenty of books on how to sell books,but they do not match every author.
And finally,we’ll not be impatient. It could be several years before word gets round to enough people for the book to sell adequately. It will remain available and we will be continuing with the author to look for new ways to promote it.
In summary: we’ll be offering authors a warm,friendly,understanding partnership –providing the material has enough potential and fits with the type of stuff we want to publish.
How can we do this without giving many hours free to each book? We have a number of ideas already. Much has changed in the last fifteen years,and will continue to change. We are also identifying talented people to whom we can subcontract some aspects,just as established publishers do,but we want our subcontractors to feel they are part of the team.
We’re people people. We want to know everyone involved personally. Initially we’re unlikely to accept submissions from outside the UK because we’ll want to meet up with authors and chat things through face to face and get to know them as much as possible. Our publishing house will build small,friendly teams to produce and market books that are both of good quality and worth buying.
There is already a small publishing house dealing with fiction which already offers a similar service. More on them next time.
