I'm really curious to know from published authors on here the processes they took to break into the industry.
Always a good idea to ask those who know.
There will be many differences on paths, so having as much knowledge as possible is always helpful.
I have been browsing this website for hours at a time and I've noticed that many users who were discussing pitching work several years ago are now enjoying a degree of success with their published works. (And congratulations, by the way!)
AW has been hugely useful to many people in their career. It's one of the few sites out there where the members really
want to help others and aren't jealous of the success of others. We're all bestsellers in training, even if the bestselling status and rewards has been achieved.
How many of you are represented by agents or did you choose to go it alone with self-publishing?
I'm represented by the brilliant and lovely Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House. I'm lucky to have her. I know this because I
did try to go it alone. I didn't fail, because I sold a book on my own to a well-established small press, but the things I've learned from her can't even be expressed in words. The best way I can describe it is: imagine that you have the funds to have a permanent, trustworthy and professional housekeeper and gardener on your staff. You don't have to worry about paying them unless and until you get your paycheck. But every day when you get home from a long day, your house is immaculate and your yard looks like a showplace.
Yes, you can clean your own house, and yes, you can pull your own weeds and the work will still get done. But you don't
have to, and they do a far better job because it IS their job. It's not a slap-dash, "as much as I can do today" performance. It's perfect every day.
In a good agent relationship, that's how it works. I don't have to worry about chasing the publisher for money, or my next book deals. My books have sold in foreign countries without my input. They've sold to audio rights companies and are shopped to other media producers. It just
happens and I reap the benefit (after her cut, of course.
)
How have the sales of your books done since publication?
Quite well. I've earned through all but one of my contracts (20 books and counting, usually in 3-4 book contracts) and will probably earn out on the final contract shortly. I wrote them with a co-author, and with the earnings split in half, I've still managed to make over a quarter million dollars in about 10 years.
Has getting your foot in the door been down to having connections or purely an excellent pitch - or both?
Hmm...a little of both, I guess. My foot in the door was another author liking my book and recommending it to HER agent, who became my agent. So that definitely helped. But it was happenstance, too, so not really an answer to your question. But since I became published, contacts are EVERYTHING! Meet and greet meetings with people at conventions/conferences, being on panels with people, meeting fans and other agents and editors. All very useful, and much easier to meet once you have your own agent and publisher.
You're not a hopeful person, looking to score. You're a peer.
Did you spend years trying to break down the door or was it more or less instantaneous?
For me, slightly instantaneous. I didn't have to beat down the door.
How do you fare with social media marketing?
I'm okay with it. I'm not a social person, but I connect well with people online. I prefer forums, like here, to the "shouting into the darkness" of Facebook or Blogs. Twitter is better because it's more a chat room with people actually living and talking back to you.
What advice do you have for writers currently trying to break in?
Spend the time to make every word on every page the best it can be. Edit until your fingers bleed. Editors at publishers don't have the time to babysit your grammar, punctuation or spelling. "The story is everything" only applies to an editor or agent with a ton of time to spend. I've talked to more than one editor about this, and the general opinion is that if they have two prospective manuscripts and one is great and ready for the shelf and one
could be amazing with a ton of help, they'll probably pick the shelf-ready one and send an encouraging rejection to the possible amazing one.
It's a business. It's just the way it is. Because if
you don't care . . . why should they? Or the reader, for that matter.
I'm really trying to increase my knowledge of the industry in every possible way - been researching agents, publishers, buying copies of the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, reading blogs on what agents are looking for, looking out for writers conferences, entering competitions - and, of course, writing. Any thoughts from published writers would be enormously helpful.
Those are my best thoughts. Good luck!
