Querying publishers is immensely challenging. I thought that writing the book was more often than not a gruelling process, but publishers are way harder…
Some want 1.5 spacing, some want double, some want an elevator pitch, biography proposed outline, full manuscript. Some want three chapters, some want twenty five pages, some just want a chapter outline, genre and target audience. Then there’s the cover letter and synopsis.
I’m struggling I’ll admit to squeeze my entire book onto one A4 page synopsis. I won’t be beaten however, I’ll do my research and send the best that I can write.
So, let’s imagine that I have written a great covering letter and synopsis, I’ve formatted my manuscript as requested and written a cracking pitch. Now I have the dreaded wait for whether or not my book is what they are looking for.
Will I feel rejection or success?
Self publishing is a totally different kettle of fish. Write book (yippee) publish book, market book yourself and take great pleasure in knowing that your book is immediately out there. And it’s amazing when your author copy floats through the letterbox. Easy, right?
In a word, no! Of course self publishing isn’t as easy as that. It’s a pain to format into a paperback, you need to create your own cover (or pay someone to do it) you need to edit and proof read it yourself (or again pay someone to do it) you need to get yourself out there and continuously market yourself and your book, you need to be on top of your social media, you need to be confident in pitching yourself to anyone that will listen, and even to those that won’t. You really can’t rest on your laurels when you self publish.
I love self publishing, even with all of its trials and tribulations, but I also like a challenge, so I’m looking forward to giving traditional publishers a bash.
Emma L Beal 