The Road to Accomplishing Your Goals

By J.A. (Julie) Kazimer

Even if you are firmly entrenched in one path to publication like traditional publishing, you won’t find your journey is a straight line. Even those writers who sell their first book to the very first editor their agent approaches, often look back on the way they became an author and are surprised at how winding the road was.

Which makes this the best time in history to be a writer. The options to becoming a writer are immense, as are the ways to publication. My advice, never judge your own journey by that of another. Compare it, sure. Use it, definitely.  But avoid judging your progress by someone else’s, especially since the roadblocks and detours you face are very different, as are your writing, your goals, and your needs.

So let’s talk a little about those detours and ways in which you can become an author, other than or within traditional publishing or self-publishing, that you might not have thought about.

I’m going to begin with a story about my own path to becoming an author and how different it was from what I expected, which was…I had no clue. I just knew I wanted to see my book at Barnes & Noble. I was naive to the publishing game.

Boy have I learned a lot since my first conference in 2007.

Only 10 books ago (or for those who count in years, 8 of those suckers), which feels like a lifetime ago, I first started to consider a career as a writer.

And why not? I had one brand new spanking, shiny manuscript under my belt and was pretty sure it would be a book by Christmas that year. This was in June, mind you. I was deluded, so sure that publishing was a one step process. Lucky for me, this was also a time when indie or self-publishing was looked at like one does a fan of Dan Brown.

If self-publishing would’ve been an option like it is today, I would’ve jumped on it after my 300th rejection email appeared in my inbox. Sadly I had to wait another 700 rejection letters (or 3 years in regular people counting) for my first book to be sold, by me at a RMFW conference.

The thing was, I had an agent. And this wasn’t the first book I’d tried to sell. This was the 5th book I’d written. I’d paid my dues (at least I thought I had). I’d done everything I was supposed to do on the traditional publishing linear path. Which went something like, write great book, get agent, sell book to big six publishing house. I’d gotten an agent. I’d suffered through editorial boards. And yet, I hadn’t sold a book.

And now I had. By myself.

Of course the agent was very helpful come contract time but that’s another horror story and we don’t have time for me to break down in tears.

But you see my point, there are more ways than that one straight line for traditional publishing. Think about the authors you know. How many of them fit into the linear path? Maybe one or two. So on the traditional publishing path, we have agent/editor/book, and we can add editor/book. Many houses, with the exception of most of the Big 5 publishers, do accept unagented queries.

You could also smack talk your way to a book deal as social media explodes around us. I know plenty of bloggers who now have book deals because of the platform they built on their blogs. I bet you know of one too. Anyone every heard of Orange is the New Black? Well, the writer, Piper Chapmen, was a blogger who sold her story as a book and then later as the award winning Netflix show.

Which brings me to yet another path, do a sex tape… Pam Anderson of the famed Tommy Lee sex tape published a book in 2004.

Now I’m not saying that’s your best bet, mind you…

But celebrity does help.

Okay, let’s move on to networking your way to the top. Making friends can get you a book deal. I’ve seen it happen. Writers become friends with agents or editors, the writer writes a damn good book, and gets it in front of her friends. They love it and already know they love him or her, and the writer is now an author.

Don’t discount networking with other writers. That can be just as fruitful. Writers will give their agents and editors referrals and often that referral holds enough weight to get a contract.

Other traditional publishing paths you might not have considered are mid-sized or smaller presses. You probably won’t get a huge advance, but they, in my experience, can be better to work with. You are allowed more control over what your book will look like once it’s published. Article, serials, and magazine writing can open doors for you. Non-fiction and creative non-fiction are also ways to get published.

All these things, no matter what path, assume you already have a great, polished book. Without that, the path to publication will be very bumpy.

Let’s talk about self-publishing options for a moment. I am a hybrid author, meaning I write for traditional publishers as well as have my own self-publishing empire (though it’s a very small empire at that). I am a firm believer in self-publishing. I know how hard it is to get a book published the traditional way, especially when it’s a book not quite in the mainstream. Short story collects for example. Very few publishers want them.

Self-publishing is as viable an option as traditional publishing if you are looking to get your book into the world. I’m not going to go over the pros and cons of each, just know that there are many for both, and to explore your best option when deciding which path you want to take.

So some of the self-publishing oaths you can take are ‘self’ self publishing, by which I mean, doing everything on your own. You edit or hire an editor (which is my suggestion), you do the book cover or again hire someone, you do the formatting or hire someone. This DYI approach is a great option if you have the time and abilities.

For those that don’t. You can go through a vanity or boutique press, but be very careful. They tend to be expensive and the contracts can be very tricky. When you self-publish, no matter how you do, make sure you retain the rights.

If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear about your publishing journey. How did you get a book deal, or self-publish your book? If you haven’t done either yet, what road do you think you’ll follow?

 

You can learn more about me and get a free ebook at www.jakazimer.com or friend me on facebook.