Paper Hearts, Volume 2: Some Publishing Advice

By Beth Revis

When you’re ready to take your book to the next stage, Paper Hearts Volume 2 serves as a guide. With unbiased information on multiple possible publishing paths, this book provides practical resources to determine whether your book should be traditionally or self published and gives specific examples on successful practices for both paths. Go from query to interviewing agents to working with traditional publishing editors, as well as avoiding pitfalls in self publishing, developing a book, and distributing it across markets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Beth Revis
• Release date: Dec 31, 2015

Book preview

Paper Hearts, Volume 2

Paper Hearts, Volume 2

Some Publishing Advice

Beth Revis

Contents

Copyright

Dedication

A Note About Websites

Introduction

1. If you’re here…

2. How Do You Know You’re Ready?

3. There’s a Difference

4. It’s Not a Competition

5. First Drafts & Final Products

6. Don’t Get Scammed

7. Set Goals

8. Desperation is Your Greatest Enemy

Publishing Paths

9. First, a Definition

10. Where Self Publishing and Traditional Publishing Overlap

11. Where Self Publishing and Traditional Publishing Diverge

12. Which Path is Right for You?

13. Myths of Self Publishing

14. Myths of Traditional Publishing

15. In Defense of Your Choice

16. Beware Absolutes

17. Things Your Need, Regardless of Your Path

18. Different Methods for Self or Traditional Publication

19. Success May Depend on Your Path

20. The Third Option

21. Options Within Options

Professional Advice

22. Be Professional

23. Rejection Helps

24. Don’t Apologize

25. Do I Need a Copyright?

26. A Little About Money

27. A Little More About Money

28. The Best & Worst Ways to Spend Money

29. When it Comes to Spending Time and Money…

30. Keep Something in Your Back Pocket

31. A Brief Glimpse of Publishing Paths

Agents

32. Pros and Cons of Having a Literary Agent

33. When Should I Submit to an Agent?

34. The Role of the Agent

35. Agents: Beyond the Book Deal

36. Don’t Be Intimidated

37. Researching Agents

38. Things that Aren’t Warning Signs

39. Typical Submission Processes

40. Developing Your Pitch

41. How to Write a Query Letter

42. Special Situations in a Query Letter

43. Sample Query Letter

44. Practice Query Letter

45. Query Letter Strategies

46. Standard Manuscript Formatting

47. Synopses

48. If You Get a Rejection

49. If You Get a Request

50. If You Get an Offer

51. Questions for Potential Agents

52. Which Agent to Sign With

53. Avoiding Bad Agents & Breaking Up with an Agent

Traditional Publication

54. Contracts

55. Edits

56. If You Have Problems with Editing

57. Use Your Agent

58. Outside Your Control

59. Inside Your Control

60. Asking for Blurbs

61. A Sample Publication Schedule

62. Book Launch Party

63. Virtual Book Launch Party

64. Don’t Forget to Say No

65. The Next Book

Self Publication

66. First

67. Change Your Perspective

68. The Sense of Freedom

69. On Taking Advice

70. Vanity Publishing is NOT Self Publishing

71. Common Mistakes

72. No Excuses

73. Reader Expectations

74. Book Descriptions & Taglines

75. Algorithms, Keywords, & Cross Promotion

76. Preorder or Immediate Release

77. A Sample Publication Schedule

78. Back Matter

79. Pricing Your Ebook

80. Budget Samples & Services

81. Let Go of Perfection

82. Distributors & Retailers

83. Print Books

84. Do I Still Need an Agent?

85. Intro to Marketing

86. How to Market Book One

One Final Note…

87. Don’t Forget…

88. Complete Your Collection

About the Author

Also by Beth Revis

89. Praise for Beth’s Novels

PAPER HEARTS, Vol 2: SOME PUBLISHING ADVICE

Copyright © 2015 by Beth Revis

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Cover design by Hafsah Faizal

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www.bethrevis.com

www.iceydesigns.com

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Publisher disclaimer: The material in this book is for informational purposes only. The author and publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any negative effects that result from the use or application of the information contained in this book. Use discretion when making decisions regarding writing and publication of your work.

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All rights reserved.

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical, printing, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher prior to, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Electronic versions of the book are licensed for the individual’s personal use only and may not be redistributed in any form without compensation and approval to and by the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law.

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Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

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First paperback edition: 2015

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ISBN: 978-0-9906626-7-9 (print)

ISBN: 978-0-9906626-8-6 (ebook)

Created with Vellum

This book is dedicated to the writers

who, like me, could paper their

walls with rejections.

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Dei gratia.

A Note About Websites

Throughout this book, the author occasionally refers to websites for further reading and resources. Please keep in mind that web content continually changes, and the author cannot control this.

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For additional online resources, visit http://bethrevis.com/paperhearts

Introduction

Welcome to the world of publishing. BYOB.

One

If you’re here…

I’m sorry.

Writing is a deeply personal art form that is often introspective and taps into who we are as a person.

Publishing is a soulless business that’s worried about the bottom line.

Although they go hand-in-hand, writing and publishing are two entirely different beasts. Regardless, for many writers, the goal after finishing the novel is to get it published. But here’s the thing that you need to remember throughout your publishing journey: Your dream lies in the hands of someone else. You are not in control.

This is true of whether you’re seeking traditional publication—in which case you need an agent, then an editor, then the support of your entire publishing house—or whether you’re pursuing self publishing and have to establish an audience or languish away with no readers. Either way, part of your success is determined by other people.

Of course you have a role in making your success happen. You have to write the best book possible. That’s the thing you control—the only thing.

Because everything else? Out of your hands. You can’t change the market that may not want your book right now. You can’t change the agent who had a bad day and wasn’t in the mood for your query. You can’t change the publishing house that markets the book poorly. You can’t change the stigma around self publishing. You can’t change the difficulty you face in getting exposure, finding readers, building an audience…and then doing it all over again with the next book.

That’s what makes publishing so hard. There’s so much that you have no control over.

So when publishing gets you down—and it definitely will—remember the one thing you can control. Your art. When in doubt, go back to your story. Write. Don’t forget that the writing always comes first.

Two

How Do You Know You’re Ready?

The advice in this book assumes one very important thing: Your book is ready to be published.

It’s often very hard to balance the art side of writing and the business side of publishing, whether you choose to self publish or traditionally publish. But before we even talk about self or traditional publishing, we should address the most common question writers ask:

Is my book ready to be published?

Knowing when your book is done is…basically impossible. It’s hugely difficult for a writer to analyze her own work because the writer carries around in her head everything that didn’t go into the book as well.

And if you’re like most people, you’ll never think your book is ready.

Here’s my process in getting a book to…well, not complete, but as complete as it’s possible for a story to be. I don’t do this for every book, but particularly if I know there are problems, I work this way.

Step 1: Finish a complete draft. If I think it’s close to what it should be, I go ahead and send it to critique partners here, and then use their notes to proceed in the following ways. If I know there are issues, I go straight to the following steps, then send to critique partners and repeat as necessary.

Step 2: Take at least a week off from the book to gain perspective and step back from the forest in an effort to see the trees. Meanwhile, print a copy of manuscript. I edit better on paper than on screen—and if it’s a particularly difficult book, I will often swap fonts to help make the book look even more alien and make it easier to see it as a work rather than an extension of my mind.

Step 3: Make two columns on several pieces of paper. On the left side, I write down a few very basic lines of what happens in each chapter, summarizing it as I read through the novel.

Step 4: On the right column, in-line with each chapter, I write out what should happen. I don’t outline while drafting, so typically I wander off and lose my pacing or drop plotlines, etc. So the right column is really about getting the book to where it needs to be.

Step 5: Revise based on that, send to critique partners, repeat as necessary.

In extreme measures, I’ll reverse outline or otherwise work to shape the book together. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about my particular writing method, it’s that it’s never right the first time.

But there’s also a time when I start to realize that the thing is what it is, and there’s no going back. So I begin to accept that the book is complete when:

• Critique partners aren’t presenting problems, but opinions. There comes a point where the only thing readers suggest is not really an improvement to the book but a difference of opinion. An example of this is: The love interest for the heroine is hot, but I prefer blondes. Changing hair color doesn’t change the story; the critique partner has nothing really to say substantive to the book other than throwing out a few irrelevant opinions.

⁃ Note: Don’t rely on this as the sole indicator that your book is perfect; sometimes you just don’t have a very discerning critique partner.

• Critique partners are only suggesting changes that are fundamentally against what you’re trying to say with the book. If the whole point of your book is a bittersweet ending and they want a happily ever after, you’re not really getting to a point where the story needs work; it just doesn’t work for that specific reader.

⁃ Note: Not that you should entirely dismiss your critique partners. Their ideas may make your work more commercial, but you need to decide if you want to compromise your original vision for the work to be more marketable or keep it the way you want it.

• Whenever you work on the book, you’re doing nothing substantial to edits. You may swap some sentences or change some grammar, but on a story-level, you’re really not changing anything. Let go. You’re just letting the story sit there and fester at that point—do something with it.

I think many people get to the point where, much like a pregnant woman in month nine, they’re just done. They’ve done everything they can, and they are done.

Because of that, I typically did rounds with querying agents. I had a list of about a hundred agents to query, but I only sent to the first ten or twenty. I then weighed the response and submitted again—or revised again.

In self publishing, the onus of deciding whether or not the book is done is on you. But at the point where a traditionally publishing author is querying is the point where a self publisher is contacting editors, and a good editor will help you understand better whether or not the book is ready.

At some point, you have to bite the bullet and send your work out, or just be Emily Dickinson and stuff it in the floorboards. The choice is yours.

But I’m not confident! I can write this better; it’s not ready; I’m not ready! I will never be ready!!

Shhh. No one is. Do the best you can, and then take a chance on yourself.

But…I’m scared! Of rejection, of failure.

If you’re not scared, it’s probably not worth doing. So do it.

Three

There’s a Difference

There’s a difference between making a book different and making a book better.

Whether you’re self editing to see if your book is ready to submit for publication or you’re working with an editor on your next novel, be very aware of the kinds of changes you’re making.

Are you actively making the book better? Is it closer to what you originally envisioned; is it becoming what you always hoped it would become? Then you are on the right path. Carry on.

But…are you just making the book different? Whether the changes are big (new plots, new characters) or little (minor word changes, rewriting scenes), if you’re making the book different without making it better, you need to take a moment to stop and assess what you’re doing.

Changing a character’s name won’t really impact the story in a significant way. Tweaking a scene here or there doesn’t change what the book is. If you’re just piddling around, you need to either submit the book or put it aside—either way, stop working on it. You’re wasting your time.

Even if the changes you’re making are rather significant, go in with a clear goal of how the book will be different when you’re done, and make sure you’re focusing on the heart of the matter.

If you’re working with an editor whose notes are constantly getting you to make the book different without being better, then chances are that you and the editor have such different visions of what the novel should be that it won’t ever work out. One of you will have to compromise that vision. If this is your situation, you need to have a heart-to-heart with the editor to see if your working relationship is even worth continuing.

Whenever you make changes to your novel, it should be in a clear effort to make the book as a whole better.

Four

It’s Not a Competition

At the end of the day, the only person you’re competing against is yourself.

There’s no end game here. It’s not like we’re all grappling for the same readers, and those readers will only choose one of us. That’s the beauty of books. People read more than one. Readers love books, and they want books, and they crave a variety.

Other writers aren’t your competitors. In fact, they can be your greatest ally.

You know what single thing will sell a book more than anything else? Word of mouth. You know what kind of people are always talking about books?

Authors.

Authors don’t just sell their own books. They sell other people’s books too. I can’t tell you how many people have said to me, I loved your books; I want more like them. And I rattle off a list of writer friends in the same genre or with the same themes. And they do the same for me. Not out of quid pro quo, but because authors love books, and they love reading, and they love readers and know that this is not some sort of competition.

Not only that, but no one quite knows what the struggle of an author is like than another author. It’s not as if we all have some big secret we’re trying to keep from everyone so no one else can have publishing success. Quite the contrary—most authors are extraordinarily open about talking about the things that have worked and the things that haven’t. The most information I’ve ever gotten from publishing or writing has been from fellow authors. We know first hand how hard writing and publishing is, and we’re the first to tell you the things that have helped and that have hurt our careers.

We want you to succeed because if you do, you’ll sell books. And your books will be the gateway for readers to find more books, including ours.

Five

First Drafts & Final Products

Think of your favorite book. The one that’s just beautifully written, amazing story telling, the best thing you’ve ever read.

Now think of your latest project.

Doesn’t quite meet up with the same quality, does it?

Before you get depressed, remember: You’re not being fair to yourself. The book you’ve read is a final product, honed over years, polished and shining. Your book is a first draft. It’s like comparing a Michelangelo to a block of stone.

Writers often get upset when they think about the masters—whoever they think the master of their craft may be. But whenever you pull a book off your bookshelf, don’t forget that it’s a finished product. And you’ve only ever seen the finished product. You carry around all the failed ideas, the rabbit trails that led to nowhere, the plot holes and the weak characters—you will never be able to see your book the way others see it, as a finished product, fully formed.

And it’s not just books. You will inevitably hear stories of authors you will envy. They published their first book in just a week and it hit the List! They won all the awards! They got sent on a huge tour and lots of fans showed up and they sold out of books and also every time they fart it smells of roses and makes unicorns dance.

You’re looking at the end result. You have no idea what that author is like in private. You have no idea how long she toiled on that book, how much of herself went into the pages. You don’t know what she sacrificed. You don’t know her fears, if she’ll ever match these success levels again. You don’t know how much of the rough drafts of her books she carries around with her, her regrets and sorrows.

You will only ever see someone’s finished products; their books on the shelves, their personalities shined for public exposure.

You will only ever see your own rough draft, your failed attempts, your own trials and errors.

It is pointless to ever compare the two.

Before, I said that the only thing you can control in this game is your writing—but that’s not entirely true. The other thing you can control is your attitude. Don’t let jealousy make you bitter.

Six

Don’t Get Scammed

Whatever path you take, there are people trying to scam you. Fortunately a little precaution, knowledge, and research go a long way, and there’s one simple rule to publishing for each path that will keep your money in your pocket no matter what.

For Traditional Publishing:

Money always flows to the author.

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For Self Publishing:

One-time fees are always

better than any sort of subscription.

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING