Getting published the traditional way

You've written your manuscript! You've spent months, possibly years, slogging away to get this creation from the point where it exists only inside your head, to something that can be read. Now what? Do you edit it, hire an editor, ask someone else to look at it, start approaching publishing houses, or just go ahead and self-publish? What is a beta reader anyway? And what's the difference between traditional publishing, hybrid publishing and vanity publishing? It can feel like you have an insurmountable climb ahead to understand all the possible options and their potential repercussions in order to get your words published. In this article, I am going to concentrate on the process that I went through to get from manuscript to published author with a small independent traditional publisher in the UK, and I'll explain some of the terms I learnt along the way.

It was early Spring 2023, and my first draft was finally ready. I've been writing professionally all my life, but this was by far the longest thing I'd ever written, and the first time I had written anything not work-related. It was a non-fiction book, with a working title of "I was a teenage fag hag" and it included life stories from LGBT+ friends and acquaintances I'd interviewed. I wanted to make sure that I did not misrepresent any of them, or indeed anyone in the LGBT+ community, so I sent the draft to all of them to ask for their feedback. They had the choice to read the whole thing, or to read just the sections they were in.

These were my sensitivity readers, checking through my words carefully to ensure that I hadn't made any unintentional faux pas. There were 24 of them. That's a lot, but I needed them all to be OK with what I had written about them. Many authors use one person as a sensitivity reader, who knows more about a subject area than they do, e.g. ethnic or cultural background, disability, mental health, sexuality or gender identity.

The alpha reader is someone who reads your manuscript as a critical friend. As the name implies, it's often the first person who reads the manuscript in full. My alpha reader was my husband. He read the whole thing in minute detail, commenting on any typos or other errors and remarking on any issues he had; from the structure of the book to the structure of a sentence. He commented on flow, order of chapters, and anything else he wanted really! I chose him because I could trust him and because he's very experienced having done a lot of proofreading at work; otherwise I would have found someone else.

I also sent the manuscript to two people to read the whole thing and offer general comments about their enjoyment of the book as readers. Luckily for me, they were both published non-fiction authors. These were my beta readers. I've read various articles about what beta readers do, and the consensus seems to be that their role is to comment on their enjoyment of the book. In reality, I've learnt that what a beta reader does varies depending who they are and how much effort they put in. I do beta reading and sensitivity reading myself now for others. I offer comments throughout the document about my experience and feelings as a reader and produce a short report of my thoughts. Some beta readers just offer overall headline comments. That is what mine did, and they both suggested I had something worth publishing. That was fine for me as I already had so many other people reading it.

I didn't go through these processes in the order that the articles recommend. I had my sensitivity readers and my beta readers first, then my alpha reader. I don't think it really matters, as long as you get the result you need in the end.

As all the comments came in from my various readers, I edited away, moving things about, chopping things out, and re-writing whole sections. And when I wasn't doing that, I was researching different publishing options. I decided I'd try for the traditional publishing route for a year, and if after a few months I hadn't got anywhere, I'd hire a professional editor to help me prepare. I decided against trying for an agent, as I wanted to try on my own first. Stubborn? Maybe. Quite quickly, I found an editor whose style and approach I liked, so I asked him to work with me.

Meanwhile, I spent a month researching different publishing houses, and amassed a list of fifteen publishers who would accept un-agented authors of non-fiction works.

And so to querying. This is the process of submitting to publishers. Each publisher has their own requirements, and the key here is to send exactly what they ask for. They get inundated with queries, so if you send them more than they asked for, or less, or if you make any errors, you're reducing your chances of success before they've read a word of your writing. Here's what you may be asked to submit:

1. Your manuscript or part of it. They rarely ask for the whole thing; more likely they'll ask for a chapter or two.

2. A synopsis. This is a summary of your whole book. You may be given a maximum word count. I ended up with six versions, from 500 words to 1500 words. It's a task in itself to practice and master the art of precis to get your synopsis right. Facebook writers groups are great places to upload your draft synopsis for comments and feedback.

3. A CV. This isn't the same as a CV you'd send to a potential employer. All that the publishers are usually interested in is your experience of writing, and any previous publishing success you've had.

4. A query letter. This is usually in the body of the email you send, with items 1 to 3 of this list attached as documents. It's absolutely key, as it's the first thing the publishers will read. I kept mine very short. I made sure to research about each publishing house and if possible, find the name of a specific person to send to. I wrote to each about why I thought my book was a good fit for them. I told them the working title of the book, the word count, a couple of sentences about the book and about me...and not a lot else! My advice, from my experience, is to keep it succinct.

5. A submission form. I only had to do a couple of these. One of them was very long, and I didn't get any response at all. Such is life.
   

And then the wait.

With each passing day, it felt increasingly likely that this was all a very bad idea and I started to wonder what on earth I'd been thinking, hoping to succeed on the first attempt. The imposter syndrome started to creep in. Who do I think I am, pretending I can write a book?

I got some responses pretty quickly - all of them being the "thanks but no thanks" variety. But then suddenly I found myself getting offers! I was over the moon as I was SOOOO not expecting this. Two publishers wanted to see the whole manuscript. One of them even rang me up the next day, telling me how great my idea was. It seemed too good to be true. I swiftly received two contracts from these companies. Then I got a really lovely rejection from a small publishing house saying that the first two chapters I had sent were well-written, but that it looked like I was writing two books. I've got nothing to lose I thought. So, I replied, saying that the book does have different strands but that they tie together as the book progresses. I asked if I could be cheeky and send the whole thing. And they said yes! They required three weeks to read my manuscript; it was very long at nearly 122,000 words. The other two companies started badgering me, ringing, emailing and basically bothering me for an answer. Then the penny finally dropped.

These publishers were asking for payment upfront. I did a bit of research about them. The payment covers editing and publishing costs and so reduces any risk of financial loss to the publisher. Vanity publishers just want your money and the quality of the service they offer is often considered to be poor. Hybrid publishers have more discretion about who they take on, but still require your funds up front. I think I found one of each. Of course they wanted me to sign! They would get several thousand pounds of my pension if I did. Hmmm, I was not so sure about that. I know some people are happy with this option as it means they're practically guaranteed to get published, but I decided to wait and see what came back from the indie.

Finally, the three weeks were up and I got the dreaded email. Opening it with butterflies in my stomach and shaky legs, I read the long message, in the middle of which was one simple sentence. "We would be interested in taking this on." The whoops and jumping about that followed were a little unbecoming for a 59 year old woman. I couldn't concentrate on the rest of the message and had to read it several times before it sank in. I had a publishing deal. But there was a caveat: a total re-write and the need for some heavy editing. It wouldn't cost me a penny and I would be getting one-to-one attention from the editor throughout the process. I agreed and signed the contract. This was in June 2023. I told the editor I had lined up that I was not going to be needing his services after all. I felt a bit guilty about that. Then came two more offers from bigger, more established traditional publishing houses, asking for me to send the whole manuscript. Who knows what might have happened? I certainly don't. I had already committed myself. And I was fine with that.

So began the slog of re-writing and editing in its various forms. I was given some guidance about the re-write, and off I went. Once that was done and my editor had seen it, I got my editorial report - this gave me advice about what else I needed to do to tighten up the manuscript. This stage is sometimes referred to as story editing or developmental editing. My main task here was to shave off over 20,000 words, and to re-structure the order of the chapters. I sent it off again, and after some more tweaks, it was time for line editing, reading it in detail and making changes to improve my writing style, enhance the flow and make it more engaging to read. My editor was great - giving me articles to read and handy hints a-plenty about such things as showing not telling, finding my voice, and controlling my love of commas. Copy editing came next, going through line by line to check for punctuation, spelling, and grammatical errors. Finally it went back to the publishers for proofreading.

During these three months of editing, my publisher and I worked in collaboration on the cover, the title, the back page blurb and the marketing plans, and agreed that we'd aim to publish on my 60th birthday, on the proviso that my sensitivity, beta and alpha readers would be kind enough to write reviews on Goodreads, which they did. Someone who reads a book just before or after publication and then writes a review is known as an ARC reader (Advanced Reader Copy). Whilst it's lovely to get some reviews up and ready for launch, it's a bit of a divisive subject. Everyone who wrote a review for me did so gladly and honestly, but this process can be abused if people feel coerced into writing a falsely positive review; it serves no-one ultimately. I started offering ARC services but withdrew after a couple as I felt uncomfortable reviewing books I didn't think were great.

The title took a while to agree, and we came up with quite a few before settling on Bent Is Not Broken. We wanted to convey as much as possible about the themes in the book, which is no mean feat in my case as there are so many! The cover image went through a similar process, with several drafts being rejected before we agreed on it. First impressions are so important, so it was worth investing time and effort. It helps when your husband is a graphic designer, I must admit. The image is of me as a teenager in the early 1980s, at the height of my "fag hag" days, and is based on a photo taken by a friend, which my husband used as a template for the design. We wanted the cover to have a 1980s vibe but also appear modern and fresh. I am delighted with the result - you can spot my book across a room!!

The blurb is the writing on the back cover, a teaser to tempt the potential reader to open the book. It differs from a synopsis in that it doesn't summarise the whole book. It includes key elements about what the book is about and some clues about what is going to develop in the book, without giving a huge amount away. Short and

snappy is the key here. The author bio is a useful tool to help the potential reader learn a bit about you. Again, mine was kept quite brief, just enough for people to get an idea of who I am.

We agreed who would do what in terms of marketing, including press release, merch, approaching organisations to help spread the word, social media, contacting potential stockists including libraries and bookshops, and events. My publisher set up everything on Goodreads, books2read and Amazon, and then, with the click of a button, there it was - a published book on my 60th birthday. From starting my research in late 2022 to publication had taken almost exactly a year.

I'll be writing blogs about some of these processes in detail over the coming weeks and months, so please do sign up if you'd like to read more. Thank you, and good luck with your own publishing journey. Em x

Bent Is Not Broken. Buy the eBook (various platforms) or get the paperback on Amazon via:

www.books2read.com/BentIsNotBroken

To read blogs about about LGBT+ culture and history, and to find out more about the author, head to www.bentisnotbroken.com