Author Appleton

Writing. Fantasy. Sci-fi. Mystery

book publishing

The Importance of Professional Fiction Editing

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You know how they say “Good things come to he who waits”? This is true of so many, many things. And it is a guide to trust when embarking on your writing journey.

Whether you are just starting out, or you already have published writing under your belt, here is something to always remember. Learning is a never-ending process, no less with writing than with other things in life.

I have heard so many stories, and seen so many examples, of new writers who are so eager to get their first book published that they release it to the market before it is ready. There is a reason that professional vetting works.

When I submitted my first manuscript to a professional editor she tore it up! Not literally of course, but in the digital sense, yes. Nearly every paragraph had two paragraph’s worth of editorial suggestions and corrections. She pointed out so many weaknesses in my syntax that I felt like giving up. The age-old self-pity. “I’m not good enough. I’ll never be good enough. What does she mean by this and that?” When I finished licking my wounds and studied the points that she had made, I tried applying the changes she had suggested and using it as a formula to improve my entire manuscript. The difference was astounding. Suddenly I understood that some of my writing studies had meant things differently than I had interpreted them.

Suddenly I knew that with patience, humility, and sweat the story could come out better than I had realized it could be.

There are no shortcuts in publishing success. Take the long road if you wish to succeed. Your first work is your first impression on readers.

With thousands of books to choose from, readers will feel no qualms if they ignore your next books in favor of books that impressed their imagination.

In fantasy writing it is essential to Show more and Tell less. Be concise where possible. Choose pointed descriptions. And bring your characters to life through engaging Scenes. My first book went through four editors. Yep, painful! Yes, oh so beneficial.

I have recommended this book before but I am going to do so again. If you want to strengthen your manuscript read Self-editing for Fiction Writers and then hire a professional to give you an editorial review, or a full line-edit. Taking the time to do the right things before publishing your book feels painful, but in the long run you will be grateful you did. If you are interested then check out Path to Publication. I’ve had the honor of helping several now-established authors take their manuscripts to the next level.

Q: Have you considered the benefits of a professional critique, review, or full edit to your manuscript?

How to Avoid Publishing Scams

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If you have a personal cell phone, you have probably dealt with your share of telemarketers and or scammers. But as a writer engaging on the web you become potential prey to a unique predator: the publishing services scam artist.

I don’t know where these people (or companies) obtain our private cell phone numbers, yet somehow they do. Over the past month I have fielded half-a-dozen calls from a number in California. A lot of them will not leave a message, but the more clever ones leave a friendly and enticing invitation.

The last one that I received started off something like this, “Hi my name is Farqua from Readers Magnet, I am calling in reference to your book The Phantom’s Blade. Our review department has highlighted your book for its imaginative and fascinating story and I’d very much like to discuss it with you. Please call me back at (xxx)xxx-xxxx I’m available Monday through Friday 8 to 5pm. I am very much looking forward to speaking with you.”

For many years now I have watched aspiring writers get their hopes and dreams dashed because they succumb to the “shortcut” instead of following the path of sweat. In the book publishing industry we call such services vanity presses.  They promise, that in exchange for a certain sum of money, they will put your book on Amazon, publish it on Kindle, and market it to hundreds of thousands of readers around the world .

The problem? They don’t have your best interest at heart and they certainly don’t care about the book that you wrote. They are out to make a quick buck at your expense. They utilize already free services to scam you out of your hard-earned money.

Book publishing can be an expensive proposition for the publisher. So any legitimate publisher looks at a writer’s work as a financial investment that could potentially lose them money.  And profitability is key! For that reason they are very selective in which books they publish. The process to get them to place their investment in you can last for a couple of years or more. Then, when they have finally published your book they have to help you sell it, otherwise their money goes out the window.

Publishing service companies don’t care about that risk for the simple fact that they are making their money off of you, the author. They are not taking any risk!

Imagine for a moment that you own a publishing service company. If you charge $500 to 100 writers to publish their books on Amazon, formatting them with freeware progrms, you’ve met your legal obligations to them and made $50,000 for your time.

At this point it doesn’t matter to you if those authors’ books sell or bomb. Your venture was a success.

It sounds crazy, but it happens every day.

When I called back Readers Magnet it quickly became apparent they had not researched my content. He made assumptions that The Phantom’s Blade was my first published novel, then corrected himself as he looked at Amazon’s website. (Yes, he was actually live-time figuring out my content using the website!)

“Sir, oh yes, ” for he was most polite to not scare me off. “Oh yes, I do see that this is your third book.” Well, actually, no he had made another mistake as I have seven books, but I moved past that…

“Are you guys a marketing company, a publishing services company, or a magazine?” I asked him.

He mumbled something about my sales rank for a title, then tried to divert me with, “Yes, yes I see that this book is not yet in Kindle. That is something we can do for you.”

I laughed lightly at that offer. After all, publishing to the Kindle store is free. Then I reintroduced the question and he finally admitted that they were a publishing services company.

Not long afterward he became flustered when he found out that my first titles were traditionally published. He was reaching a dead end and he could sense it.

“Sir, I see that The Phantom’s Blade is not available on Kindle .”

“All of my books are available on Kindle,” I replied.

“Sir, I’m on amazon.com and it is only showing paperback.”

At this point I couldn’t help myself. “Are you arguing with me that my book isn’t on Kindle? I am also looking at Amazon and it shows paperback, kindle unlimited and kindle–”

“Okay, Sir, have a good day.”

And that ended his sales pitch.

My point in sharing this is to point you away from the vanity press and other scams. They are more clever than other scams out there. Instead, put in the blood, sweat, and tears… and hundreds of pages of edits to your manuscript. This is your baby. Don’t give it away.

You remember in Ephesians we are instructed to put on the whole armor of God. Think the same of your writing and publishing journey. Arm yourself with knowledge, humility, and perseverance, and protect yourself with patience. If you do these things, the mistakes you make will not break your career.

Q: Which publishing scams have you come across?

Ups and downs of the book publishing world

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The first introduction I had to the world of Christian book publishing was at the Glorietta Christian Writers Conference in New Mexico. I was an eager unpublished writer with only a small following on my blog. I’d written some short stories and a few of them had been published in online magazines. The largest payment I’d received on my fiction writing was  (around) seven dollars. At that writers’ conference, I now know, I was about to step aboard the publishing roller coaster that alternates between building dreams and crushing them beneath its wheels.

Nothing will hold you through the publishing journey if you don’t have a love for writing in your soul. That must be engrained in your heart. We will fight to preserve something we love… But many people have a mere curiosity, a need for social esteem. They think “How cool would it be if I published a book?” Little do we realize a love of writing has to be in our blood because the emotional rollercoaster is going to shove our writing in the mud, and put our social life on hold.

Fortunately for me I didn’t enter the world of publishing with expectations of making a lot of money or achieving national fame. Reading and writing open the world to me and those around me. I love to write. Therefore I would write if only a few people cared to read my material. Why? Because it is worth the creative struggle to bring the world literature. By God’s blessing my books have now sold over 20,000-copies and I’ve been encouraged by each email and message I’ve received from new readers and avid fans.

The roller coaster has never stopped.

Back in 2007 I was sending new endorsements and swapping edits with the then-editor at AMG Publishers. For about two years it went back and forth, with hope of contract then the light at the end of the tunnel would dim again as someone on the publishing committee dismissed it. Eventually it was rejected.

All during the negotiation process I read and researched extensively on publishing and business. It led to my founding Flaming Pen Pres to release my first novel Swords of the Six.

To make this long story short, I went from self-published, to a contract with AMG for my first three novels, and published my last two novels under Flaming Pen Press.

In my experience working with the traditional publisher, while a thrill all its own, has been detrimental to my writing career. Do not misunderstand me, there are huge benefits also. But when I had my first novel under my own direction I knew I could keep it in circulation, keep it in front of readers, and build on its success.

Traditional publishing gave my work exposure to new markets. But looking back I realize that signing that first contract took my book out of circulation just when it was hitting a great level of success. I was forced to publish a collection of short fiction in order to appease readers who were begging for my second novel, which they couldn’t have until after the first was re-published by the publishing house.

Another challenge came when some buyers did not approve the cover art for my second novel. The publisher opted to get a different cover art and it didn’t fit the vision I had for the book originally. Again publication had to be delayed.

Sticking with growing my own publishing company would have all-but eliminated that roller coaster ride. Controlling your own business means growing it at a steady rate acceptable to you, controlling the quality and nature of your products.

Case in point are my novels Neverqueen and The Phantom’s Blade which I put under my own Flaming Pen Press. These titles look and feel how I want them to, read the way I want them to, and sales are steady and slowly growing.

With traditionally published titles marketing for them flows and then dies. Publishers move on and sometimes close down.

Moving forward I am looking to build Flaming Pen Press again and eventually publish other people’s books. Years ago I attempted to do so with Kestrel’s Midnight Song but I failed in a couple areas when making that business decision. The author worked hard, the book won an award, but having set up the book printing a more costly way we took a financial hit on returns.

What is awesome about that is that I own the company. We can learn from mistakes and evolve the business so that it makes financial and artistic sense. Books should be non-returnable so that retailers can’t carelessly order more than they need and ship back damaged product at the publisher’s expense.

A slow and steady growth in book writing, publishing, and marketing empowers the writer to establish trends, rather than following them. It’s one way of avoiding the industry’s roller coaster effect. It is not for everyone because not all writers want to learn the management of their own publishing company. But my compass points more certainly in that direction these last couple years.

Q: What hurdles have you faced in your writing?