WHAT COMES FIRST THE BOOK OR THE PUBLISHER?
“I have almost finished several books. I think the main reason I 'almost' finish them is that I am afraid of the next step, publishing.” – a comment on the Write and Publish Your Book website.
Author Jones would very muchly like to comment on this comment – which is a comment or sentiment that many a reader of this website seems to share -- is that derivative? Perhaps -- nonetheless here goes something.
Writing a Book is a PROCESS
 The Jones is a fan of filmmaker Steven Soderbergh – in the audio commentary section of his movie Bubble Mr. Soderbergh makes several very fine points about a little something we like to call PROCESS. A. Jones highly recommends listening to this audio. A process is, by its very definition, “a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.” As SS contends, you can only attend to your process—it is, in fact, the thing you have control over – theretofore concerning yourself with publishing before you’ve even completed a book, is just plain, I’m going to say this while reaching out and hugging you dear reader, ridiculous.
You must complete the many series of steps that come before, chiefly FINISHING YOUR BOOK, before you can even pretend to think much less worry about the result/publishers. AJ will go out on a limb and surmise that not finishing your book is more about the fear of success/failure than about—“Oh my gosh—which publisher will fight to pluck me from anonymity.” Again, the Author, Jones says this as a form of tough yet fair love.
In addition, the Jones would like to say that the process of writing, while at times arduous and painstaking, is the FUN part. Don’t short yourself on this experience by worrying about publishing.
What, Oh Author Jones, does finishing your book, mean? I’m glad I asked me that. It means you’ve likely toiled and rewritten it four or five times (or many more), you’ve had it professionally proofed and edited. Yes, professionally.
Oh yeah, while you’ve been doing this, you’ve been building your platform and working on writing your book proposal, your pitch letter and your letter to agents. You’ve studied how it fits into the marketplace and who are the likely purchasers of your tome.
Also, if you are going for a big fish, or even mid-size fish publisher—you’ll need to research literary agents—they all list the books they’ve recently sold on their websites… don’t just send it out randomly. Most big publishers do not accept work from agent-free individuals. In addition, writer types, send your manuscript to several targeted agents—be specific as to why that agent. This is only synopsis of what you should do—do your research to find out how to locate ideal agents—there are loads of books and articles out there to guide you. A. Jones challenges you to be bold and go where other writers dare not go... most writers do NOT do their research, or even bother to learn how to write proposals, pitches and agent letters.
Writing the book is, what? Maybe, a quarter of the pie chart to getting published? At most. People, we’ve written numerous articles on this site that explain that writing a book is: a) not a way to make quick cash; b) takes a lot of time, effort and money upfront; c) not romantic and/or glamorous; and d) is no guarantee of getting published.
Write because you have to write, or you have a passion about something that you wish to get out of you and perhaps someday to the public at large.
AGAIN, if you are writing to become famous, or get laid (go to a poetry open mic for this one, it will save you time and money), or to make money -- you are woefully, woefully misdirected. The people who have achieved any of the aforementioned juicy happenstance fall-outs of the writing process, went about the duty of writing because they HAD to fulfill the ideas in their brain, they had to see them through to the page. This includes fiction authors, non-fiction and those people who have a How To book idea—you must be driven by passion. There may have been inklings of these dangling carrots in the writers who have become rich and famous minds… but, it is unlikely they were the driving force behind the completion of their books.
PROCESS. Not to get all cliché on your asses—but, finish your book to the best of your ability, the very best—take a step back and breathe. Then take the many steps you need to take before you even reach the floor where you need worry yourself about being published.
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