Back to index of Nerve 18 - Summer 2011

How to get published

By Kathryn Richards

I wrote my MA thesis on publishing in the digital age. The main objective was to provide an overview of the book publishing industry in the digital age; in the process I found that digital technologies have potentially great implications not just for publishers, but also for writers.

Publishers are utilising digital technologies to facilitate a more economical and innovative business model, and meanwhile there are options open to writers to see their work published. Whereas some authors may still prefer to go through a traditional publishing house, there are others who may decide to use self-publishing websites.

Perhaps the most widely known of these is Lulu.com, which claims to offer the widest selection in print on demand options, the widest range of selling channels available anywhere, the option to make books available both as print and ebooks, and a number of publishing services such as pre-publishing, marketing, and distribution packages. Authors can receive a much higher percentage of royalties from self-publishing than if they go through traditional publishers, however, the author has to pay for the services of the website.

Until fairly recently it was only the commissioning editors of publishing houses who decided what got published, creating a sense of exclusivity. Digital technologies in part have brought about a democratisation of the industry. It could be argued though that there is a danger of mediocratisation. As publishing becomes more accessible, there is a danger of there being a lack of consistency in the quality of what gets published. It is widely recognised that value is added by professional publishing houses, and their reputation depends on the quality of the content they produce.

Self publishing can provide authors with a means of marketing original and innovative writing; if the writing attracts sufficient popular attention it can transfer to more traditional forms of publishing. Social networking sites such as Facebook can also be a useful tool for marketing, gaining awareness by word-of-mouth in the digital age.

Publishers at times source new titles from works that have originated in blogs or from creative writing courses and competitions. Blogs offer publishers market testing as to which writers can attract and keep an audience. Inkpop.com, an online writers community set up by HarperCollins, offers a service where writers can submit their work online for it to be peer-reviewed. Meanwhile, MacMillan has launched New Writing, which publishes debut novels in all genres and encourages submissions from unpublished novelists.

Essentially there are options available to aspiring authors, and many sources of information. For example, Carol Blake’s From Pitch to Publication is a useful resource, as is Inside Book Publishing by Giles Clarke and Angus Phillips for anyone interested in the publishing industry in general.

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