By Patricia Westerhof
Before I sent out my first book-length manuscript for publication, I’d spent a total of two days learning about the publishing industry. Pretty much everything I knew came from a weekend workshop: a beginner’s guide to getting published, taught by the former president/publisher at Penguin Canada. I followed the steps she suggested, and, to my amazement, I got not one, but two offers of publication.
The problem was, the workshop had focused on getting a book deal, not assessing or negotiating offers. I didn’t have an agent, didn’t know writers who had published with either press, and didn’t know what, besides a royalty rate, made one publishing contract superior to another. So what to do?
First, I looked online at the books in the first publisher’s catalogue, noting the whimsical and vibrant book jacket designs. That weekend, I attended a writers’ festival at which the other publisher had a booth. I examined their wares: serious-looking books with sombre covers.
You probably know where this is going: I chose the press with the prettier books.
Here’s what I wish I’d known:
- You should judge a press by more than its covers. Independent presses vary dramatically in their economic stability, the quality of their books, the kind of relationship they have with authors, and more. My joy and wonder at getting published made me careless about scrutinizing details, and it was just dumb luck that I ended up in good hands. The publisher with the alluring book covers was, at that point, relatively new on the scene, but they soon developed a stellar reputation. Still, I wouldn’t recommend to anyone signing a contract without prudently investigating the publisher’s background and business practices. These days, with financially fragile, incompetent, and/or sometimes downright fraudulent independent presses scattered generously among the reputable ones, it’s more important than ever to get to know the company with whom you’re going into business.
- You can reach out to agents, even for a small-audience book. I’d learned at the guide-to-getting-published workshop that short stories are not marketable enough to interest large presses. Thus, I decided to pitch my collection of linked stories set in rural Alberta to independent Canadian presses whom I could (and did) query directly. However, as I learned from an agent at a conference a year later, once I had two offers on the table, I could have approached agents. Sure, an agent might not have wanted to sign with me for a book of short stories, but I certainly could have hired one to look over the contracts and broker the deal. Doing that would have ensured that the contract I signed was solid, would have schooled me about the criteria for a good book deal, and—maybe most importantly—would have launched a business relationship with an agent. Instead, it took me almost six years and two more books until I signed with a literary agency.
- Location matters. The press who published my book was headquartered on the west coast of Canada, thousands of kilometres away from me. Their hard-working team of marketers helped me set up a book tour in western Canada and put in countless hours to get reviews and to promote the book online. But they didn’t have a representative in Toronto, where I lived, and, at that point, new on the scene, I had no connections of my own to readings series, local bookstores, or nearby regional festivals. I still would have chosen the western publisher over the other possibility, but I would have researched the marketing angles available in my backyard and worked more actively with my publisher to set up events closer to home. Already working on a novel set in Toronto, I should have been much more assertive about getting known as a writer in my hometown.
In short, I had a terrific experience with my first publisher. But, if I had taken more than two days to gather industry knowledge, and then used that information to delve into the business side of my writing career with more vigour and more agency, my career would have sped forward more efficiently. I guess the silver lining is that my own mistakes helped to inform my latest book, The Canadian Guide to Creative Writing and Publishing, which gives writers the insider knowledge I wish I’d had.
Now, along with writing, I teach creative writing, spending the bulk of the classes helping writers hone their creative thinking and editing skills. But if their goal is getting traditionally published, I encourage them not to wait—as I did— until they have manuscripts ready before learning how the publishing industry works.
Bio: Patricia Westerhof’s most recent book is The Canadian Guide to Creative Writing and Publishing. She’s also the author of two books of fiction, The Dove in Bathurst Station and Catch Me When I Fall. She teaches creative writing at University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. Find out more about her at www.patriciawesterhof.com.
