What's going on out there.

Back to politics. Being politically correct. Staying out of other people's business.

But when you have wisdom earned the hard way, how do you keep quiet? Can other people learn from your mistakes or must history repeat itself over and over and over - like some crazy Star Trek episode (where Fraser is piloting the Enterprise - is that a time warp or a reality warp?).

So I'm not going to get pushy or name names or anything like that. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to tell you how it works when you get published or get an agent. The ONLY way it works. If anyone else offers you anything else you have one of two choices. RUN (highly suggested) or figure out how much money you can afford to lose.

Getting an Agent.
1. You apply to agents by writing brilliant query letters and/or submitting several chapters of your manuscript. Unless you are George Clooney or a former president, they are not going to offer you anything without a completed manuscript. It doesn't matter how clever your idea or how witty your proposal it ain't gonna happen. You might have the idea, but they need to know that you can sustain it to completion of a coherent piece of work.

2. An agent finally (it will take a few submissions, trust me) agrees to represent you. You will sign a contract agreeing what works of your they will represent and what rights they will be allowed to sell for you. You will agree upon a percentage and how their costs are billed (i.e. photocopying, postage, etc.) The best advice I have is pay close attention to sites like Preditors and Editors and Writer Beware, as they not only have warnings on agents and publishers to be wary of, but they have links to sites where you can see what an agency agreement should look like.

3. Consult a lawyer. A lawyer who has experience in the entertainment industry. It will cost you some money but it will be very worth it in the end. Trust me, I have spent way more on shady agents than my lawyer charges per hour. Lesson learned.

REMEMBER:

An agent makes money by selling your work, not by billing you for reading fees or editing fees or book doctoring fees. If you have a good agent (as I do) they will give you advice and guidance because they want to represent good works which will be easier to sell. They should never charge you for these services - if they spend all their time reading work for income, when are they selling your work to publishers?

The costs incurred should be hard costs - postage for mailing out submissions, photocopying and those types of costs. My agent takes my books to all the big book fairs/book expos (as does my publisher) at NO cost to me.

Getting a Publisher
1. Whether you are self-submitting or an agent is doing it for you, it should never cost you a single cent to get published. It's a confusing world out there right now, with vanity presses, self publishers, POD (print on demand) and all sorts of legitimate publishers as well (lest we forget). The problem with the POD or self publishing is distribution. Now, what I know about distribution barely fits on the head of a pin. You can say my publisher uses Ingram or their books are available on Amazon. But it is so much deeper than that. Talk to book stores in your area. Find out what they think. They are the ones that will sell your books, so you better find out what they will buy and from whom. And find out why. Learn everything you can. Every time I think I know it all the universe sends me a lesson (not always fun but definitely character building) - so now I try to remember that I know nothing and these people can teach me things. And they have. And they will teach you too. It is far better to learn these things before you have a signed contract.

2. When a publisher wants to publish your manuscript, they pay you. You will receive an advance and you will receive royalties. All companies pay these in different manners, but that will be spelled out in your contract. There will be holdbacks and returns and remainders and, again, you need to get a lawyer to explain this all to you. If you have an agent, they will review your contract for you also, negotiating the fine points, but either way, spend the money and an hour with your lawyer and then you will have no regrets.

Please notice that no where in there did I say that you Had to pay for anything. My publisher has never asked me for money for marketing, editing, entry into book fairs, review copies or ANYTHING. If you learn no other lessons, learn that one.

They say that first time authors can't get published anymore. Go look at the bookstores and then tell me if that's true. What doesn't get published is books that are poorly written or books that don't appeal to the market the publisher is aiming for. So take classes, refine your research and submit to the appropriate people. Don't whine, it's not attractive!

There are stories circulating everywhere about how so many successful authors self published and then became famous. It's happened...A couple of times...And they quit their jobs, invested everything and drove the country for years in their station wagons.

You may think that at least you'll have a published book out there. But if your book is a series, then you're going to have a hard time getting a legitimate publisher to take your series on in the middle. If it's a stand-alone, when do your rites revert? How long are you going to be beholden to your contract? You certainly can't sell it to anyone else until that happens. And then tell me why someone would want to republish it? It's already been out and sold or not sold, unless you got struck by lightning and got a best seller, it's not going to happen.

I worked for ten years to get my books published. I fell for some scams but luckily nothing that I couldn't recover from. And I believe in the end it was the best thing for my writing and my career to hold out for an established publisher.

So join some writer's groups, talk to some writers and try not to let history repeat itself.