How to Get Published

by Jeff Rivera

Many writers have been struggling for years to find an agent and they’ve tried everything. They’re starting to think that they’ll never get one, or that there’s some kind of universal conspiracy against them and they’re wondering why.

If you still haven’t landed an agent or know someone who hasn’t, listen up. I’m about to tell you exactly why and what you can do about it, to change things today.

As someone who deals with hundreds of agents every year, who’s constantly on the phone with top editors and publishers and authors from James Patterson to Nicholas Sparks to Janet Evanovich to David Baldacci, I hear first-hand what successful people in the industry have done to separate them from the pack and why they’re successful and others are not. (more…)

by Al Kalar

Last week I was talking with Christine Golden, Editor in Chief of Golden Visions Magazine (science fiction short stories). During the discussion, we found we regularly encounter some of the same problems in manuscripts.

1. Redundant speech tags.

John shook his finger in my face. “You need to straighten up and fly right, flunky, or you’ll find yourself without a job,” John said.

There’s absolutely no reason for “John said”. We already know who’s speaking because of the first sentence. (more…)

by Jerry Simmons

The Future of Print Books

Forget the doomsday scenario; printed books are not going away. Their relevance in the market is going to diminish over time, but there will always be printed books.

The biggest publishers are struggling with the notion that within the next few years, the major chains may well disappear. As sales continue to decline, the two largest bookstore chains in America are barely hanging on and all indications seem to be that both are on the verge of insolvency. (more…)

by Al Kalar

One of my jobs in this madhouse, is “gatekeeper”. I review new submissions to see if they get rejected up front or considered for publication. I hate saying “no”, but if I don’t, we’d be flooded with less than top notch material.

Lousy material takes too much time to whip into shape and often can’t be saved. Although we edit everything we publish, we’re not in the business of editing poor quality stuff to help a writer get published. There are people who do that and some are very good at it (and some are not). But, even though our editors are great, our job is publishing.

Back in May, I gave you 11 Ways to Get Rejected. Well, what about the flipside? You know, the goal of the submission process - acceptance.

Obviously, the most important thing is to not do any of those 11 deadly things.

We’re strictly an eBook publisher, so we do everything digitally. To get a novel accepted at AKW Books, you should do the following: (more…)

by Jerry Simmons

The fact that someone completes a manuscript does not make them a writer with something worthy of publication. There is much more to publishing than throwing content together and having copies printed. In fact, anyone who thinks they can simply write, print and become successful does not understand the marketplace. Writers who are serious about their craft need an editor and a publisher if they hope to have a chance at success.

Publishers are not printers and the large print-on-demand companies are printers, not publishers. They have utilized a technology and turned it into a multi-million dollar business, good for them. However too many serious writers get caught up in the idea these big printing companies are interested in what you are writing. Excuse me but they are not! They are interested in selling you services that merely add to their bottom line. (more…)

by Al Kalar

There are a number of ways to make sure your inquiry to a publisher is rejected. These are just a few of them and I’m sure the list will grow as author “wanna be’s” dream up new ways to annoy a prospective publisher. The examples are from our experiences here at AKW Books, but the problem isn’t one that this little eBook publisher has; the paper publishing industry suffers from the same

1. Try to rip off some other popular idea and thinly disguise it. If you want to write CSI books, pitch the CSI franchise owners, don’t try to write one “like” it. Heck, if you’re good enough, you might get a gig scripting episodes of one of the programs. If you LOVE Harry Potter, by all means try to rip off that idea; call it HogWorthy’s rather than Hogwart’s. Rawlings won’t mind and she doesn’t have enough money to sue you (and us) into poverty anyway. (more…)

by Jerry Simmons

Anything is possible in publishing, dream big but follow a few simple rules. First: write your own story and never worry about a potentially hot category or bestselling style of another writer. Second: seek professional editorial help, someone you are comfortable with who can challenge you to be a better writer. Third: follow your publishing dreams and find a way to make it happen. There are no secrets, it takes hard work, lots of time and don’t give up attitude. (more…)

by Victory Crayne

If you have difficulty selling your novel, I suggest you ask someone in your critique group, your editor, or someone who can analyze your writing if your manuscript is shy on any of these three key ingredients.

Study what the bestselling novelists are doing. You will find that all bestselling novels are different from each other, but they have three things in common that are often missing in other novels.

1.  Well developed characters

Well developed means showing or telling aspects of their personal lives or personalities. Yes, this is a place where telling can be useful. Does your tale reveal your protagonist as a “real” person with a “real” life, going beyond the “bare bones” needed to move the story along? This takes extra time in designing the main characters. Most beginning writers are reluctant to spend that time. Instead they want to rush into the fun part–writing scenes.

For those authors who have characters recurring in different novels, this is critical. When you see a new book out by a favorite author and the protagonist is one you’ve read about before, are (more…)

by Barbara McNichol

Setting out to find the right editor for your manuscript puts you on the road to feeling confident you’ve got a good match. You want to feel comfortable that your editor understands what you’ve set out to accomplish so you can “polish” it together.

Look for a reputable editor who understands the type of book you have written. For example, if your book is business or self-help, choose an editor with experience in these genres. Ensure that the editor you chose has worked with both traditional and self-published books over a number of years. That person’s website should reveal that information and project a professional image. After all, you want your writing to reflect a professionalism that comes from expert editing. (more…)

by Al Kalar

Okay, so this has nothing to do with getting published.  I just thought you’d like to know what happens to your manuscript in the eBook publishing world of AKW Books.  This is our in-house cycle from inquiry to published work. We’ll assume you are sending in a work of fiction (non-fiction is slightly different, but many of the skills required and our procedures are the same).

When you send in an inquiry, it arrives in the same email box with all our other correspondence, so whoever opens it up will route it to one of our editors.  With this act, we assume you have read and agreed to our standard contract (Standard Agreement). (more…)