The Long and Winding Publishing Journey
by Elizabeth Splaine
There are many phrases that pop to mind when ruminating on how to get one’s book published. The long and winding road. Two paths diverged in a yellow wood… The road to nowhere. That’s the way I felt after receiving over seventy rejections form traditional publishers. However, four of those rejections were personalized and praised my writing or storyline, or both. And guess what? That was enough to keep me moving forward, putting one word after another until I had completed my manuscript.
After a conversation with a Penguin Random House author who said he would self-publish if he were to do it all over again, I found the courage to self-publish through Amazon’s CreateSpace.com. The process was seamless. From editing to cover copy to the book’s cover, I was pleased with the outcome.
My second book’s birth was not as easy. One year later Amazon had shut down its self-publishing arm, so I was forced to find a new venue. I researched several companies and went with AuthorHouse, whose process I found challenging. For example, in order to check on my book’s progress I had to call a general number which led me to different representatives each time. At that point they would ask me my number. Not my name, but my number. As you can imagine, introducing oneself as a number does not build confidence or joy, and so the process ground forward until the book was born.
After my second self-publishing experience, I wasn’t quite sure how to proceed, so I just kept writing, confident that an avenue would present itself. I was chatting with a writer friend who encouraged me to enter a competition in which he had competed. It’s called When Words Count, and the judging is broken down into four categories: the book manuscript, the packaging (cover and cover copy), the marketing plan, and the public reading. The judges of the contest are a literary/subsidiary rights agent, a publicist, and a publisher. The contest is based in Vermont and occurs over a period of two or three months. During the first four-day trip to Vermont, the contestants meet the judges and present their initial takes on the four categories. The judges give them constructive criticism, and they return home to hone their presentation, leaving their manuscripts in the judges’ hands to read and score prior to returning for the rest of the contest. Two months later, the entire group returns to Vermont, where the contestants receive three more days of feedback form the WWC CEO, Steve Eisner, and a former contest winner who acts as co-coach. Finally, in the last two days, the contestants present their final book cover, back cover copy, and marketing plan to the judges, who score them. On the afternoon of the final day, a luncheon is held for local folks to hear the contestants perform their public readings. The coaches tally the scores from the judges and announce a Gold Winner, who receives a full publishing package and publicist support for marketing the book. I was fortunate enough to have won the competition in 2019, which led to the release of my most recent novel, Devil’s Grace.
The relationships I formed during the competition allowed me access to a new publisher with whom I’m contracted for my upcoming book, Swan Song, an historical novel about a Jewish opera singer who rises to fame in Nazi Germany and becomes the twisted obsession of Adolf Hitler (to be released on 10/5/21.) My experience thus far with Woodhall Press has been positive and I look forward to continuing to work with them.
What I have learned along my writing/publishing journey is that no two paths of writers are alike; there are many avenues through which to achieve one’s writing goals. The days of sending a manuscript into a publisher or agent and being “discovered” have all but disappeared. Relentless attention to detail and follow up are critical to success in any business. And just to be clear, although writers are artists, we must also be business people, marketers, and publicists.
