By Ayn Amorelli — Author— Black Velvet Seductions

I‘m Ayn Hunt who also writes Sexy Romances as Ayn
Amorelli . I'm the moderator/host of Hunt‘s Corner, a
weekly writers‘ chat on AOL. I‘ve been doing this for
nearly a year now and what I hear most is new writers
targeting big, New York City (only) publishers. This
means, apparently, scorning and bypassing smaller
publishers. 

And to me, this means they are doing themselves a
disservice and making a big mistake.

Most new writers forget or neglect the fact that writing is
a business, just like any other. And like any newcomer to
a business, they have to learn everything they can about
that business, if they want to be successful in it.

Sure, there are those whose first book takes off and a
major publisher takes their book, signs them to a lucrative
contract, and they live happily ever after. But those
writers number maybe one a year, when compared to all the
tens of thousands of new, hopeful writers who try, year
after year, to sell something, anything, trying to get
published.

The fact is, there are less than two-tenths of one percent
of all who try to get published who ever make it.

One major reason I‘ve seen for such discouraging
statistics is many new writers want to go straight to the top
without first learning the basics. It‘s like wanting to write
without first learning how to read.

I was lucky in that at my first book signing, the owner of
the independent book store told me that sure, I had talent,
but I didn‘t know my a___ from my head when it came to
the business. Harsh? You bet! But I took it to heart when
he also told me I needed to learn everything I could about
the business in which I obviously wanted to succeed
more than I wanted to live.

One thing new writers neglect is that the bottom line is
selling as many books as you can is the only thing that
(essentially) matters to any publisher here on earth. This
means a writer‘s success (or failure) rests on two things:
distribution of the publisher and the writer knowing how
to promote.

A huge publisher is generally not going to show new
writers how to promote. They can‘t. They‘re too busy.
And as more and more of them downsize and are eaten
up by conglomerates, the chances of a new writer
breaking in at the top goes down accordingly.

Most small publishers take unagented writers, and read
queries that may be misdirected as to story line, type of
material submitted, writing in language best suited for
adults, when the storyline is best suited for children, etc.
Most big publishers won‘t. They want agented material
only. (Strike One)

Most small publishers will take the time to work with
new writers, guiding them when they go off on a
tangent with the storyline or call a character Laura (for
example) for the first half of the book, then start calling
her Nancy during the second half. Big publishers won‘t.
Either of those things will be an automatic rejection slip
without any feedback or explanation. (Strike Two)

Many small publishers will make suggestions for
promoting the book, brainstorming with the author on different
venues which are most advantageous. Unless you‘re al-
ready a star, most larger publishers won‘t. So the newbie
writer has to figure it out on their own or perish from the
face of publishing and writing (and yes, the two are inter-
twined) forever. (Strike Three).

Getting discouraged yet?

Many publishers today, most mid sized, want a marketing
plan submitted with the standard query letter, the first
three chapters, and synopsis. And many writers (many of
whom are newbies) are less than pleased. In fact, they‘re
downright irate.

But let‘s not dismiss it so easily. Let‘s examine this
strange thing called a marketing plan.. After all, today,
not only many mid-sized publishers want them;
numerous agents want them as well.

In a sense, this is a trick requirement to see if the writer
knows the ins and outs of promotion. If they do, they‘ll
show it by demonstrating they have the ability to arrange
book signings (not all of which are at bookstores). List
their book titles on the Internet on every bulletin board
and in all databases known to man. They‘ll join every
online club there is which allows promos and excerpts to
be shown to readers. They'll get themselves invited as
guests to various groups of readers online and chat with
them. They'll demonstrate they have the ability to call
total strangers and arrange to speak at their libraries and
community centers, and negotiate what they will and will
not do/contribute as a result of such talks. They'll con-
tact radio show hosts and planning directors and arrange
to talk about their books and what they‘ve learned about
various topics to tens of thousands listeners who may or
not may be interested, and further, they will do every-
thing in their power to reach those uninterested listeners
who have nothing better to do.

There are various other things too, but those are the
biggies.

What this boils down to is writers today have to be
flexible. We can‘t just wear our writers‘ hats. Not all the time,
we can‘t. As much as we may dislike or shy away from
it, we also have to be promoters. It‘s like a company
introducing a new brand of peas. No matter how wonderful
the peas are, no one will buy them if they don‘t
know the advantages and that the peas are there at the
stores, ready to be bought. Without advertising and
promoting, those peas are doomed to literally languish on the
vine.

And there‘s no better way of a writer learning what they
have to, than by submitting to the smaller, newer
publishers.