Karen Treanor from Quenda Books

Notes from KSPWC Publishers Panel 23/10/10

The event went pretty much as intended except we ran out of time and didn't get to give our 'five minutes of advice" for the participants' future directions. I would have said:

My advice to writers is “Do it NOW; don’t say “Oh, I wish I had time to write.” MAKE TIME. If you have to get up half an hour early, do so. Writing is like any other skill, use it or lose it. To would-be publishers I’d say “Do it right from the start—don’t go for cheap options; hire professionals to do what you don’t know how to do; have the courage of your convictions, and don’t put it off—all too soon you will be 92 and wondering where your life went.”

About 16 people attended, mostly from the KSP membership; some are retirees, some are still in the work force, one is a uni student, and all either have a story to tell that they hope to have published one day or were simply curious about the publishing process. The big question of the day was "How do you get the attention of publishers?" So few of them accept unsolicited manuscripts: what's a writer to do? Fremantle Press is one of the more approachable publishers, yet they publish less than 1% of the manuscripts they receive--and they receive over 600 a year!

In previous times, a writer could hope to get an agent interested in her work, and the agent then fronted the publishers. Agents now have become so exclusive that many of them won't respond to unknown writers. There are very few agents in Australia, and they are fairly specific about what they will represent and what they won't . Some don't touch poetry or children's books; others only handle nonfiction, etc.

Bottom line, one has to keep trying, use any opportunity that presents itself, spend a lot of time Googling outlets where your writing might find a home--even if it isn't a paying proposition. There are websites that give writers a forum for short stories, but few of them pay.

And be extremely cautious when looking at those ads that say "You can be published!" "English publisher wants authors!" Next thing you know, you have signed up with a vanity press and paid $800 or more and got very little for it except a boxful of second-rate books. I recommend every writer checks out any potential publisher on the Preditors (sic) and Editors website; most of the shonky outfits will have had a bad review on there. Above all, be patient. Even when a publisher agrees to look at your manuscript, you will have a four, five or more month wait for a response. In the good old days, publishers had a back room full of shiny new graduates in Eng. Lit who read their way through the slush piles; There are fewer readers in back rooms now and it's much harder to make it that far.

An alternative to hard-print publishing is e-publishing, but like print publishers, there are predators out there. Worse, anyone who wants to set up a website can say he's an e-book publisher. There are some very good ones, and some awful ones that wouldn't know one end of a blue pencil from another. If you've got a good book, you don't want it published on line or in print by a third-rate outfit. Do your homework take your time, and don't sign up with anyone you can't find a good recommendation for.