The Top 5 Reasons You WON'T Get a Book Deal From a Traditional Publisher

The top 5 Reasons You WON'T Get a Book Deal From a Traditional Publisher: 

You aren’t going to want to hear what I’m going to say. It will destroy many of your illusions and you will vehemently disagree with me.

But everything I’m going to tell you is true.

So before we continue, ask yourself. ARE YOU SERIOUS ABOUT BECOMING A PUBLISHED NOVELIST?

Are you sure?

Because as published novelist I’ve met a considerable number of people who fancy themselves as yet to be discovered writers whose ticket to literary superstardom will arrive at the completion of their latest book.

No it won’t. And the reason is because they fancy themselves to be undiscovered authors on the verge of superstardom.

I’ll explain. The number 1 reason talented writers fail to become a published authors is their EGO. A writer’s EGO is enormous. And until the day comes when they value constructive criticism FAR more than praise, they’re not going anywhere. The amateur is devastated when their labor of love is criticized or told it requires a lot of rewriting. 

They are so convinced their manuscript is a masterpiece of word and phrase that ANY attempt to improve it will only destroy its beauty.

That belief is proof that writer isn’t publishable. A publishable writer can take their manuscript and rewrite it six ways from Sunday and each and every rewrite will be better than the previous one.

Reason #2 You think the publishing world is the same as it was in the days of Steinbeck, Faulkner and Hemingway. The days of writing a novel with cross outs and erasures and instruction to remove this paragraph and place it at the end of page thirty-five are long dead. A PROFESSIONALLY edited manuscript is expected and anything less will almost always wind up in the rejection pile. And you better know what a “As you know, Bob” is, the first 5 page rule and what your characters need to be doing while they talk.

And a hell of a lot more. But, moving right along.

Reason #3  You’re nobody, so why would an agent or publisher working within a very tight budget take a chance on an unknown? Been to Wal-Mart or Target lately? Notice that the majority of the books being sold are from media superstars? Kardasians, Duck Dynasty, Televangelists and already established authors like King and Collins and Grisham? Do you have any idea what books are presently selling? You should, because that’s what agents and publishers are looking to publish.

But you just read an article about a completely unknown author submitting the first book she ever wrote and it sold immediately and became a best seller. So why shouldn’t that happen to you?

Because it was LUCK. If she didn’t have a book published, she probably would have won the lottery. You read about it because it was news and it was news because that very, VERY rarely, happens.

And if you’re waiting for that to happen to you, here’s what will actually happen.

Writing is a VERY solitary profession. Very Solitary. And eventually your spouse is going to get fed up with your dream of literary superstardom and start looking for someone they can actually have a life with. And they will leave you to your dream.

Alone.

Reason #4 You haven’t actually made any money writing.  True artists can’t be bothered writing copy or work for hire because it’s beneath them. That’s why most artists die, usually by suicide. And why not? Their fantasy with becoming a world famous novelist has taken over their lives. Their spouses have gone, their kids want no contact, money is non-existent and they have alienated all their friends.  But at least they’ll have the comfort of believing that their work will be discovered after they’re dead and then people will appreciate them.

If that’s what you’re thinking then ask yourself, if you’re dead, how will you know?

Reason #5 You haven’t learned to sell books. This is the most important skill for a writer to acquire. Here’s how it works in today’s world. Say an agent actually shows interest in your book. He calls you and asks you to talk about your book. If you say it’s a feel good story about a man and his dog and their travels through Vermont, you will likely have a very short call. On the other hand if you say the self-published version is selling 500 copies on Kindle a week, you will have an agent, a publisher and a very hefty advance in a short period of time.

So you have a choice. Keep sending manuscripts to agents and publishers. Keep collecting rejection notices, keep telling yourself that your next book will be the one that will get you that book deal and watch as the years pass as you obsessively feed that dream.

Because that’s what it is…a DREAM.

OR…

You can pick up a copy of How to Write Publish and Market Your Novel into a Best Seller, so you can stop dreaming and learn what you have to do to get that deal!

Here’s one last fact that you’re not going to like, but you need to know it exists.

There are thousands of “writers” who make 7 to 10 thousand dollars a month in royalties who have never written a single book. You don’t know their names because they all use pen names.  Agents and publishers are dying to sign them but those “writers” aren’t interested. Why? Because they make much more money selling on Kindle than they would with a traditional publisher. How do they do it? They outsource the ENTIRE process.

Isn’t it time you stopped chasing agents and publishers and instead have them chasing you? It Can happen but first you’ll need to read How to Write, Publish and Market Your Novel into a Best Seller. It’s available as an e-book for under $5.00 as an Audio book for under $7.00 and as a paperback for under $10.00

Dreamers dream.

Writers take action. Here’s is the link for the e-book and audio book. http://www.amazon.com/Write-Publish-Market-Novel-Bestseller-ebook/dp/B00EHYIMCI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406127967&sr=1-1&keywords=zackary+richards

For the paperback version http://www.amazon.com/Write-Publish-Market-Novel-Bestseller/dp/0615997112/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406128170&sr=1-8&keywords=zackary+richards

In the meantime check out our webpage 

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Writers: How to go from Amateur to Professional

Writers: How to go from Amateur to Professional

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You’re a busy person so I’ll get right to it. The biggest obstacle to your career as a professional author is your EGO.

Don’t deny it. Every Real writer has a massive ego. It began when we suddenly realized we were the smartest kids in the class and often times smarter than the teacher and so we developed a “Bow before Zod, son of Jor-el” attitude.

We had a real thirst for knowledge, read all the time, got crap from the lumbering herds of Doofi who referred to us as 4-eyes and Mr./Mrs. Know-it-all and were forced to answer the question, “Do you think you’re better than us” with a “No,” when the answer was an obvious and resounding “YES!”

But we withstood the abuse because we knew that someday we would be avenged! We knew that once we were at the pinnacle of the literary world all of those idiots would indeed Bow before Zod (or Bobby or Janey or in my case, Zackary) and we would no longer be asked “Do you think you’re better than us?” Because our superiority was obvious.

Unfortunately now, that super-duper, psychological EGOMANICAL armor that protected us so well as kids has become the main obstacle to our success.

Again, don’t deny it. Whenever we write something we pour our very soul, our very essence into our work. It is our life-blood, our personality, the core of our being.

And so when someone reads that work and starts critiquing it, we not only bristle we start plotting their demise!

HOW DARE THEY!??

Okay, take a deep breath, Spartacus because this is going to hurt. If your ego is shattered because some non-writer found what he or she considered flaws in your work, the problem is not with them, it’s with you because haven’t acquired the skills to know is the criticism is legit or not.

First, you need to adopt the comedians’ code. If the audience doesn’t laugh, either the joke stinks or you told it wrong. Of course no matter how good a comedian or how well-crafted the joke, not everyone is going to laugh. So how can you tell if your story is lousy or your reader is a dope?

YOU LEARN YOUR CRAFT!

I moderate a writers group and each week we submit a new piece to the group to be critiqued. We are instructed to be as savage as possible, to nit-pick and find the smallest flaws. When we come back the next week, we point out those errors to the author and suggest ways to fix them.

Because we are all writers, we aren’t as sensitive to their criticism because they know what they’re talking about and understand your sensitivity.

It is also a good way to become very good, very fast.

Here’s another important point. Simply because you have a college degree in Literature or English or an MFA, that doesn’t make you a writer. What makes you a writer is the ability to write a book that sells.

Otherwise, your writing is merely a hobby.

Don’t have a writers group in your area? Then go to the top right of this site and click on How to Write, Publish & Market Your Novel into a Best Seller. I wrote it and I know what I’m talking about. It costs under $5.00 for the ebook (a little over $6.oo for the audio book) It will teach you all you need to know. And by that I mean, it will teach you all the skills necessary to become a professional writer as well as the ability to determine if a critique of your work is valid, or just the ranting of some jealous dim-wit looking to rain on your parade.

As a publisher I’ve seen countless books that were written by people with gobs of talent, a mastery of word and phrase… AND NO DAMN SKILLS WHATSOEVER.

And why didn’t they take the time to acquire those necessary skills?

Because their stupid EGO told them it was unnecessary.

Listen to me! You’ve no doubt heard stories of that particular author who, without acquiring any skills at all, went on to sign a multi-book deal and sold millions of copies. And you’ve likely heard about the person who walked to the store, bought a lotto ticket on a whim and won millions of dollars.

IT’S THE SAME THING!

Don’t let your ego con you into thinking you’re so good you don’t need to master the craft and learn the business. Remember every Hall-of-Fame baseball player spent years in the minor leagues.

Every one.

You clicked on this post because you wanted to know how to go from an amateur to a professional. The answer is this. Join a writers group or buy How to Write, Publish & Market Your Novel into a Best Seller 

http://amzn.to/1gi3N1S

If you buy the book it will be the best five bucks you every spent. It’s all nuts and bolts, no filler. And because it’s an Amazon book, if you don’t like it you can return it! (And I don’t mind saying that because NO ONE EVER HAS!) Why? Well for example this is my 200th post and this blog is zeroing in on twenty-five thousands hits! So I think you can say I have a pretty good handle on this writing thing.

So do either one or the other and do it now. No one ever became proficient at anything by procrastinating.