Why You Won’t Get a Publishing Deal No matter how good your book is

Written by Zackary Richards for Ari Publishing

Writers are great when it comes to creating wonderful fantasy environments. Places like Hogwarts, Narnia, the Dark Tower and so on. But there’s a problem…

Too often they live in one!

My name is Zackary Richards. I’m a writer, publisher, and entrepreneur. Look me up on Google (make sure you spell my name right) and you’ll see that I’m featured extensively on the first ten pages. I also teach creative writing, book marketing and sell publishing related products such as books, videos, and how-to courses. And because of this, I have been branded a hack, a huckster and a rip off artist.

Apparently, I am not a true artiste.

But here’s the deal. I make a comfortable living and the people who berate me are those who have no idea how the publishing industry works and have never had a book published by a traditional publisher.

I have.

Now let me explain why you won’t get a publishing deal no matter how good your book is. Now this applies to aspiring novelists only. If you’ve already secured a publishing deal and want to argue the issue, go do something else. Those struggling need to know the hard facts, they don’t need someone to reinforce their fantasy.

So here goes… If you are writing book after book and submitting them to agents and publishers in the hope that one of them will see the astounding raw talent you possess and immediately sign you up to a book deal…

You will very likely die broke in some cheap hotel. 

Why? Because the odds of that happening are exactly the same as winning the lottery! Don’t believe me? Then let’s look at two of the most successful creative people in the last half century: The Beatles and J.K Rowling.

If you lived through the sixties, then you know firsthand the astounding success and influence the Beatles had on just about every aspect of society. Fifty years later, Paul McCartney is still selling out massive arenas.

But as amazingly talented as they were, no one would sign them. And the only reason EMI (the Beatles English record company) did finally agree, was because Brian Epstein, their manager, convinced the executives that the Beatles enormous fan base would buy any record they created and by doing so, would offset the record production costs.

It wasn’t because the executives thought their music was any good. In fact, they thought so little of them that they were assigned a record producer who did only comedy albums. It just so happened that George Martin was also perhaps the greatest record producer in history, but they had no way of knowing that at the time.

J.K. Rowling, the creator of the incredible Harry Potter series? Harry Potter was turned down by every book publisher in England, including her original publisher.

The only reason she didn’t receive that rejection letter was because one of the company’s top executive’s daughter just happened to read the manuscript and begged her father to publish it. Reluctantly, he did. The rest is history.

Want more? Look up how Scott Adams, Dilbert’s creator landed his deal or how Dr. Seuss got his. Amazingly good luck to amazingly talented people.

Are you an amazingly lucky person? Does everything work out for you? Does good fortune follow you like a little puppy? If so, leave now. You need to make preparations for fame and fortune.

Here’s a question you need to answer honestly. Do you have a crappy life and are writing feverishly in the hope that you’ll be discovered and whisked off to a life of fame and fortune? Then I say…

Hello, my name is Mr. Rourke and this is my associate Tattoo. Welcome to Fantasy Island!

If you want to learn what you have to do to become a published author, I will gladly teach you, but it will cost you some money. Why? Because it’s the price of an education! And if you’re not willing to invest five bucks for my book which explains just how the industry works and what you need to do in order to get the attention of agents and book publishers then, by all means, keep writing book after book and keep submitting. 

But I promise you, unless you are astounding lucky, you will NEVER be offered a publishing deal regardless of how good your book is.

The why is because your book will never reach an actual agent. It will instead likely be rejected by a college intern, probably because of a lack of professional editing, or incorrect spacing, or the use of a plot contrivance or a number of other things you likely don’t know garners your book an automatic rejection.

So to prove I know what I’m talking about I’ll give you a sample. Go to https://www.amazon.com/Write-Publish-Market-Novel-Bestseller-ebook/dp/B00EHYIMCI/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1468685703&sr=1-7&keywords=zackary+richards#nav-subnav

Click on the cover of The Best Book on How to Write, Publish and Market Your Book into A Bestseller and read the first chapter. That kindle version is under 5 bucks!

So you have two choices. Keep writing and submitting and hope and wish and pray that someone, anyone, will give you a break. OR spend five bucks, learn how the business works, adjust your work to fit that criterion, resubmit to someone who has expressed interest then, go live happily ever after.

Your decision.  

How to Write Well

   Having just reached my second decade as a published author there are some lessons I have learned and have shared them with my readers. I have even written a book on the subject because so many young talented writers are shooting themselves in the foot by not knowing the skills they need in order to be taken seriously. Here are the links for the ebook & audio book versions.

   Ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Write-Publish-Market-Novel-Bestseller-ebook/dp/B00EHYIMCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389196887&sr=1-3&keywords=zackary+richards

   Audio Book: http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/How-to-Write-Publish-and-Market-Your-Novel-into-a-Best-Seller-Audiobook/B00GUTI4FI/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1389197027&sr=1-2

   I also moderate a writers group and if you’re a writer and don’t belong to one, you are again shooting yourself in the foot. Interacting with other writers will provide you with the opportunity to master the craft much faster than by going at it alone.

   The thing is, if you have talent, drive and imagination you can become a writer and if you’re lucky, make a living at it.

   But there is one obstacle that will cripple you and prevent you from becoming a well-known and respected novelist.

   And that, my friends, is your ego.

   And here’s the Catch-22. The more talent you have the more ego there is to overcome.

   All modestly aside I’m a pretty talented guy. But I take no bows for that because I was born with talent. I got it free. No effort was required, no obstacles to overcome, no herculean tasks to perform.

   No charge, buddy. Enjoy!

   But unbeknownst to me, that talent came with a silent, sadistic partner. And that partner threw a monkey wrench into every artistic endeavor I attempted throughout my life.

   And yes, you guessed it. The culprit was my monstrous, Hulk sized ego.

   The problem is, if you can learn things easily, you start believing there isn’t anything you can’t learn and therefore have no need of teachers. And to make matters worse any attempt to show you how to do something better, is taken by you as a personal attack and a hate crime.

   And yes, my ego is just that crazy.

   It took me years to learn to lock that lunatic away and to shut up and accept instruction from those more experienced and better trained.

   Want to save yourself years of frustration, heart-break and disappointment? Here’s what you do. When you are with someone who has similar goals or talents, ask questions. Because even if you are more talented, or more successful, they may have mastered or discovered a method that will greatly improve your own skills.

   Case in point. After starting my own publishing company I met a man in a bar and we started talking. I should point out that not only do I have an enormous ego I am ALSO anti-social as hell. I don’t say nothin’ to nobody. No way, no how, unless I’m on stage or doing a presentation.

   But this guy was very personable. So I opened up a bit and discovered he was an inventor who had created a very innovative product that he sold over the internet. So I told him about my fledging publishing business www.aripublishing.com and compared notes.

   He listened attentively and when I finished he said, “Sounds good, but here’s what you’re doing wrong.”

   Fortunately I had a couple of beers in me or I would have slapped him with my glove and challenged him to a duel. I mean, who was this clown, telling me how to run my publishing company? The guy wasn’t even a writer!

   So I ignored his suggestions and kept doing what I was doing. He was a very interesting guy however, so we continued to meet at that bar once a week.

   But my business wasn’t making any progress. Yes, the books were selling but we weren’t increasing our reader base and so sales were flat. So I started looking into marketing to try and find a way to beef things up.

   And the more I learned the more I realized what that guy had told me so many months earlier was exactly what this marketing course was teaching!

   So I went back to my buddy and started asking questions, which he, ever the professional, kindly answered.  Turns out, he was one of those Millionaires next door types you read about and had more money than he could spend in two lifetimes.

   So I implemented his ideas and sure enough, sales picked up and things turned around. Lesson learned? Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you are a writer but aren’t making progress, the buy my book. It’s that simple. My books are selling well, are yours? If not, then it’s likely I know something that you need to know. Don’t let your ego try to convince you otherwise. Here are the links again

   Ebook:  http://www.amazon.com/Write-Publish-Market-Novel-Bestseller-ebook/dp/B00EHYIMCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389197756&sr=1-3&keywords=zackary+richards

   Audio book: http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/How-to-Write-Publish-and-Market-Your-Novel-into-a-Best-Seller-Audiobook/B00GUTI4FI/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1389197027&sr=1-2