Originally posted as the Dun Writin’—Now Whut? series on this blog, EDITING 101 is a weekly refresher series for some of you and brand new for others.

Courtesy ofAdirondack Editing

Recognizing Publishing Scams

There are so many publishers—and types of publishing!—on the Internet that it is difficult to know who is legitimate and who is not.

Let’s first discuss the different types of publishing companies available currently.

Commercial or Traditional Publisher: You submit your book to them, possibly through an agent, and sign over all rights. They handle all facets of publishing, including editing, layout, cover design, distribution, and (nowadays) a little marketing. There are no costs to the author, and the author typically receives a royalty advance plus additional royalties of 8 to 12%.
Subsidy Publisher: You submit your book to them and sign over some of your rights. They handle all facets of publishing, including editing, layout, cover design…

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Does your first chapter make a promise to readers? Do you live up to it? #WritersIssues

Writing your first novel-Things you should know

1e7cba28f25210164154825f3d16c176 It’s the beginning and more specifically the first sentence, then paragraph, then page, then chapter. You have to grab your reader the minute they pick up your novel.

When you are ready to submit your work to an agent, one thing you will notice is they don’t want your complete work. They only want the first few pages, or some may ask for a couple of chapters. Don’t be bold and overconfident sending them the entire thing.

They probably will toss it to the side for your failure to follow instructions. If they do read, they won’t get very far if the first few pages aren’t compelling enough to draw them in (which was the part they wanted to see in the first place).

Agents as a rule, don’t want to see the entire manuscript until they know you can write a compelling story. You have to make them want to…

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