Where can I go for help once my first draft is completed?
Writer’s groups where co-editing and feedback on your work during the process can take place as described earlier should support you through the process of writing the first draft and getting feedback on the finished manuscript. Once you have worked on this as well as you can, you often find you are so close to the material that it is difficult to see the wood from the trees. Or you simply do not know where to go next. That is when you should seek out a publishing consultancy that specialises in manuscript assessment, editorial services and which can eventually market and sell your work to publishers. You are always better off to choose one agency that can take you through all the processes to maintain continuity on your work and because it saves having to develop different relationships with three or more groups of services. You will also save a lot of money because you are not having to pay different people to read your text each time.
If you live in a country where it is difficult to access such services, you can usually find them on the internet. Check also the appendix of this book. If you cannot find a publishing consultancy that offers all services and can take you through the full process, then you may need to work with individual agencies. In all cases, make sure you ask for a list of their published authors. Anybody can set up an assessment or editorial agency or work as a literary agent. But the true test of their worth is in the number of writers they have actually taken from an assessment through to being published. In my country, for instance, there are many agencies offering these services. Some have few or no published authors. This means that they have not developed a wide network of publishers to work with and that they are very unlikely to be able to take your work through to publication.
If possible, work with an agency that has published award-winning authors and can list these with names, dates, publishers so you can check them if necessary. Don’t go with an agency that has a huge list of authors that looks impressive because you may find that most or all of them are not yet published. You must always ask the agency to send or email you a description of their services and a list of their published authors. If they cannot do this or the list is meager, then work to find a publishing consultancy that can offer you all these services. Then you know you are safe.
You should approach any agency in the publishing world just the same as you would a painter to paint your house or a builder to build your house. You make sure they have painted or built houses before and done a good job. Here the only proof of success is in getting your text from assessment to being published. You need to know what questions to ask along the way and you must insist on getting a free initial reading of your text so they can make a quote, just as any quote you might get from a painter. We have heard of some authors submitting work for a free reading and being hit up with a huge bill where an agency has simply read the book. This is outrageous and you should not stand for it.
In all cases, you must insist upon getting a typed quote for the services in advance that lists the phases of work and what each will cost. You must know in advance what services you are receiving and what they will cost so you can make an informed decision and budget for the work. Never just accept what an agency may say over the phone. If there is a dispute over services later, you have no written contract to refer to. People often interpret contracts in different ways and it is vital that you know what is being offered in writing in advance so you can consider it.
Globally, only the top 1% get published. Of the top 10% we submit, we have maintained an average success rate of 76%-82%. There is no magic in this. It is sheer hard work and preparation. 90% of all texts in the industry are submitted too early and get rejected. We want to avoid that scenario if at all possible. Authors will all go through rejection at some stage of their career but the best prepared authors stand the best chances, as we have shown, and so it is advisable to limit the chances of rejection as much as possible. If authors in that top 10% submitted do not get a mainstream publishing contract, then we follow up beyond the contract quoted to advise on alternative sources of publication for new authors, such as internet and print on demand publishing.