Guaranteed Getting Published is today’s subject. At Basic Authors Training we consider helping people to get published is so important that we did the unthinkable. We guarantee that students who graduate from the course will be published by us!
That is amazing!
Why Have We Guaranteed Getting Published?
A big part of this is my own history. I have talked in the past about the school of hard knocks. Plus, I have post as recent as this week about my own experience trying to get published.
First, I had to choose between Traditional, Self, and Indie publishing. That story has appeared on both LinkedIn and Facebook, but not as deep as here.
But the fact is that when I finished my book, I had to find a publisher. My first choice was Traditional. I was like a babe in the woods. I was naïve and didn’t know much about the publishing industry. But I was soon learning.
It Required Book Agents for Traditional Publishing
In my posts I told how I was rejected. In addition, I discovered the time-consuming process of finding an agent and getting published was smothering me. As I recall I began wondering if there was another way. And there was.
I began scouring the internet looking for the right agent. After months of searching, I found an agent who not only handled the historical fiction genre, but she also had a good reputation. Eagerly, I submitted my manuscript to her.
A few weeks later I received a letter from her. I eagerly opened it only to discover it was a rejection letter. She thanked me for considering her, told me the book didn’t fit her, and wished me well.
I was devastated and confused. According to my research, she represented authors who wrote historical fiction. Then the realization slowly came. It wasn’t Historical Fiction she was refusing to represent, it was Biblical Historical Fiction!
I was completely undone, defeated.
But then I heard about something called Self-Publishing. That sounded good. I would be able to publish the book myself.
Self-Published Promised an easy way for Getting Published
Back in the early 2000s $400 was expensive and hard to come by. I didn’t have much money, but I managed to find it and sign on with a Self-Publishing House. And I was on my way.
Well, not exactly.
You see, Self-Publishing doesn’t really mean that you publish the book. It can be characterized as you pay to have someone else publish the book. That’s not so bad. We pay others to do work for us all the time.
But I quickly learned that while my money was welcome, they were the ones in charge. They chose the fonts, they chose the book size (they may have let me select), they wanted to do the editing, and they gave me little choice on the royalties.
But I didn’t care. I was going to be a published author.
Getting Published Involved Very Little Marketing
When the book was done and published, I was ecstatic! I showed it to friends and family. I was proud as a peacock! Until I learned the dirty little secret.
I wasn’t going to get much help marketing the book. Oh, they sent me a book on how to market, plus they offered several tools that I could purchase. I could have my book advertised in the New York Times! For a price that I couldn’t afford.
The world of reality overcame me.
I still managed to sell books by visiting bookstores and other shops. I had several book signings at a local bookstore. I think I sold around 100 books altogether. But it was hard work, and the royalties were small.
Indie Publishing Appeared!
I switched from the self-publishing house to another publisher who was more of a hybrid, which means it had aspects of self-publishing and traditional publishing merged together. But this didn’t improve the situation. They paid an advance just like Traditional Publishers, except it was only $1. They also paid royalties on the same scale as Traditional, which I thought was unfair. But they published a nice book, retained control of the process, and collected their profits.
It was then that I began learning about something called Indie Publishing. I didn’t know what it was, but my research on the internet cleared it up. Indie Publishing is the author publishing his/her own book. Plus, a new service called CreateSpace existed for just such an author as me.
So, I switched to CreateSpace, which eventually became Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). It was a decision that would change my career and my life! Not only that, but it sparked within me a desire to help others without all the hassle. Plus, it would lead to Teresa, my wife, and I founding our own business and calling it T&R Independent Books.
It was at that time that Teresa confessed her desire to be an author, which excited me. It would take 5 years of battling a heart attack (me), cancer twice (Teresa), and other hardships before her first book was published by T&R Independent Books. Writing under the name of Tess Riddle, she would go on to rewrite and republish that first novel, plus write three Ladies Devotionals before her untimely death. She had done the impossible!
But that is not the end of the story. Before and since her death I developed a book writing course designed to help others become authors. It was a simple idea that would soon explode into something fantastic!
More on this subject in Guaranteed Getting Published part 2.
To learn more about how Basic Authors Training can help you get finished, go this link:
What’s The Truth About Best Sellers? – T&R Independent Bookstore (trbookservices.com)
VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.
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Company information:
T&R Independent Bookstore is a division of T&R Independent Books founded in 2014 by R. Frederick and Tess Riddle. TR Ministry, aka Christian Fund, is both a charge and an exciting outreach to the Christian Community.
