My road to publication…

So, you’ve typed your final sentence, and the first draft of your book is complete. What now? That was where I found myself.

A little online research led me to beta readers: people who read your manuscript and comment on the story, characters, structure and grammar/punctuation, usually for no fee. Avoid those who want to charge; you’re going to have to pay a real editor at some point. I found a super chap who was happy to read my work and give regular updates and a detailed report once he’d finished. It was Mike who suggested that I make it more story-like and change to third person.

Now I had a book which was tidier, with a better structure and clearer perspective; I needed a publisher or agent – preferably both. This required patience and perseverance.

Each publisher has different submission criteria: the first ten thousand words and a summary; a covering letter and a synopsis plus three thousand words; an author autobiography, a covering letter and the first three chapters; double spacing and specific font. The combinations were endless and getting it wrong meant an automatic rejection. I submitted to approximately ten publishers and agents ignoring the requests not to submit to more than one at a time.

After six rejections and a couple of no-replies, finally an acceptance from Novum Publishing House arrived in my inbox. Eagerly I read through the email and the contract to discover this was what I now know is called a hybrid package. A few days later another email arrived from a publishing house, let’s call them AM, with a similar offer. For about a week, I read and re-read the offers, weighing them up and working out such things as how much they would take from me if they sold the screen rights, or it was translated - like you do when your head’s in the clouds and your imagination is in control.

In the end I chose AM simply because I’d heard of them as publishers and they are based in London. I signed the contract and paid my £2300, and kept my fingers crossed I would soon see my work in print.

The contract clearly stated they would publish my work within 190 working days of signing, but the Acquisitions Editorial Assistant with whom I had been communicating with for a month assured me it wouldn’t take that long.

How wrong he was.

Once the manuscript passed to the editorial team, everything stopped. After the initial automated response, there was no communication for weeks. I emailed my first contact. Nothing. I phoned to be told by an anonymous voice, “It’s in the queue; I’m sure someone will get to it soon.” My patience was wearing thin. I felt unimportant, unsupported and ignored. This book was my baby, and it seemed the publishers, to whom I had paid a significant amount, didn’t care.

Eventually I received an email with my ‘edited’ manuscript attached. It was appalling. They had simply applied an AI grammar programme! Every relative pronoun ‘which’ had been replaced with ‘that’; the speech punctuation had been altered so lower case ‘said’ was now incorrectly upper case; and other similar erroneous changes. However, inconsistencies I’d missed in the change from first to third person hadn’t been picked up. My heart sank.

I began the long task of proofreading my own work, which I definitely don’t recommend. I highlighted as many corrections as I could find and returned it with my comments. Then I waited. And waited. And waited.

Sometime later, I received another version. This one, again, was littered with mistakes. Some were mine which hadn’t been picked up by an ‘editor’, but most were ones created by the AI programme. I’m not sure a real person ever read the manuscript…

Eventually, I was sent what was supposedly the final copy. I was asked to put any corrections in comments. I got to page seventeen and there was a small mistake on every page: missing capitals, Americanised spelling, incorrect punctuation. The document went back and forth for weeks. As you can imagine, I was beginning to wonder what I’d actually paid for.

My frustration with the editorial team grew. Each time I returned the document with comments, it was sent back, and they hadn’t made the changes I’d asked for. This happened at least ten times. To add insult to injury, I was told that if I kept returning it, the publication date would be delayed. I’d paid for editing but in reality, I did it myself.

Once the book was published, eight months after I’d signed the contract, I hoped I’d benefit from their marketing. Well, that hasn’t happened. Yes, AM got an ISBN number, listed it on the main booksellers’ sites and put it on Amazon, but little else. A member of the team has made a frankly amateurish video for YouTube. Other than that… Contractually, they should have made me a website, but thus far that hasn’t happened. Any publicity, I’ve done myself.

You may be wondering what I earn from my work? What is the cost of this service? The publisher receives 75% of each paperback book and 60% of each e-book sold. This is in addition to the money I paid them upfront. Any royalties are paid approximately eight months after the publication date. So, you’re in the red for quite some time.

I know this is one person’s experience, but if you’re thinking about this type of hybrid contract, I seriously recommend reading the terms and conditions closely, heeding reviews on Trustpilot and maintaining as much control over your work as possible. It is, and will always be, your baby, after all, that you’ve dreamed about since before that first draft. Don’t let that be spoiled by signing a contract that can leave you feeling unsupported.

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Find Molly Anderson on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559868056613

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mollyanderson365?igsh=czI2M3BxZmVmbTF5

On X: @MollytheAuthor

Publisher link: https://www.austinmacauley.com/book/dads-new-dress

Buy Dad’s New Dress at Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/dads-new-dress/molly-anderson

Or WHSmith: https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/dads-new-dress/molly-anderson

Or Blackwell’s: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/Dadsnewdress

Or Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dads-New-Dress-Molly-Anderson/

Listen to my radio interview: https://logger.fantasyradio.co.uk/20240720110001.mp3