Five Things I’ve Learned Too Late...
...About Publishing My First Book
There are many pitfalls that come with publishing your first book. In fact, there are so many pitfalls that it can sometimes be hard to find the good part. It’s kind of like that Oops All Berries variant of Captain (pardon me) Cap’N Crunch they make. But it’s not cereal we’re talking about. It’s your one, precious life.
You only get one chance to make a first impression in the literary world. To that end, I spend a lot of time thinking about this topic. I also spend a lot of time answering questions related to this topic for students and curious writers. So I decided to teach a class on the topic this weekend (Sunday, May 18 at 8pm EST/5pm PST through myfivethings.com). If you’re interested, below is the letter I wrote to the people who’ve already signed up for the class. Since you’re seeing this on Substack, enter SUBSTACK10 in the "Discount Code" fee as you check out to reduce the price by $10.
Thanks for signing up for our class. When I was asked to teach this session, I knew there was only one topic I wanted to cover: Five Things I’ve Learned Too Late About Publishing My First Book.
You see, there are at least a half million traditionally published new books every year. If you add in self-published books, then a new book is published every 11 seconds (about how long it took you to read this short paragraph).
Art making is not a competition, but every writer wants their work to be read fairly.
How then does one write and publish in a way that keeps their work from being ignored, swept aside, or immediately forgotten?
That’s where I come in. I’m the author of three critically acclaimed books. Specifically, I wrote The American Daughters, The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You, and We Cast a Shadow. Each of these were New York Times Critics Choice picks. I switched careers at age 41 to embrace my artistic ambitions. In addition to writing fiction, I’ve devoted the last decade to teaching writers about book writing and book publishing. I do this because I love storytelling, and I want you to succeed too.
I ask that all attendees submit a list of questions in advance so that I can address them. I know from experience that struggles tend to fall into two categories: (1) the writing itself and (2) everything else i.e. finding an agent, getting a book deal, convincing your loved ones the effort is worthwhile.
I’ll cover these specific areas during our time together:
· Revision.
· Book deal making.
· Assembling your support team.
· Publicity and marketing.
· Release strategies.
You only get one chance to be a debut author. I’m here to make sure that experience is as good as it can possibly be.