Here goes the second part of an article about legends of writing. Newbies shouldn’t be afraid of doing what they want.
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Legend #5
Publishers don’t read samples sent from “no-names”, one can be published only if having contacts
Of course, it is easier to come through if to have connections, but if publishers didn’t read “no-name” samples, nothing would be published as well. Rotation of writers in this business is extremely frequent: new authors change elder ones easily, and most new works are actually found among the books sent to a common publishing house’s email box.
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Legend #6
The publisher will donate into the advertising of my book, though they are interested in it to be sold well
Publishers would never get enough money to create an advertising campaign for every author. The book is a lottery ticket for them. If it wins, that’s great; if it doesn’t, so be it. The main thing is keeping & maintaining the proper balance between winning and losing tickets.
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Legend #7
If I tell the editor about how long I’ve worked on my book, this will be a plus
The quantity of a time devoted on writing is not equal to the quality of the text. If you move in a wrong direction for long, you still won’t come to your goal. The message like “I've worked on this novel for 5 years» sounds like white noise for an editor, and tells them noting. Moreover, this fact tells about you not having any experience of creating quality books fast, and if you want to create series, this is important.
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Legend #8
I should not pay attention to commas and light spelling mistakes: editor will fix them if needed.
They will, if your topic is a guaranteed bestseller (note, that the point is about a topic, not the style). If you put accent on anything else, and allow yourself to make lots of mistakes, the book will be thrown right into a trash can. Correcting one’s mistakes means devoting working time, which is to be paid by someone.
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Legend #9
Writer’s Fame is a Pleasant Thing
If your book hits, then the first thing for you to meet with is a massive suspiciousness. Journalists, colleagues, familiar people, them all will wonder: how did you make it? How could you become a star? Did you pay someone for that?
This is a life rule: nobody likes people who stand out from the crowd. Especially at the very beginning, when one is already famous, but not at the guru status yet. Writer’s fame also means having a couple of “court psychos” who will find every single mistake you made and show them in public. This is a constant worrying: “What if my next book will be sold worse than the previous one?”
Though, it is to be mentioned: writer’s fame has two big pluses. They are: testimonials of excited readers, and nice incomes.