How easy is it to write a book and get it published?
The simple answer: really easy. If you’re willing to spend loads of your hard-earned money yourself and put faith in a printer, it can happen in less than 2 weeks. But when you’re talking about writing your own book and submitting it to publishers…it’s very different indeed. In fact, the reality of the matter is that when it comes to difficult things to achieve, this is right up there with becoming a famous actress or getting gold in the Olympics.
If you want the hard, honest truth, publishers receive thousands of manuscripts literally every year. Books about Cotton Fabrics and ballet and swimming and fantasy. Fighting your way to the top of the list is possibly the toughest and most unsettling things you can do. Plus it takes a long time to hear back. It’s normal in the world of publishing to wait as long as six months to hear back from the editor… and…
That is when they reject it. They reject all that hard work, those sleepless night, and more often than not they haven’t even read the damn thing! It can make you feel terrible, believe you me. And I would be the one to know that…
So next time you walk into a bookstore, go in with a new found respect and remember that this business is harder than you think. It may look easy, and a good book might seem simple, but the reality is very different, and it’d be very good if more people could realise that fact!