When you’re a publishing student, you face an annoying struggle from strangers. People think you can help them publish the book they wrote. “If I give you my manuscript, can you publish it?”
Um, no. First off, I’m still a grad student and do not work for a publisher, yet. Second off, just because I will work for a publisher one day doesn’t mean I can – or will – publish your work.
Let’s break down the acquisition process:
First you have to grab an editor’s interest, but if you simply submit your manuscript to an editor it will end up in the Slush pile, especially when it’s a big house like Simon & Schuster or HarperCollins. (If anyone’s familiar with the show Younger, you’ll know what the Slush pile means.) The only sure way to get an editor interested in your work is to get a literary agent. The literary agent will help you polish and improve your manuscript.
(Still from Younger, www.halopublishing.com/blog)
Having a literary agent is like having that cool friend who can get you into the VIP parties. The agent is connected to the editor in some way – college alums, former coworkers, BFFs, members of the same family in one way or another. So because of the agent’s connection to the editor, the editor is more willing to read a manuscript that was suggested and represented by this trustworthy source.
Next if the editor loves your manuscript and wants to publish it, he/she needs to rally support within the publishing house before the manuscript is pitched at a meeting with the publisher. The support may be from another editor or a coworker who works in the marketing or sales department. By getting backup, the manuscript has more of a fighting chance to be published by the house.
But it may not stop there. You could grab the attention of the publisher at the meeting, but they may want more people to read the manuscript and then discuss the manuscript’s possibility of life at the next meeting.
So with that said, if you know someone who works in publishing or is studying to make publishing a career, don’t say, “I have a manuscript. Can you publish it?” There are so many steps for the manuscript to be considered, and most likely the person you expect to publish your book, doesn’t possess the cosmic power to make you a published author.
–Peggy Ann, intern
Tags: Books, intern, Publishing