Throwback Thursday | Is My Manuscript Publishable?

It’s Throwback Thursday!  This post was originally published in January 2017, but the principles still hold true.

Once upon a time, it was difficult to get a novel published, because there were too many authors competing for too few slots with publishing houses so only the best (or most saleable) books got published (in theory. There are always exceptions).

Then some enterprising people discovered that some authors were actually willing to pay to be published … and an industry was born. Vanity publishing. And it forever changed the face of publishing by changing the answer to the eternal question:

Is My Manuscript Publishable?

Easy answer: yes.

The advent of ebooks and print on demand (POD) technology means everything is publishable. But, to misquote 1 Corinthians, you might have the ability to self-publish, but that doesn’t make it a good idea. It’s especially not a good idea to self-publish through some “service” which the naysayers (like me) describe as a vanity press and the editors sales representatives describe as a self-publishing, hybrid publishing, or cooperative publishing arrangement.

These companies will happily take your money (sometimes a lot of your money) and produce a product that can range from unreadable to fairly professional depending on the quality of the manuscript you provide.

Yes, pay-to-play publishers are well known for their quality issues, predatory sales tactics, and complete lack of book marketing. In fairness, they don’t have to market the books they publish: readers are not their customers. Their customers are authors.

In my view, it’s not good Christian stewardship to spend thousands on something you could organise yourself for a fraction of the cost.

Especially as their packages almost never include editing …

If you do need help with editing, cover design, formatting, or uploading, hire someone on a per-hour rate. Don’t spend money on a publishing package that makes a big deal about making your book available on thousands of retail sites worldwide (translated: they uploaded your book to IngramSpark, which costs around AUD 50).

But if you have a burning desire to spend thousands of dollars on your book and get no measurable return, then please comment below and I’ll offer some suggestions.

So is my manuscript publishable?

Hard answer: it depends.

On what?

It depends on who you want to publish your manuscript: a major US publisher, a smaller US publisher, or a local (e.g. Australian) publisher. And attracting that publisher will depend on your book scoring well in three areas:

• Setting
• Genre
• Writing Craft

If you’ve written a novel set in Australia or New Zealand, it’s going to be a tough sell to an American publisher. Not impossible—Narelle Atkins and Kara Isaac have both done it—but not easy.

You’ll need a literary agent to have a shot at any of the big-name US publishers like Bethany House or Thomas Nelson. (Lucy Thompson wrote a post about that here.) You don’t want just any agent—you want an agent with a track record of selling to the major CBA publishers.

In order to get signed by an agent, you’ll need to have credibility as a writer. One way to build credibility is to enter and final in major writing contests. (Lucy Thompson wrote a post about that as well, as did Carolyn Miller).

And you’ll probably need to attend a major US Christian writers’ conference such as the  Omega Writers Conference or American Christian Fiction Writers conference, as major conferences give you the opportunity to meet agents and publishers in person.

Setting

Your novel will need to have sales potential. Big sales potential.

Major US Publishers

That’s the problem with books set in Australia: major US CBA publishers prefer books set in the US, because that’s what they sell best. They will sometimes diversify and read a historical novel set in England or Scotland, but for the most part, they prefer their fiction to be set in the good old U S of A. Or, at the very least, with an American lead character. For example:

• Kara Isaac’s novels all feature at least one American main character. Close to You (set in New Zealand) capitalised on the US love for all things Lord of the Rings by having an American hero and a Kiwi Lord of the Rings tour guide heroine. Then There Was You was set in Australia and New Zealand, and had an American heroine and Australian hero.
• A Girl’s Guide to the Outback by Jessica Kate starts in the USA before moving to Australia.
• The Elusive Miss Ellison, Carolyn Miller’s debut, is a Regency romance set in England (and the first of many). Her contemporary romances are set in the USA or Canada e.g. The Breakup Project.

Alternatively, speculative fiction writers can set their books in a fictional location. Examples include Christy-winning The Baggage Handler by David Rawlings (set near a nameless big-city airport), or Apprentice by Kristen Young (which won the CALEB and Realm Makers Awards). Apprentice is set in a dystopian future which could be anywhere.

Australia

Australian publishers love books by Australian authors with Australian characters and settings. They tend to accept submissions direct from authors (so no literary agent required), and it’s easier to get to meet them in person (the best opportunity for Christian writers is at the Omega Writers’ Conference in October). Personal connections help.

The downside is the Australian market is smaller, which means fewer potential buyers (a fact many Australian authors have lamented on). It also means our small publishers can’t publish every manuscript they see, much as they might like to.

Smaller US Publishers

There are a myriad of smaller Christian publishers, mostly in the US, who may be open to submissions. The best place to find such publishers (or Christian literary agents) is the Christian Writers Market Guide.

Writing Craft

There is also the aspect of writing craft: is your manuscript good enough?

The bigger the publisher, the better your manuscript has to be, for two reasons.

1. First, there are so many authors fighting for an ever-decreasing number of publishing slots that anything less than excellent isn’t good enough to get the attention of a major publisher. Publishers get so many excellent submissions that they don’t have time for could-be-excellent submissions or almost-excellent submissions or submissions they can’t see a market for.
2. Second, the quality of editing varies widely between different publishers. I’ve recently read two books by the same author, but from different publishers. The book from the major publisher is professional, polished, and a pleasure to read. The book from the smaller publisher … isn’t. To the point it’s hard to believe the same author wrote both books.

What is saleable?

The most saleable manuscripts are those which fit clearly into a popular genre. With novels aimed at the Christian market, this includes meeting the expectations of CBA readers, and being careful regarding ‘edgy’ content.

The closer your manuscript aligns with a popular and established genre, the easier it’s going to be to sell to a publisher. But what if you don’t fit a popular genre (e.g. Christian Science Fiction, or New Adult)?

This is when you might consider self-publishing.

But if you pursue self-publishing, pursue excellence as well. Don’t self-publish as a shortcut, to fulfil your publishing dream. Instead, write something good enough to win a major contest or to attract the attention of your ideal agent, be published by your dream publisher, and choose to self-publish because that’s what you believe God has set out as your path.

To go back to the original question. Yes, your manuscript is publishable.

It might not be there yet in terms of the writing craft, but it is publishable. Your challenge is to work out how you want it to be published, and do the work necessary to achieve that.

Do you have any questions? Leave a comment below.