The bittersweet smell of success

At Cornerstones there’s nothing that gives us more happiness than placing our authors with agents and seeing them go on to get a publishing deal. Whilst what we do is rewarding in so many ways – helping authors find their way forward when they’ve got stuck with a story, shaping promising manuscripts into something that’s really dazzling – publication is everybody’s long term goal and it’s what we’re all working towards. So why do we always feel kind of sad when it happens?

It’s like saying goodbye after a long journey you’ve made with strangers who’ve become friends. It’s like handing over your child at the first day of school and knowing you won’t play such a big part in their life from here on in. It’s like the end of a love affair.

I think most people in the industry feel the same way to some degree – and authors will certainly know what I’m talking about. When you work on a manuscript for a long time it feels like you’ve poured a lot of yourself into it. You’ve got to know the characters and the plot so well you dream about them. You can’t help but think of it as yours.

But the crux of what we do is preparing authors for the publishing arena; for starting a career in writing. And so much of that is about learning to self-edit, perfecting those independent editorial skills that will stand you in good stead throughout your writing life. When authors first come to us it’s because they’re looking for advice on these techniques; putting their manuscript through the editorial process is often the start of a learning curve that can last months or years. And the end goal of that process is for an author to go out into the publishing world on their own two feet, without needing our help any more.

With every successful edit, a manuscript (and its author) becomes bolder and more confident and seeing that happen is the most rewarding part of all. But it’s also kind of sad to know that if the process is working then each edit is bringing us closer to the moment when we have to say goodbye.

Sniff.

Goodbye to my 'First'

I started writing my first book about five years ago now. When I left full time work to pursue the dream (finish the book, re-draft it – several times, naturally – get an agent, get a publisher, and have it in print) I’d written about 17,000 words. A year and a half, working part-time, coming back into full-time work, a severe edit later, and I now have 23,000 words. For those of you who aren’t great at maths, that’s 6,000 words in a year and a half, averaging out to about 11 words per day. Even now I feel a pain in my chest thinking about it. It’s rather similar to the pain I felt when the lovely Kathryn at work suggested I ditch it in favour of starting something new because progress seemed to be somewhat slow (backwards, practically, I was feeling). Shock. Horror.

One’s presumably heard of the term in regards to writing, ‘Kill your darlings.’ Well this was my ‘darling;’ singular. If I don’t have this, I don’t have anything, literarily speaking anyway. I shook off her uncomfortable advice from my already burdened shoulders and ignored her.

Except they still felt burdened. What was this unhealthy relationship I’d cultivated with my first book? The idea of letting go hadn’t occurred to me until K mentioned it. And then, as with most things in life, the delayed reaction caught up with me and the unthinkable became a possibility. And why shouldn’t it? Don’t most writers have more than one book in them? We’re not all going to be Harper Lee, write one masterpiece and then live happily ever after, basking in its global glory. Still, it hurt, as the end of most things do I suppose. Imagine those years spent tapping out words, creating sentences that made you feel as if you’d broken through some verbal barrier or discovered some profound truth. But sometimes you have to accept defeat – temporarily anyway. As with all firsts, you won’t forget it and maybe you had to have the first in order to get a better second (and third, fourth, fifth, so on.)

Just because you don’t want to do something, doesn’t mean it’s not good for you, even if you did think it was the ‘one’. So my heart is heavy, but my shoulders feel a tad less weighed down. It’s about knowing when to move on, and when to take the advice of someone who knows what they might be talking about (something about professionalism or whatever).

First book, I will learn the art of letting you go, though you will always be the one that’s taught me what I now know, and while you gave me sleepless nights you also gave me my first love. Thanks for that. And one day, maybe when the time is right, I’ll come back to you, or you’ll come back to me and we’ll finish this thing we started; my stepping-stone to whatever is to come.

Congratulations to Nick Cook

Nick has been signed on by the agent Eve White, and Cornerstones would like to wish him the best of luck for the future. We're so happy to have been a part of this wonderful journey.

http://therealnickcook.blogspot.com/2012/01/happiness-is-mostly-by-product-of-doing.html

Self-Publishing

Congratulations to Jan Ruth, author of Wild Water, winner of the self-published competition run by Cornerstones and voted by the public. First prize was Write a Blockbuster by Lee Weatherly and Helen Corner, Hodder, and Alison Baverstock's The Naked Author, A Guide to Self-Publishing, A & C Black. See What Alison has to say in her blog piece about the benefits of self-publishing and how to avoid vanity publishing

Thank you for your invitation to contribute to this blog Helen, and I am delighted to have supported your competition on self-publishing.

As some of your readers may know, I lead the MA Publishing at Kingston University – and so am naturally very occupied by trends within the book trade. My initial interest in self-publishing was simply that. I had spotted the growing disparity between the number of books published in the US and the UK (traditionally around 2:1, it rose to around 9:1 in 2010; the difference largely fuelled by self-published titles) and the new availability of publishing services to assist in the process. An initial exploration revealed that in some cases you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between professionally published and self-published titles.

And so my investigations began. But what intrigued me, as I interviewed those involved, was a whole new set of issues. My study of the whole area is now published as The Naked Author, a guide to self-publishing, and is available from Bloomsbury http://amzn.to/nakedauthor There is insufficient space here to consider all the areas explored, but to whet your appetite here are three:

1.       There is no single thing that is self publishing; it is a process not a product. And people decide to get involved for a variety of reasons. For some it’s the chance to gain objectivity on their work by producing a single reading copy of material they have so far only seen on screen, and from where they wrote it. For others it’s the opportunity to finalise a manuscript that has long been in their head – and on their conscience – and hence move on with their lives. A well produced self-published book can be despatched to potential investors such as agents and publishers, and in the process reveal the seriousness with which the author takes their work. Or it can be presented to a small circle of friends and family – with the subtext ‘I finally did it’.

2.       Stories circulate about bestselling self-published works, harshly overlooked by the traditional industry, and now selling in great quantities on Amazon. While self-publishing has the potential to make you rich (just as in theory anyone can become a millionaire) it is unlikely to do so. But it may make you happy. The fascinating thing about talking to so many self-published authors was the generally high level of contentment I encountered. Some had lived with a book shaped hole in their lives for years, and finally (to quote one) ‘scratching that itch’ was highly satisfying. Others wrote memoirs and felt it was part of putting their lives in order, so that their (seemingly entirely uninterested) family could find out more about them – once they were mature enough to want to do so.

3.       What is the difference between self-publishing and vanity publishing? It’s hard to draw a clear distinction – other than by examining the quality of the finished product. Both vanity publishing organisations and self-publishing firms will offer to produce your book at your cost, and may help you market it. But there are a few tricks to estimating where on the spectrum organisations sit (and there’s a whole chapter on this in the book).

When purchasing publishing services, try to estimate the quality of the organisation’s general output and their effectiveness. Ask yourself how much they seek to find out about your aims and purposes (and the standard of your manuscript) before they offer you a quotation – or do they seem in a huge rush to get you on the press? Look at the quality of other titles they have produced – and be very wary if their website is full of claims about how great they are rather than sample products. Poor editorial standards are a clear giveaway – readers will not tolerate mistakes, so nor should you.

Today self-publishing is part of publishing. Deciding to manicure content and communicate it more widely is highly current (surely that’s what users of social media are doing all the time).

And if you decide to self-publish to a high standard, you have not only taken responsibility for yourself, you have committed to finish something. Both reveal an essential – and admirable – sense of purpose, and in the process you may achieve not only a profound contemporary satisfaction, but a dignified posterity.

I wish you luck.

Alison Baverstock, www.alisonbaverstock.com

Queen of self-publishing

We ran an internal competition recently that invited our authors and the public to vote for their favourite self-published book, based on a sentence blurb and the jacket. There were a flurry of votes as the deadline drew near, and three out of the 50 authors who entered were almost neck and neck. In the end, the winner was Jan Ruth for Wild Water. It was great to see how these savvy authors spread the word via twitter, emails, blogs and local word-of-mouth to garner support. It goes to show that apart from being a good read, marketing your own book is an essential part of being published. Have a look at Jan's journey to self-publication:

Congratulations Jan! Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey to self-publication?
When I'm not writing I'm thinking about writing, or reading. I try and counter-balance this physical inertia by walking in the mountains or riding my friend's horse. (That sounds very self indulgent but now at fifty plus, I finally have the time to be!)

What inspired you to write Wild Water?
I wanted to write a book about infidelity where the man is the wronged party and the main voice of the story, and I wanted to write about the Welsh landscape; make it function almost as a character in its own right.

Is this your first book?
No, it's my second. My very first novel (25 years ago) went to a London agent trying to set up her own project, publishing love stories with a difference but it never got off the ground because of finances.

How did you find the writing process?
Until I get the main guts of the story down I am consumed by the process really, to the exclusion of everything else. Husband could quite likely come home and find dinner in a burnt out pan in the garden!

Did you submit to agents and publishers?
Yes I did the usual route with agents, and with Wild Water I was lucky enough to get Jane Judd on my side, who then referred me to Cornerstones. After some tweaking with the original script we were ready to go but unfortunately Jane failed to place it with a publisher because 'it fell between two genres and didn't quite fit anyone's list'. So it sat in a drawer for twelve years.

What led you to self-publish?
All of the above really. My son alerted me to the steady growth of kindle, helped me with the technical details and set up a website.

How has the experience been so far?
The best part of self-publishing is being in control of the whole process and getting feedback from the paying public. And although I have a sales background, the marketing of something internet based is somewhat different to a physical book, and I am still learning. But then, I didn't set out to write something commercial, just something readable.

As we've seen from our competition, every vote counts. How did you market this?
The advantage I had with Wild Water is the tremendous support I have locally. I talked to a lot of people about the book and the competition. Generally I find people will respect something sincere and will get behind you, especially if it champions where you live. 

What next?
Okay here's the marketing! My second book MIDNIGHT SKY is almost ready to go out on kindle, after a careful re-write courtesy of Cornerstones. Winning a competition like this opens up numerous ideas to be explored.

Thanks, Jan and we hope sales fly for you. Our next blog is an interview with Rowan Lawton, a literary agent at PFD, on what kind of author she loves to represent...

Cornerstones article for Jam magazine, July 2011.

Is self-editing a doddle or is editor-speak goobledegook to you?

Helen Corner at Cornerstones www.cornerstones.co.uk tells us why it’s always good to know what you’re talking about before you meet the agent.

You’ve finished your dazzling, high-concept and well-written novel, you’ve sent it out, and an agent calls you and requests a meeting. This is exciting - a chance for you to chat about your book and see if there’s a mutual rapport. You arrive at her office, where manuscripts are heaped on the desk, and sit down with a coffee while she balances your MS on her lap. There are lots of red tags on the pages, but she’s smiling so you relax.

She’s just how you imagined her: professional (she requested the meeting within a few weeks of you sending the MS), approachable (but not in a cosy way; after all you want her to be ruthless at the negotiating table) and you can tell you’re in good hands. Then again, you researched and profiled the five agents you submitted to, so you know that her reputation is outstanding. In your mind, you’ve already signed on the dotted line and written courtesy emails to the other four agents thanking them for their time and informing them that you have representation.

Then she starts thumbing through the red tags and talking about the book needing more work; one more redraft and a further read before she signs you up officially. She mentions strengthening your main character and introducing more tension peaks in the mid-section; and how about tightening up scene structure in general to increase pace? Oh and by the way, there’s no rush. She’d much rather see a polished MS that’s ready to go out to the six editors she’s earmarked.

You might be one of the few first-time authors who thinks this is a breeze. You can manage all of this and more, and deliver within the week. If you’re confident that you can make thorough rather than cosmetic revisions, then you’re lucky. At Cornerstones we’re often nervous when authors make swift revisions as they’re rarely effective.

But what if, like most debut authors, all this technique speak is meaningless? Your mind’s gone fuzzy, your hearing wobbles, your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth and your pencil keeps slipping out of your hand. Words like ‘character empathy’ and ‘arcs’ appear on your notepad and you’re transported back to school during that awful failed French exam.

At this juncture, there are two things you can do and neither is ideal:

One is to put up your hand and admit that you’re not sure what she’s talking about. What’s an emotional arc, exactly…? This would be just about acceptable, as she smiles and takes a deep breath, but she may privately lose a bit of confidence in you - while she could teach you about self-editing, does she really have time?

Or you could keep quiet and decide you’ll deal with it alone. You’ll put yourself on a crash course in self-editing techniques, revise your MS and hope for the best. This means lots of pressure to get it right, and anxiety about whether you’ll be able to deliver.

Ideally, you should already be acquainted with these techniques. You’ll be confident and calm during this meeting, bold enough to take these editorial suggestions away to process later, think about the revisions that have been requested and then write a confirmation email with a proposed plan.

You’ll be able to write that you’ve thought seriously about increasing the tension peaks in the mid-section, but you’d rather combine the six she suggested into three impactful ones, which are listed, and which would fit into the 3-act graph. You plan to interweave the heroine’s internal conflict more closely with the action plot in a cause and effect way right from the beginning, which should boost empathy and understanding. As for scene structure, you intend to do a ruthless prune and cut down on overwriting to foreground the climax of each scene. This should aid pace and tension overall. (If I’m not making sense don’t worry: this can all be taught and is what we specialise in.)

This course of action doesn’t challenge the agent’s suggestions – which are brainstorming ideas and open to the author’s interpretation. It shows a mutual working towards a solution that feels right for your story, where you ‘own’ the revisions. This is very important because unless you feel comfortable with your edits they’re unlikely to be effective. A combined effort from you and the agent will hopefully deliver the best for the book and demonstrate that you can work together. The agent will also feel confident about sending you off to your first meeting with your editor who will almost certainly have further suggestions.

Your job is to know how to write fully. Not just to write creatively (which is mainly talent and application) but to know how to hone your work into a book strong enough to launch you into a full and prosperous writing career. It’s a rare author who can do this alone. Learning how to self-edit is not ‘writing by numbers’ as some authors fear; rather it’s knowing what components make a great story and then how, when and why you can bend the rules.

Self-editing can turn a goodish book into a dazzling one. It’s a process that shouldn’t be rushed, and should be nurtured like any other part of the craft of writing. And, at the very least, who wouldn’t want a second opinion on their writing? I’m about to get Kathryn Price, Cornerstones’ managing editor, to see if this article makes sense; if it can be tightened up and repetition cut; if the beginning, middle and end is in place.

Good luck in your first agent meeting, and with preparation you’ll be one of those dream authors that agents tell us about…

Cornerstones is a leading UK literary consultancy. They have over 60 professional editors who specialise in guiding authors through self-editing. They scout for agents and have launched many first time writers. See www.cornerstones.co.uk for author journeys.

Write a Blockbuster and Get it Published, Hodder, by Lee Weatherly and Helen Corner outlines their self-editing and submission teaching techniques. They’re very approachable so please email Helen@cornerstones.co.uk or call 020 7792 5551 if you’d like feedback on your sample material with no obligation to use their services.

Click on the links below to view how to subscribe to Jam Magazine. Also, feel free to access their online issue for free.

http://www.jam-mag.co.uk/

http://bit.ly/qGIP0I

'That to Begin, Implies to End...'

It’s never easy really, starting out, but you have to begin somewhere - as did I. I’ve begun a new writing… let’s call it, ‘venture’, and my boss has kindly decided to help me. I used to actually find it easy to begin writing something, and once I began I could go on for a while with great zeal, before, quite abruptly, coming to a stop. I never quite gave knowing where a story was going the importance it needed, which is probably why I’ve never finished anything to date.

So Helen sat me down, took out an A3 piece of paper, and started firing questions at me. Who is my character? What is her goal? What makes her tick? What’s her External Conflict (EC), her Internal Conflict (IC)? This was a lot of questions. Most of my answers to these questions began with ‘Err…’ followed by a few seconds silence. It’s not that I hadn’t thought about my story, or my characters, I had a general idea of what was going to happen and what it was going to be about, but of course thinking about the details began to give this general idea clarity. And in talking about the main character, I realised I’d thought a lot about the ECs she’d be facing, but not enough about her own IC. What began to develop was something solid, a clearer direction; plot.

Sometimes, the excitement is in not knowing where you’re going, but left adrift it’s not hard to lose momentum, and before you know it beginnings can lead to no end at all. That’s not to say there’s no room to maneuver, or that the events won’t evolve or change, but with a little bit of thought (or actually, a lot), knowing the characters you’re dealing with, and knowing the obstacles that they will face, you should, more often than not, help your beginning find that end.