Why don't people write books?

[localgirlwithdreads]

I meet/know so many people who have written a book/want to write a book/claim they could write a great book. Only about 1% of these have actually had books published. What are the elements preventing these people having their books published? Is it because they can't write for shit, because they don't know the right people, or because they can't write for shit?

[????]

local - are you asking Why don't people write books or why don't people get their books published...it's a bit confusing.

[evildrwallace]

Well, I know a few people who have: my mum wrote an autobiography of her childhood and had it published, and then went on to write a novel that was published as well, and I have a couple of published friends as well, but it's a lot of effort for not much reward. On top of the year it usually takes to write a book it can easily take that long again to get it published, even if it does get picked up - and that's by no means certain, all first time writers (unless already famous for something else) will receive many rejections. Once published your book will be just one of many thousands published each year and you'll be lucky to get it into your local bookshop, never mind on a display stand at WH Smiths. Sales will be in the hundreds, if you're lucky, and the bulk of your initial print run will invariably end up as land fill. This is not a pessimistic outlook, just realistic. The number of authors who make a living in the UK purely from book sales is ludicrously small (I have seen statistics for this some years ago and I seem to remember it being in the hundreds) and, from the look of the bestseller lists these days - dominated by ghost written biographies of page three girls etc. - I doubt this is changing for the better.

[computedshorty]

?

[Brendan]

This world isn't ready for me yet.

[HAL9000]

computedshorty Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> There is a simple answer.

> ...

> You can produce them yourself, best staying with

> A4 folded to A5 size, this gives you book pages,

> you can add pages as you go. The printing of these

> is a bit complex as the printed pages have to be

> printed in a certain sequence, firstly by choosing

> the reverse side to the previous page.

There is a simple answer - it's called Click Book. It does all the formatting and complex printing automatically. I've used Click Book and highly recommend it.

[sanity girl]

I worked for a literary agent for a couple of years and had to read and assess all the unsolicited manuscripts that came in. I would say 99% were total bollocks - dull, badly written, full of cliches, or just stark raving mad. So in answer to your question, I'd say it's because they can't write for shit.

[steveo]

I have just published my own book: London Babylon and I have written the first instalment of a blog which pretty much asks the same question the other way round: 'Why does anyone bother writing books?"

By the way it's in Cheners

[localgirlwithdreads]

evildrwallace Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Well, I know a few people who have: my mum wrote

> an autobiography of her childhood and had it

> published, and then went on to write a novel that

> was published as well, and I have a couple of

> published friends as well, but it's a lot of

> effort for not much reward. On top of the year it

> usually takes to write a book it can easily take

> that long again to get it published, even if it

> does get picked up - and that's by no means

> certain, all first time writers (unless already

> famous for something else) will receive many

> rejections. Once published your book will be just

> one of many thousands published each year and

> you'll be lucky to get it into your local

> bookshop, never mind on a display stand at WH

> Smiths. Sales will be in the hundreds, if you're

> lucky, and the bulk of your initial print run will

> invariably end up as land fill. This is not a

> pessimistic outlook, just realistic. The number of

> authors who make a living in the UK purely from

> book sales is ludicrously small (I have seen

> statistics for this some years ago and I seem to

> remember it being in the hundreds) and, from the

> look of the bestseller lists these days -

> dominated by ghost written biographies of page

> three girls etc. - I doubt this is changing for

> the better.

Thanks for your post. I have noticed that this is the general, pessimistic mindset most people have about publishing. My own experience entirely proves your theory wrong. I'm non-famous, my first book has been picked up by a major publisher, they've paid me a very decent advance and my print-run is in the tens of thousands, not the hundreds. I also didn't have the "many rejections" that you've stated "all first-time writers" have to endure. I wonder if people are so put off by the grim theories others put out there that they don't even bother to try to get published...

[localgirlwithdreads]

computedshorty Wrote:

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> There is a simple answer.

> To get a book published you must fund the cost. A

> modest cost would be ? 4.000. Dependent on the

> size and how many pages. So unless you are

> comfident that you will sell these, you will just

> be stuck with them, and ?4.000 poorer.

Newsflash: you don't pay anything at all to publish a book (unless you choose to self-publish)

[SeanMacGabhann]

Localgirl - congrats on the success of your first book, but I don't think your experience proves any theory wrong, it just says how lucky you have been so far?

(in addition to your talent and work obviously - not instead of!)

[localgirlwithdreads]

Thanks but I feel sad at how many talented writers I know who don't even bother to try to get their writing published because they're so convinced (before they've even tried to) that it's simply not a possibility. Hard as it may be, a hell of a lot of books are published each year and someone has got to write them....

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Localgirl - congrats on the success of your first

> book, but I don't think your experience proves any

> theory wrong, it just says how lucky you have been

> so far?

>

> (in addition to your talent and work obviously -

> not instead of!)

[womanofdulwich]

Local girl

Please tell us what your book is called- i like to support good local authors ( especially at Christmas)

[alphacalifragelistic]

Localgirl deserves our congratulations, as fiction publishers and agents are deluged with manuscripts.

Secondly, I think the industry statistic is that something like 12,000 novels are currently published in the UK every year. To put that in perspective, of that number, just ask yourself how many new novels did you or anyone you know buy and read this year?

Sean is right. Not only that localgirl has done incredibly well to pick up a publishing contract (which implies talent on her part), but that the odds are sadly against any budding novelist. I am sorry if that sounds pessimistic, but I would prefer to call it gritty realism.

Having worked in publishing, albeit in non-fiction, I would have to tell you that although most people might well have a book inside them, that is probably exactly where it should stay. Sanity Girl's comments are echoed by a friend of mine who has just left a big literary agency.

I recently spoke to a former graduate of City University's MA in Creative Writing. He was the only one in his class with a publishing contract, despite the university laying on a panel of agents and publishers to review their year's work.

With apologies to computedshorty in advance, if you just want to produce a book for friends and family, then rather than dropping ?4,000, as suggested above, please consider using a service such as:

http://www.lulu.com

Lulu allows you to upload files to their system, which it can then print out and dispatch as books on demand.

They charge on a per book basis. (Although, it is a US company, so the dispatch fees to the UK can be quite large.)

By comparison, competitors such as LightningSource have set up fees. (Well, they did the last time I looked anyway.)

You could even just go along to the Blackwell's flagship branch at 100 Charing Cross Road, to check out their new 'Espresso' book printing machine. This allows you to print your own book(s) from files you supply. Details here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/24/espresso-book-machine-blackwell

http://www.which.co.uk/reviews-ns/blackwell-books-on-demand/index.jsp

http://www.printweek.com/News/MostEmailed/822157/Blackwell-install-on-demand-Espresso-book-machines-across-UK/

In addition, there are open source DTP packages knocking about now, such as Scribus, but you might be able to get away with using OpenOffice for text output (as Adobe pdf files), which is also free. So, I would suggest that you might find 'Click Book' surplus to requirements, if you are prepared to put in the time. The choice is yours.

In other words, you can produce something decent for a very small initial cost. By comparison, there are plenty of vanity publishers and printing companies out there which are unscrupulous enough to 'help' you, for a fine fee.

[huncamunca]

localgirlwithdreads Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I meet/know so many people who have written a

> book/want to write a book/claim they could write a

> great book. Only about 1% of these have actually

> had books published. What are the elements

> preventing these people having their books

> published? Is it because they can't write for

> shit, because they don't know the right people, or

> because they can't write for shit?

....

[*Bob*]

Are all discussions in the drawing room prefaced by painfully conceited OP, or is this the first?

Excuse the question, I'm new.

[computedshorty]

?

[Huguenot]

Was that a flame from computedshorty? :))

Well I never!

[HAL9000]

Looks more like something between a flame and a snipe to me - not bad for a beginner, though. Quite good, actually.

[rcmacf]

I don't need the hate mail.

[The Chair]

Please try and stay on topic people!

[huncamunca]

you think this topic is worth keeping ?

[????]

wot humcamunca said

[KidKruger]

I think there's a big distinction between 'writing a book' (which I take to mean producing a work and somehow making a physical book that you can, for your own satisfaction, call 'a book' ie. a finished work) and 'publishing a book' which has the predictable logistical issues which have been covered at length above.

One is about generating work/art for the pleasure of doing it and the other is (or can become) in my opinion a crossover to trying to make it pay.

It takes guts to create let alone try and sell your work.

I wish more people would get down and create without concerning themselves what everyone else thinks and whether it would 'sell'.

So I think more people would write bookds if they perceived 'writing a book' as the act of creating the work and NOT the process of marketing and selling on top of it ie. they were keener to produce the work for the sake of producing / completing it.

[SteveT]

I find writing letters or postcards, even Christmas cards a chore, so how people can write a book for several years amazes me.

The kind of literature I like is by top draw wordsmiths, most of whom seem to have spent most of their lives in solitary and struggle to hold down a relationship of any kind.

Jeffrey Archer whom I consider to be a bottom draw scribe with a talent for lying, gave the screws on the nightshift orders to wake him up at 4 am so he could write his convicts diary.

Writing a book in my opinion, takes dedication, thousands of hours, talent, originality of thought, and most important to keep doing it, a hang-up.