Learning from Mistakes

Stay in touch, read behind the scenes, and learn about the writer–author's journey—progress through the art of communication.

Without making mistakes, we do not learn.

Newsletter No.2. January 2025

Please read my introductory newsletter here unless you are a regular reader; then, all this will be familiar.

This story is told from the perspective of vanity publishing, highlighting a children's book and some of the hidden obstacles for a would-be author in that genre.

Print on demand

Did you know that there are three ways to achieve publication? You can go directly to a printer and pay for a specific number of copies. But would they all sell? Having a pile of unsold books is not ideal. Print-on-demand is more economical, but even publishing houses still produce runs of books to sell. One of the reasons I use Amazon Kindle Digital Printing is the flexibility of the system, but like everything, it takes time to learn how to use such a platform. This is the world of independent publishing, or ‘Indie’ as it is called.

Beware of Vanity Press Publications

My first book was a children’s book, and like many rookie authors, I was attracted to adverts that promised the publisher would do everything for me. The vanity side massages our egos to become published, but we have to pay for this privilege.

I came from an academic clinical background and had written for many years with successful publishing, including two textbooks. The idea of using Xlibris seemed a good idea, and I sent money to them to produce what I believed was a great book. Of course, it was great; it did look good, but I wrote it! I sold some copies to friends but had no idea how to market my book, which came in digital, soft and hardback. Such vanity is so self-possessing that we fail to see the problems. Xlibris would sell the book to me wholesale rather than retail, the latter being where you could at least recoup your costs. It was a bad deal for me, and Xlibris hounded me to buy more until I was rude down the phone, having blocked all their calls initially.

Today, I scan, read, and sometimes delve into the stories of fellow writers on social media platforms. In fact, I have also been doing this for clinical sites because stories emerge and beg to be told—anonymously, of course. On these sites, rookie would-be authors like me have fallen into some of the traps. They say there is one born every minute, and to be one is painful.

Generated by Xlibris with my inexperienced input

What Drives Us to Write?

Well, I have already established the vanity of being published, but in my case, I had a granddaughter, the first of a number that followed, and I wanted to write something for her. I had an idea and wanted to develop it, and my overconfident self thought a children's book would be easy. I was wrong at every level, and the learning curve was exhilarating and punishing.

Getting the Right Advice

Putting aside writing, the ability to communicate in the written word (mainly using computers) is one skill on which I won’t dwell, but writing well is obviously important. It is a craft that takes time to hone. The story you write is only part of the process and contains all the elements to draw the reader in.

COVER

With vanity press publication, you pay for your words to be printed in a suitable format. The cover is all-important, and mine was dreadful, but I decided I had spent enough.

TITLE

The title was pretty poor, although I thought it was great at the time. In one of my articles, I talk about titles, but the story of Crystal Rouge, in the end, sounded like a French prostitute to some ears. It was not really ideal, and it had no curbside appeal alongside a poor cover.

EDITORIAL ADVICE

Then there was the editorial advice. A close friend of mine does not understand that while you may think you are good at writing, you need someone to be critically honest and help your story improve. The adage that you need to write, re-write and re-write is true—polish, polish, polish. Even the best authors need an editor. To bypass this part of the process is unwise. I will pick up editors in another newsletter as it is essential to understand about the process.

GOOD STORY TURNED BAD

The children’s story had a tale, and I believe it was a good tale with a moral, but without the ingredients of an editor and one focused on the child genre, I was already making big mistakes.

Would I use a vanity publisher again? This form of publishing is really aimed at creating a book you can be proud to give away. You will make no money, as marketing falls to your pocket and is unreliable.

This is a somewhat more attractive concept cover for the same book known as Anime. Big Disney eyes are popular.

The Morale of the Tale

If you are writing for money or a wider publication, use a formal publisher or go independent. Make sure you get advice for your cover design, as that is the first image anyone will see.

Secondly, use a professional editor, not a friend or family member, because honest critique cannot be confused with preserving our feelings and serves no benefit. The other problem with casual friend source editors or even proofreaders is that they are doing you a favour and have little understanding that you might have a timeline in mind.

Last but not least is the money side. Vanity publishing will cost the writer four figures in £s and $ s. There are some hybrid deals around, but any would-be author must grasp the nettle.

The vanity publisher is after you, not the public reader. You pay all the on-costs, and they will milk you for every part of publishing. The editing, the cover, the production, and marketing, and then you are charged a high price for your book after giving you some free copies to sugar the deal. After the book is placed on various platforms, any profit will be sliced, and if you see any of your hard work returned, forget it!

If you do go for a vanity deal, just be aware that it is for your personal convenience and personal use. Few people advertise success from these publishing sources, but doubtless, some do. However, as we cannot see their accounts, who knows how much they invested in your work? Another author's friend paid nothing but would not receive anything until 100 books were sold. The book was a good writer and had a good story, but it had no marketing power.

Learning From Those Mistakes

The wisdom of age comes with experience - unperturbed, we now have more grandchildren who have yet to learn to read. Since writing my first vanity-published book in 2014, I have become a little wiser. My feedback came from my teacher-daughter and her cousin, who bench-tested the book with her children. The manager of one local bookshop cringed at the cover and decided not to place the book on the shelf.

One realises children's books are not easy to write or a way to make a quick buck. Competing with the massive market is not easy as children's needs and abilities vary through a range of years from 5-6 when reading is established at the start (sometimes earlier) to higher abilities.

Will I rewrite the story? Time will tell, but a good story is always worth creating—it should be bench-tested first.

Thanks for reading and learning from your mistakes.

In the next newsletter, No.3, Stuart Budgen presents his thoughts on why writers and authors need to copy editors. 3rd February on RCBlyth.com THE WRITER'S ANGLE