1. There is no actual correct way to write to a Publisher. Every blog says different things implying that the safest option is a blank piece of paper with ‘please’ scrawled on it next to an overly optimistic mobile number. But seriously – Read their Guidelines (there is NO way to create a copy and paste template for Cover Letters for this caper – and maybe that is a good thing)
2. #bookstagram is a ‘thing’
3. Getting published, no matter whose blog you read, seems to actually involve a lot of expense.
£37 for 2 books that are basically a Publisher/Agent Contact List,
Writing Conferences at £198 a pop (and that’s the cheaper end of that spectrum),
Competitions that require an entry fee
and an unquantifiable volume of printer ink because the Publishing World is trapped in the 1920s.
It is actually very irritating and if I ever do make money I think I will setup a Fund to help Writers do things like this…because it is starting to feel very elitist.
Unfortunately the closest fund for myself is Creative Scotland…whose selection process is legendarily (in my own and MANY other peoples’ humble opinion)… >searches for the least offensive term< internal. On a less joking side – there is probably a higher chance of winning money from the lottery than getting the support of Creative Scotland*. The process will also introduce you to a world of Hellish Jargon rivalled only by the Latin used in Medical Degrees.
*Having done research, you have less than a 1 in 10 chance of getting any funding from Creative Scotland. And the process is no less of a joke than it was a decade ago. 19 page Form of jargon with an accompanying ‘Help’ booklet of 23 pages, A ‘Budget’ booklet (they have many other booklets for various aspects) of 13 pages etc (Although it is part funded by the National Lottery…so in theory your chances of getting that Lottery money are equalised during the process. It’s good to know millions of pounds of ‘Reform’ has led to…well no change whatsoever from when I was a kid.
4. Literary Agent – you might need one of those.