The Life Of A Writer (Guest Blog By Serial Author Mr Ben)
DreamStarters University was built to help the everyday entrepreneur have a fighting chance in a world where big money runs everything. By giving power to the person who does not come from connections, wealth, and incredible resources, it balances everything out. When you use your story as a competitive advantage, you can win. Period. That is why I help entrepreneurs write and publish bestselling books. Then, I teach them how to use it as the ultimate marketing tool. A bestselling book is the entrepreneurs equalizer. You want to win? Write a book.
I get to meet authors and entrepreneurs all over the world. It's one of the great joys of my business. I get to hear their stories and perspectives. Below is a guest blog from a very well-known author based out of Nigeria. He is known to the world as Mr. Ben. He is the author of many books on Amazon like:
The Writer, The Publisher; The literary World of Two Perspectives
By Mr. Ben
The article explains how writers perceive the literary world in relation to the publisher’s perspective. It explains succinctly possible reasons writers, mostly aspiring authors, have their works being rejected. It however gives room for emerging writers to understand the world of the business-minded and always-occupied-with-works publisher in order to make their literary partnerships worthwhile.
Someone once said, ‘’Writing Is a take-home assignment for life’’. A writer’s aspiration is to see his or her works continually depicted in various work forms; published articles and books. A publisher, however, has a different perspective…
You’re a writer. You’re done with your manuscript; say a novel. Congratulations on the completion of your work! To the best of your ability, you’re convinced it’s good to go and there is a high possibility of being accepted for either publication or representation. What should be the next step? To submit to publishers and or agents you feel would be interested….Welcome to the literary journey!
The literary world is unequivocally amazing in its modus operandi. It’s fascinating to realize how peculiar the publishing world is. Many writers, especially the aspiring ones, are novice to this ‘’anomaly’’. This explicate the very reason authors (even the established ones) have their works rejected by agents and publishers. It’s pretty funny, particularly if you are a writer!
The aspiring writer would think that by completing his or her manuscript, a publishing deal could be just by the corner. Not a bad anticipation per se, it should be bore noted that the publisher ‘’leaves’’ outside the world of the writer, though the two are not just (the would-be) business partners but also the (eventual) players in the literary industry.
There are dermarcations in perspectives of the writer and publisher. Howbeit, we’ll briefly take to consideration three differences.
The publisher does ‘’more investing’’: Though the author invests a great deal of time, energy, intellect and efforts in making a success, in terms of completion, his or her work(s), the financial responsibility of bringing to ‘’life’’ the published version(s) of it to the reach of readers would rest on the shoulders of the publisher. Book Publishing requires money being pumped to it and like the ‘’chief goal’’ of every thriving business, is to make profit. Under a traditional publishing situation, the publisher has the financial onus to take the work(s) from just being a raw piece to a finished literary material.
The Publisher is selective: The writer is ‘’powered’’ by inspiration to birth a readable piece of literary art, giving little or no consideration to being selective. Most aspiring writers fall under this category. The publisher’s perspective takes a different turn. Perhaps, resulting from possible insufficient funds available, most manuscripts that get submitted end up in the Pile of Rejections. The reason for this is not that the manuscripts weren’t good enough for consideration, but could stem up as a result of the publisher’s inability to finance the processes of publishing them. This is one of the reasons publishing is subjective.
The Publisher is guideline-conscious: The experiences of established authors make them exempted from this. But aspiring authors have (from time to time, by experience) fallen into the error of not following the guidelines (usually on the websites) before submitting to the agent and or publishers. Some emerging writers don’t take their time to read between the lines the instructions (guidelines) of the literary professionals they intend submitting their works to. They fail to realize that the publishers, editors, agents and other concerned literary professionals are swimming in the waters of tight schedules. Hence, affording them little or no time to ‘’correct’’ the writers. No wonder their works get rejected, just like that!
I was once an aspiring author whose desperation to be a published author knew no equal. I would surf the internet, search for all manner of publishers and agents without having to study the specialties of their literary endeavors and submitting to them simultaneously and, under unprofessional circumstances, multiple times. The result? Not only did I end up being rejected by over three hundred publishers and agents from around the world but it took me over ten years to reach my aspiration of being a published author of several books!
In my very topsy-turvy journey in the literary world, I learned the following salient facts:
As a writer, be you aspiring or established, endeavor to understand the perspective of the publisher because both of you would become business partners and game players in the literary world
The literary world is highly subjective. Just because you feel your book is good to go (be it properly edited and thoroughly reviewed) doesn’t necessarily mean you will be published. The same could be said if one’s book seem ‘’not well-written’’. No wonder some sincere writers attribute their works being accepted as ‘’being lucky’’
Most good books are ironically unpublished. Sad to say, but ladies and gentlemen, that’s true!
It’s one thing to write a book, or better yet, complete a manuscript but a different ball game to edit the piece. This is because the word arrangement of the writer (as the patterned by the brain) would be quite different from that of another person; a reviewer, reader or the one with a different pair of eyes.
Writing for the passion of it pays more. If you seek money as the reason for writing, then think of something else. ‘’Writing’’, as stated previously, ‘’is a take-home assignment for life’’. Passion keeps you going, despite being rejected.
Never give up! Always remember: Discouragement is all a part of being a successfully published author.
Be content-conscious. Always strive to get into the nitty-gritty of the subject matter (as in this case, the title). Never mind the grammar or other forms of technicalities: they would come in secondary. Being content-conscious gives you the room to express your unrestricted creativity. Mark Twain once said: ‘’Great books are measured by the content and style they have been written not the shadings and trimmings of grammar’’. It’s also very important to ensure you be your first proof-reader of your written work. Then, you engage an ‘’honest’’ pair of eyes to proof-read and provide feedback on your work. My editor and friend told me: ‘’Editors get to kill the story but through their ‘mystic power’ of literary skills bring it back to life. They are the make-up artists of writers’ works’’
In all, as a writer, aspiring or published, keep up honing your writing craft but more important, understand the publisher of your finished work(s). After all, it takes two to tango!
About the Author
Mr. Ben, an internationally represented and published author of several fiction and non-fiction books, poet, philosopher, voice-over artiste and speaker, is an acclaimed G.A.N.G.S.T.A.R writer. In his words, the acrostic stands for Generally Appreciating Notable Genres (by) Stating Their Applicable Relevance.
With the aim of being a positive impact to humanity, he has used his creative writing mechanism to disseminate timeless messages to his readers within and outside his sphere of contact.
Under his belt, Mr Ben, though still counting, has the following publications, ‘Maya Initiate 39…The Long Walk To Destiny’, ‘The Broken Mirror’, ‘The Christian Matrix’ and many more. More titles can be checked at www.amazon.com/author/mrben.
Though, based in Lagos, Nigeria, the multifaceted writer is quoted as saying: ‘The world is my threshold base to spread knowledge in order to get attention from other unknown worlds out there’.
