5 mistakes I made after getting a book deal
Like many authors, when I first got my book deal, I was completely overwhelmed. It’s such a huge goal - to get a book published - and for many writers, it takes so long to achieve that we often don’t look much past it.
On the train back from the book launch for my debut!
I remember reading years ago that getting a book deal doesn’t solve all your problems, but instead it just opens up a new world of problems. And although that sounds slightly too negative for my liking, I will say that the sentiment holds!
You just exchange one set of worries for another.
There’s a lot to get your head around as a shiny new debut author, proffering your precious first-born book to the world and waiting to hear what it thinks.
And - unfortunately and annoyingly - there definitely ISN’T enough advice out there to help debuts.
There’s plenty of advice on writing and getting a publishing deal, but not very much about what happens after you do.
Which is the reason for this blog!
I really want to help people navigate the strange business of being a published author, and share as much of my own experience as possible, in order to help those who are new authors.
Anyway, I digress. That was a very long intro for me to detail all the various ways in which I feel I slightly messed up / made my life harder as a debut author, in the hope that it will prevent someone else from doing the same.
Mistake no 1: being too shy to ask questions
OK, let’s start with a biggie, because I WISH, oh how I wish, I could go back in time and just be a bit braver.
I was SO in awe of my editor (not that I’m not now - she is still my editor and I love working with her) that I was terrified of seeming a nuisance.
Which meant I stopped myself from asking so many questions.
I just didn’t want to ‘bother’ my editor, or be a pain in the neck, or come across as anything less than this ‘perfect author’ that was a dream to work with.
I have heard horror stories about diva authors. But I can promise you that if you even the slightest bit worried about seeming like a diva, then you definitely aren’t one.
Your editor is there to champion your book in every way possible. They’re there to edit the book - of course, but that’s not the end of their responsibilities.
And yes - editors are really overworked. But responding to authors who might have questions about the publication process is not something they will ever resent having to do.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 4 – editors are overworked →
Here are some of the things I wish I’d asked my editor before my debut came out:
How does the editing process work exactly - how many round of edits will we do, how many people will read my book at the publishers, what’s the difference between a copy edit and a line edit, how long will I get for each part of the process, is it OK to ask for a longer deadline if I’m panicking, etc etc (I was actually lucky that - unprompted - my editor sent me an email with an editorial schedule that answered most of these!)
Who decides how much my book will go on sale for? What’s the rationale behind these prices?
Why do I have different publication dates for the different formats of my book?
When am I likely to find out whether or not my book has been picked for retail stores?
Will you enter my book for Richard & Judy?
Etc etc
I could go on but you get the idea. I had SO many questions.
I also had questions for the publicity and marketing teams. And again, I was too shy to ask them.
In the end, I asked my agent most things, and if she didn’t know, she then asked the publisher. But I could have just been a bit braver and asked myself.
Your relationship with your publisher is a two-way one, and it’s absolutely fine for you to drop them an email from time to time if you have a query. Don’t be afraid like me!
Mistake no 2: worrying about my edits
I can’t even remember now how I felt about edits before I got my book deal.
I’d obviously done edits with my agent before the book had gone out to publishers, but I’m not sure I realised there would be MORE edits to come.
But there were. When I got my offer letter, my lovely editor also sent through some rough notes on things she’d like to change about the book.
This was followed up by a lengthy ‘structural edit’ letter which detailed all the things my editor thought needed working on.
Now, I was a journalist for years, so I am not precious at all about editing, so none of this particularly bothered me. I was excited, in fact, to make the book even better.
I do know that some debut authors find this side of things hard though, and if you’ve never been edited before, it can be a bit upsetting to start.
Personally, I wasn’t actually upset about the edits themselves, but more concerned about my ability to make the changes and make the book work.
But what I want to reassure you (and what I found as I began to work my way through those initial edits), is that nine times out of ten, even though some of the changes suggested might feel utterly impossible, you will be able to do it.
I have been through the structural edit process eight times now, and every time (bar none) I have managed to edit the book to a point where everyone is happy.
Even with my most recent book - the hardest edit I have ever done - we got there in the end 😅
So please don’t worry about your edits. I’ve seen authors get into total states about them, with many sleepless nights and angst-ridden days, but I promise you, you will be able to do it.
If it all feels overwhelming, then take a few days off and come back to it. I promise in the meantime your brain will start to do its weird and wonderful thing and when you come back to them with a fresh set of eyes, you’ll find a way through the weeds.
And the book will be better as a result.
Mistake no 3: not understanding my contract
Now in my defence, this kind of thing is not my forte.
But when I got my contact, there was only one number I focused on, and that was the big shiny one that was in pounds and told me how much money I was going to be paid upfront (my advance).
I did not understand the way royalties worked. AT ALL.
I think it was about six months later that I realised that when my book was sold for £10, for example, it was only my tiny portion of the profit that was going towards paying off my advance, not the entire profit that the publisher made on the sale.
Because the publisher takes their profit off first, and it’s only your portion that goes towards paying off your advance.
Rather than ALL of the profit on the book sale going towards paying off your advance.
This is why it takes us so long to pay off our advances 😂
Being serious though, literary contracts are complicated, and there are all kinds of different clauses and caveats (do you know the difference between ‘special sales’ and normal ones?), which is why we have literary agents to handle all this stuff.
They are also there to EXPLAIN it all to us poor ignorant authors too, if you ask them nicely.
If you don’t have an agent I would strongly suggest getting one, but if you don’t want to, then definitely check out the Society of Authors who are very helpful when it comes to understanding your contract.
Mistake no 4: taking bad reviews to heart
To be honest, I think calling this a mistake is being a bit mean to myself. Because it’s really hard not to take bad reviews to heart, especially when you are a debut.
Seven books in, hundreds of horrible reviews down, and I STILL find it hard from time to time.
But you really have to find a way not to.
Bad reviews are part of EVERY SINGLE author’s experience.
And yes they suck. But they are just one person’s opinion on one particular day.
I’ve written a blog post all about bad reviews, and how I deal with them, so I won’t repeat myself here, but I am proud to say that I’ve got so much better now and I’m able to separate them from my writing process and my own feelings about my writing.
As a debut, it feels so intensely exposing and personal to read people saying mean things about your book, but I promise you it gets easier, and you mustn’t let it become something that gets in the way of your writing.
Mistake no 5: Thinking I was a failure if my book didn’t become a bestseller
I know it’s daft because most authors are intelligent beings (writing a book is a very intellectual pursuit!) but there’s something in all of us that can’t quite accept that only A HANDFUL of books can possibly become bestsellers.
Even though the clue is in the name - BEST seller. Obviously we can’t all be bestsellers or…we wouldn’t be bestsellers.
But still.
I genuinely thought my debut novel might be a bestseller.
Like, really. I genuinely thought it was going to happen.
Based on absolutely nothing but the sheer terror that if it wasn’t, I was going to be a huge fat failure and my publisher would be so ashamed and embarrassed that they would never publish me again.
My debut novel was not a bestseller.
It flirted with the top 100 on Kindle, briefly, but only for a day or two, and I was too ashamed to try to reframe that as ‘something’ (props to those authors out there calling themselves Kindle bestsellers because their book was number 1 in some obscure category like ‘Transportation’ - I admire and respect your hustle 😆).
My agent, thankfully, was very supportive as I came floating down to earth in the weeks and months after my book was released, finally accepting that it was not going to be a bestseller now, ever. Probably.
But also, that this was OK.
Obviously not ideal, but OK. No one was ashamed or embarrassed. Everyone seemed happy to continue working with me.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - your job is to write the best book you can.
It’s your publisher’s job to sell your book. And if it doesn’t sell well, then it’s not your fault.
But also: not all books can be bestsellers. And that’s OK.
The ONE thing I wish I had known before I got my book deal →
One mistake I didn’t make!
So to finish up, I thought I’d write about the one mistake I DIDN’T make after getting my debut book deal.
It’s something I’ve found is very common, and that is NOT looking ahead to what happens AFTER your debut novel is released.
Luckily, this is one mistake that I didn’t make. I had already finished writing my second book by the time my debut was released, and I can tell you now that I was SO grateful to have that done and dusted.
It meant I wasn’t simultaneously losing confidence in my writing and trying to produce an even better book at the same time.
(I was however, very fortunate, because I had a very good experience writing book 2 - the idea arrived fully formed, and I managed to bash out a first draft in eight weeks. Before you hate me, can I just say this has only happened once more since, and I’ve written eight books now. All the others were painful, drawn-out conceptions and deliveries!)
If I can offer you some advice to help you stay sane in the whole ‘debut author whirlwind experience’, then please come off Netgalley and Goodreads, and spend that time instead working on your next book.
Your time is SO much better spent looking forward, and keeping going, and remembering that the reason you got into this crazy business was because you love writing.
Good luck!
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