Publishing, publishing...

By Abir 

What’s the most important thing a publisher can do for an author?

Good question!

A publisher has the ability to change an author’s life, transporting them from the humdrum daily grind and propelling them to international stardom and the riches that go with it. The problem is, it doesn’t always work out that way, and even when it does, there’s generally an awful lot of hard work that goes into the process.

As my partners in crime have pointed out already this week, it’s hard to underestimate the importance of what a publisher brings to an author – basically everything from the editorial process, through artwork, physical production, shipping and marketing, to softer factors such as instilling self-confidence and helping a writer to craft and hone their trade. They’re absolutely right, and there’s not much I can add to that.

So instead here’s a link to a piece I wrote for the Penguin website, detailing a few things I learned as a debut author about the publishing process which I thought other new authors might find useful.

I’ll end by saying that for me, the most important thing has been the editorial process. Editors are often the unsung heroes of publishing, and I often say that my first editor taught me how to write. I handed in the first draft of my first book, thinking I’d done a decent job and was surprised when it came back covered the red ink of a million comments. Once I’d gotten over the shock, I realised just how much I had to learn, and that process, of taking her comments and recrafting the novel for the second draft, was a very steep learning curve. But the book was the better for it and I was a better writer because of it.