This is the fourth of twenty-five blog posts to celebrate my twenty-fifth published novel, A Skye Full of Stars. This post offers tips on how to understand the publishing industry as a writer.
Learning About the Publishing Industry
In my view, at least as important as improving your writing is improving your understanding of publishing. There’s a lot you can safely leave in the hands of your editor or agent if you have them, but an overview of the industry can make your expectations and approach realistic.
Whatever the stage of your career, you can learn about publishing in similar places to those where you learn about writing:
Talks
The speaker can be an agent, editor, publicity guru, librarian, cover artist, author, media manager, sales manager, self-publishing specialist, journalist, ghostwriter or dozens of other roles but what they’ll have in common is a knowledge of publishing. Online conferences and talks can be cheaper then in-person evets, or free, but it’s much harder to ask questions.
Newsletters
I think these are an underrated resource. For instance, there are free daily email newsletters from The Bookseller and Publishers’ Weekly. There are paid options too but even these free newsletters will provide insight into what’s selling, who’s buying, and, importantly, who’s moving. Why ‘who’s moving’? Because agents or editors moving into a new role are often looking to acquire. ‘Looking to acquire’ means ‘taking on new authors’ if they’re an agent and ‘buying books’ if they’re an editor. From there, it’s not too hard to find the person online and discover how they accept submissions. If you’re taking the free newsletter, read the headlines first to decide which articles are of interest because you’re limited as to how many articles you can read. Look out also for writing newsletters from your regional authority. You can often find these as a result of searching your local authority website under ‘arts development officer’ or similar.
Websites
Your search engine is your friend though, personally, I’d avoid all the entries with ‘Ad’ attached to them. Publishers’ and agents’ websites and blogs are full of information and so are those of writing communities and arts councils. The personal blogs of authors and other industry professionals can be useful too. Look for recent content. Publishing changes quickly but websites hang around for ages. Be aware of market boundaries. Something you read on a US site may not apply to the UK.
Writing magazines
Great for market news as well as features on writing craft. I don’t think there’s any substitute for keeping up to date with a market you might wish to submit to. There are also books that are guides on getting published. I would suggest you buy the most recent you can.
Social media
Follow agents and editors! They give hints of what they’re looking for and you can often see what area they work in from the authors they already work with. Join writing communities. I’m part of an authors’ Facebook group where people share their experiences and I often hear news there first. By browsing around social media you’ll find a group to suit you.
Hopefully there is something here that will work for you.
Resources
- The Morning Briefing newsletter from The Bookseller, scroll to the foot of the page to sign up. (UK)
- Publishers’ Weekly, top right corner of page marked ‘Free newsletters’. (US)
- The Romantic Novelists’ Association for educational opportunities both online and in person, plus networking opportunities and the opportunity for membership.
- Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2025 complete with a quote from me on the cover and one of my articles inside.
- Writers Online, which includes Writing Magazine, for community, writing advice, tuition and newsletter.
- Swanwick Writers’ Summer School for education, assisted places and community.
- Facebook groups such as the Savvy Writers’ Snug – this is for traditionally published authors but there are many for independent authors and hybrids.
