PUBLISH THIS!

Oh, for the days when a writer could scribble away in a drafty garret, stuff the resulting manuscript in a brown envelope, stroll down a country lane to the post box, send it away - and the publisher would take it from there! It would either be rejected or printed to great acclaim. In the mean-time, the scribbler would be back in their attic-room working on the next volume.

Writers, traditionally solitary (and perhaps nocturnal) creatures, are expected to spend much more time in the sunshine of the publishing process these days .

Stephanie Heald, a founder of Muddy Pearl Publishing in Edinburgh, gave a talk recently, in which she mentioned the best ways to approach a publisher. As part of that, she offered a letter that had made them sit up and pay attention.

It's not my letter, so I won't copy it here, but I hope she won't mind me listing the essential points.

1/ This proposal was no hurried note. In fact it is ten pages long! But it starts off with a killer first line, guaranteed to attract anyone's attention.

2/ That first line began a no-nonsense cover-note, saying hello, what the book was about, who he was and what other writing he had done, a note of what he was sending, his contact details - and out! Concise, informative, relevant, and less than a page.

3/ A half-page synopsis. The title, a sub-heading / tag-line, and three short paragraphs on that the book is about, with a dramatic conclusion. This, as I understand it, is the sort of sales-pitch the publisher's agents will use when approaching book-sellers. A short, punch sales pitch.

4/ Page Three is titled Market And Readership, where he talks about what sub-genres it might be included in, the type of people who might be interested in buying the book, and a list of other already-published books it might sit comfortably alongside. "People who buy this book may have read..."

5/ The writer, a politician, then talks about how the book addresses current policies and how an why it ill make even politicians sit up and take notice.

6/ Endorsement and Promotion. He tells the publisher he has a "big name" who would be willing to endorse the book, and talks about how he, himself, would get involved in publicising the book - blogging, interviews, social media, attending events.

I have been asked if I knew any big names who would offer an endorsement to some of my work. The definition of a big name is flexible, they may simply be known in the field you are writing about.

7/ There then follows a page-and-a-third on the author. Other than a list of previous books, the "personal" details (work history) are all relevant to his being the right person to write this book.

8/ There is a contents list. Basically, a list of chapter headings and a word count.

9/ Then the chapter headings are repeated, this time each one has a brief description of the chapter.

10/ The rest of the package is the completed manuscript. I suppose sample chapters are also acceptable at this point.

And that's it! The gold standard according to an actual, real-life, publisher. It might not all make sense to a writer unfamiliar with the process (and it might not all be relevant to your type of book), but you can bet it makes sense to the person you hope will publish your work!

Do some research. Get to know what the publisher is looking for. Be prepared to put the time and effort into its presentation that your book deserves!

According to Ms Heald it takes about £15,000 of a publisher's money to get a book into the shops. They will want to know you are a serious prospect.