Bayanda Ndzimandze
By: Bayanda Ndzimandze
Manzini, Swaziland
Worth Noting:
- My advice is to do the work; writers must not shy away from following the full process even with the financial demands, save up and meet them or at least save enough to afford an agent. Most people are afraid of rejections and if I’m being honest, there is no single lodestar author that has never faced the cold night of rejection in their career; it would be badly bad-luck not to be rejected.
- Rejections are not personal, most houses require solicited projects while other are dealing with an influx of submissions and may force writers to wait before their work comes for review.
Our inspiration for writing naturally is derived from many angles and sections of life. It is a way a lot of people tend to unlock or free recondite emotions recurring inside like a receding tide in oneself. Others may even describe it as a way of escaping the gritty realities of life into a perfect world where all our deep and pent-up selves get to be emancipated.
This however unfurls into tinier balkanized sectors on a patient view of how writings get written. Dreaming of writing is oxygen for most literature fanatics but the act is quite a different story all together. Writing may be hard, draining and quite frustrating even for already published and recognized authors who take the time to authenticate their work. Most people often ask me if there is a difference between a writer and an author, yes there is and you’re about to find out.
An author as I believe it is a person who already has enjoyed the benefits of his or her creation in a form of a book. It is my belief an author is a creator, be either a fiction novel, nonfiction and so on but authors are defined by publishing traditionally or self-published. On the other end, a writer is someone who simply just writes, it could be a diary, a short article or anything that may not need critical analysis to a degree of publishing.
To tidy up the scamming mess that traps a lot of rookie writers who wish to see themselves published one day we all must first understand what causes so more debris in the field of literature. In the journey of publishing the award winning novel The Isolated Showers Crime fiction, there were challenges along the way and I had hoped such an article existed to help me understand the journey a bit better. In publishing, there are two forms or ways all books get to be published. There is traditional publishing and self-publishing.
Traditional publishing is when a writer or author submits their work to a reputable and confirmed publishing house to be scrutinized and valued if the publisher may invest on it. If found pleasing enough for the house, they offer the creator a service where all costs are on them including editing, book cover design, ISBN, formatting, book layout, marketing etc. Consequently, the manuscript will then be turned into a traditionally published work having been offered a contract. However, a self-publishing contract may be offered by a freelance editor who does the whole project with all costs of the client who wishes to get their work published by self.
A number of writers fall into scams since big companies who already are reputable and well established may require one to find an agent to present their works with them, an agent is responsible for presenting their work with the publishing house at an agreed cost which in most instances writers may not be able to find one and thus may decide to cut the normal route and find easier ways to get the contract which is where most of the scammer crocodiles are feasting. There are many stories of writers falling prey for publishing houses making promises to publish authors internationally at “low prizes” and end up scammed and given excuses.
My advice is to do the work; writers must not shy away from following the full process even with the financial demands, save up and meet them or at least save enough to afford an agent. Most people are afraid of rejections and if I’m being honest, there is no single lodestar author that has never faced the cold night of rejection in their career; it would be badly bad-luck not to be rejected. Rejections are not personal, most houses require solicited projects while other are dealing with an influx of submissions and may force writers to wait before their work comes for review.
All in all, the journey for writing is a fruitful and satisfying experience to all who wish for their dreams to come through and it is worth every struggle, stumble and fall along the way. If I was to speak to my younger self in this moment I would say never give up, there is light at the end of this tunnel and darkness
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