Writing a book that is accepted for publication by a reputable publishing company is not easy. Many authors think it is as difficult as winning the lottery.
There are stories about the ledgendary slush pile. One can imagine it being as monumental as Mt Fuji or Mount Rainier made up of all the rejected manuscripts and soliciting letters. Then there are the dismaying odds of getting published. Most estimates give you a chance of one in five hundred and, then, only after recieving dozens of rejection slips. But getting published isn't a lottery. It's about quality, timeliness and lots of other difficult-to-define characteristics. Here is an example I came across recently.
At a birthday party, I met Mary Groves. Mary is a sixties-something woman who lived a hard life on the land. Mary presented to the person celebrating her birthday, a signed copy of the book Mary had written and that had been recently published.
Mary told me how she managed this feat. She had lived forty years on the land. She had been neighbours with Sarah Henderson up in the Northern Territory. Her life on the land had been full of struggle and diversity and she thought she should write it down.
A critic was not impressed with her first attempt and described it as an editorial. Mary was not discouraged. She thought, "Well if I am going to do this, I better do it properly." She wrote it all again but much more personally.
Once done, she wondered what she should do to get it published. Someone suggested a bibliography of publishers. She bought one. Being of a practical bent, Mary decided to work through the book alphabetically, so she started with "a": Allen and Unwin.
Guess who is the publisher of Mary's book with an initial run of 12,000 copies?
Allen and Unwin. They loved the book and signed her to a two-book deal.
I was curious. Mary had lived on the land and raised four children. How did she learn to write, I wondered. She explained that her father gave her good advice as a young child. Never use any more words than you need to, he said. She had faithfully followed that advice all through school and life, and especially while writing the book.
An initial print run of 12,000 is unusal for a first time author but the book is selling so well that another 12,000 are scheduled to be printed in 2012.
Mary didn't read about the slush pile. She didn't think about the miniscule chance of getting published. She is not a woman who is wracked with doubt. If she was, she would have never survived her amazing life.
If you want to read her popular book, An Outback Life, here is the link. Mary Groves' Official Site
