My local paper featured a breathless article last week about the young author whose two books had been “snapped up” by a publisher and are set for international success. When I say young, I mean young: she’s six years old.
I wish her every success, but it’s only in the final paragraph that we learn the name of the publisher. It’s a self-publishing company that will “snap up” anything you send it, provided you’re ready to pay their fees. The international distribution just means they put your book on their website.
It’s a harmless enough story except that some aspiring authors who have had a lot of rejections read articles like this and conclude that if a six year old can get a publishing deal and they can’t, maybe they’re not cut out to be authors.
If you ever find your confidence dented by such stories, or ones about “multi-book deals” (the reality of which often is that if the first one doesn’t sell well, there won’t be any more), dig a bit deeper into the facts.
(For accurate information about the writer's life, check out my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)