Check your score card for becoming a published writer? Do you reach180 points?

The sensational assessment that no aspiring writer can do without!

So – you want to be a writer, live on writing books? Tally your points

What counts beyond the creative process?

There is more to a writing career than just writing. These

parameters, or career requirements, are rarely analysed
so I will attempt to create a point system for what lies
beyond the writing itself. It should allow you to work
out your odds for getting on the shelves of bookstores,
You must reach 180 points to be eligible.

There are thousands of books which cover style, plots,

structures, and other aspects of the creative process. This
document looks at what lies outside creating or polish-
ing product. To step on the ladder of success, the re-
quirements are of a very different nature!
..............
Y = Yes n = No X = explanation
..............
1 Are you under 30 years of age?
n = 0 points Y = 50 points ..............

1A For Nos: Could you imagine yourself contracting ..............

a young person to front your book as the author,
share the spoils, but never reveal the truth? ..............
Y = 10 points. n = 0 points
(X: You need to be aware that the publishing houses want ..............
to build up writers for careers that should ideally last decades,
meaning that the literary agents do not favour persons older ..............
than 30, because of the lead up time. Lead up time has 2 phases:
1. The years when the litarary agent attempts to get you a pub- ..............
lishing contract. 2. At least two years between contract and
the first book’s appearance on the shelves, due to catalogue and ..............
marketing planning. If an author were over 30 when signing
with a literary agent, he/she would be over 40 at the start of the ..............
writing career, and therefore would not appear ‘fresh’ to the
customer base. An established writer, promoting his/her 10th ..............
book, however, does not have to to look ‘fresh’. If the over 30
year old still wants to try, he/she must have at least 6 novels in ..............
his/her filing cabinet, which are publication ready. From the
agent’s contract to the first book release, the lead up of seven ..............
years plus need to be factored in. Contracting a young person
as a frontperson from the start, can overcome this problem.) ..............

Subtotal...................
 Carried...................

1B Have you got 6 books/book proposals in your ..............

filing cabinet?
n = 0 points Y = 20 points ..............

2 Are you (or one of your close relatives) from the ..............
industry, i.e. acting, film, comedy, journalism, TV,
music? ..............
n = 0 points Y = 20 points
(X: People who have grown up ‘in the industry’ have a better ..............
grasp of the business side. They understand that the corner-
stone of writing is the interviews, and the socialising. They ..............
may already have a media network of their own, and generally
know the behavioural patterns in the creative industry, of which ..............
book selling is a part. It helps a lot, for instance, if the writer
can be sold as ‘cousin of ......’, ‘great-granddaughter of ........’. ..............
A person from the industry would also be more easily inclined
to ‘adopt’ a book written by a ghost writer, if or when the pub- ..............
lishing house had discovered a book topic that they would like
to have in the catalogue, but to speed up the publication proc- ..............
ess it has been written by one or more ghost writers. The prod-
uct/ book can then be attributed to a person/author who is al- ..............
ready known to the book buying public to generate a success-
ful sales promotion. Not only writers have ideas for books; they ..............
develop in boardroom meetings, too! People who have not grown
up in the industry are less inclined to accept these deals.) ..............

3 Have you got a tertiary qualification? ..............

n = 0 points Y = 30 points
(X: Any writer’s CV looks more attractive to the customer when ..............
it contains a tertiary qualification which gives the person and
the book more credibility. For fiction writing, a creative writ- ..............
ing degree is best; for other books the degree should be related
to the topic, i.e. science for environmental topics, teacher’s de- ..............
gree for a book about education, history degree for historical
topics etc.) ..............

..............
4 Have you been in the TV news and in the tab-
loids, for any reason at all?
..............
n = 0 points Y = 180 points
(X: Books by people who have become ‘famous’ through a case ..............
in the TV news are noticed by the press and the audience. The
reason does not matter. If you were associated with or involved Subtotal...................
in a famous criminal case, are a successful or fallen sports star,
been in politics, been an actor of note, or even if you are a close
relative of a ‘big news’ person, or were imprisoned in Carried...................
Guantanamo or Bali, the public knows you and your story will
sell! In this case, all the other parameters do not matter, if you
have the right agent.) ..............

..............
5 Have you polished your performance skills for
interviews in an acting or public speaking course?
..............
n = 0 points Y = 20 points.
Course booked: = 10 points
..............
(X: The publisher must be confident that you come across TV
and radio in a way, that people admire you and want to have a
..............
piece of you - the book. There is also the unconscious desire in
audience members that a bit of the gloss of a successful person
..............
rubs off to them. These are the vibes that you need to project to
generate a personality cult around you! If you have not com-
..............
pleted a course in self-presention, list the course booked in your
application.)
..............

6 Do you have a disability which allows promotion ..............

‘overcoming the odds’
odds’?
..............
n = 0 points Y = 20 points
(X: if you are deaf and write about music, or blind and write ..............
about art, paraplegic and write about sports, or similar, that is
a promotable thing.) ..............

7 Are you willing and able (financial enough) to ..............

wait at least 5 years for your first book to come out,
AFTER a literary agent has signed you on? ..............
n = 0 points Y = 20 points
(X: When your literary agent submits your book proposals, ..............
there is a turnaround time of six months for the publisher’s
boardroom to say yeah or nay. They can only submit to one ..............
publisher at the time, because these could place boardrooms in
the position that they go through all the cost calculations and ..............
decision making processes with their various departments, only
to discover their competitors had taken the writer on the week ..............
before. Multiple submissions waste company time and resources
and are therefore not allowed. A literary agent who is worth ..............
his/her salt will tell you that he/she will, most likely, have to go
through that process a number of times. Two submissions per ..............
year; it takes years. The industry expects that you use your
waiting years productively, i.e. write more book proposals and ..............
books. Some industry sources even speak of ‘that 10 year ap-
prenticeship’ giving you plenty of time to build up a strong Subtotal...................
portfolio.)
 Carried........................
8 Have you worked loosely with or professionally in . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
one of the secret services?
n = 0 points Y = 20 points ..............
(X: Ex or rogue secret service elements are highly undesirable,
so society needs to give former agents, even current sleeper . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
agents, something to do and a livelihood. Publishers also know
that these people are not talkers, so they slot in easily through . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the back door, i.e. jump the queue, or have parts of their books
written by ghost writers.) ..............

..............
9 Have you been on record as a whinger, with criti-
cism of ‘the system’ or one of its pillars? Have you been
on record with strong and clever suggestions to improve . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the system?
..............
never = 20 points Y =: 0 points
(X: If for, instance, you have been on a list of Vietnam or Iraq ..............
war citicisers, you have proven that you are not towing the
line. You could even be a justice seeker !!?? Sometimes you can ..............
get on such a list when your known associates are doing ‘the
wrong thing’. Beware with whom you associate! You will never .............
know, how you have aquired the tag ‘do not touch’, but when ..............
nobody wants to know you, it could be your associates and/or
your attitude, even your perceived attitude, which ensures you ..............
remain on the outside. Look over your shoulder at all times!
So: Beware with whom you associate and what you say or write . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
beyond the usual small talk.)
..............

10 Do disappointments get you down for more ..............

than one day?
n = 20 points Y = 0 points ..............
(X: A resilient mindset is a fundamental requirement for the
creative industry. Consider the various stages and the range of ..............
possibilities where something may not go your way:
- A literary agent may sign you on, but no publishing house ..............
wants to contract you. Disappointment of five years plus.
- The topic of your book proposal (or a very similar one) may ..............
already be in development in a publishing house. They coordi-
nate catalogues in their industry associations; you may miss ..............
out, and effectively, your proposal is dead for all time.
- Your book proposal may appeal but they want to assign it, ..............
with some improvements, to one of their writers who are due
for a book that year. Subtotal...................
- The topic of your book may have been covered overseas and
the overseas version has already been bought for your market,
making your book obsolete. Carried...................
- Your book may reach the shop shelf but it is not amongst the
5% selected for review in the newspaper. ..............
- The non-reviewed 95% die a slow but certain death.
- Even if your book is in the 5%, a review’s iinfluence on the ..............
book buying public lasts for 3 (three) weeks, especially when a
book is released shortly after yours whose promotion overshad- ..............
ows yours.
- Your book may sell 3000 copies to break even for the com- ..............
pany, but none of the overseas publishing partners wants to
include it in their catalogue. Even if your contract says that ..............
rights fall back to the author after a few years, the world will
have moved on by then. Here again, it pays to have many half- ..............
ready books in your filing cabinet.) ..............

..............
11 Are you willing and able to hand over complete
control of your work, artistically and businessswise? ..............
n = 0 points Y = 20 points
(X: A publishing company normally wants to leave some im- . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
print on the work itself. Suggestions for change may come from
the sales staff who is out on the coal face every day. They could . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
also come from the department which deals with movie rights,
or anybody in the company. The work, as a book or a movie, . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
must ultimately fall into a catalogue category. For instance if
the work is romantic and lends itself to a teenage audience, you . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
cannot have one scene which would receive a mature rating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The work becomes, after all, ‘their’ production and they must
be able to edit in or out. ‘Falling in line’ means handing over . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
control, and the people in the publishing houses have very lim-
ited time for debates. By handing over control, you must be . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
aware that all partners of the publishing house in other coun-
tries are legally independent units, and make their own deci- . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
sions whether or not they want to market your book in their
area. A publishing contract is for the country of ‘residence’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
only. Only household names can be somewhat confident that
partner companies will be more inclined to release and provide . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
an appropriate promotion budget.)
..............
12 Is writing book proposals your focus? ..............
n = 0 points Y = 20 points
(X: Literary agents and publishing houses work from book . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
proposals., not full manuscripts. Anyone who writes the full
book without being commissioned puts in their own time with- . Subtotal...................
out being certain that the book will be accepted. This is a labour
of love and classifies you as an amateur, because you write what
you want, not necessarily what sells. Even if you have the full
manuscript, you should not advertise that fact, because if your Carried..................
book proposal is accepted, you may get a royalty advance for
completing the work. Then slowly release parts of your manu- ..............
script from your filing cabinet, and you can pretend to have
written it while you were living on their advance. Do not lose ..............
sight of the fact that writing books will not move you forward –
only writing book proposals does.) ..............

13 Do you live in a town where it is all happen- ..............

ing?
n = 0 points Y = 20 points ..............
(X: When a writer is invited for conferences, festivals, or inter-
views, there will always be expenses, but if you live very far . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
away from the media centres or customer base, your participa-
tion becomes limited by higher cost factors and time.) ..............

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .
14 How well can you reconcile demands on your
time for promotional activities with your home and work . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
life?
No points score for this one. ..............
(X: The issue is here, that the company likes to call you in for
promotional activities whenever an opportnity oens up. Since . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the writing is most likely not feeding you and your family for a
long while, compromises must be made. If, for instance, you . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
have to take time off work for an appearance at a book promo-
tion/writers’ festival, and the income forgone causes a dent in . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
your budget, you have a problem. You cannot expect anybody
to pay you a day’s fee just for promoting your work. If you are . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
in a job, where you cannot take time off work at all, it gets even
worse, because these promotional activities cannot always be . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
planned long term to put in for holidays. If you use your holi-
days, you may not have real holidays, possibly for years, which . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
is not good for your soul. You could try to move to the town
where the publishing company is and get friendly with their . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
staff, who might know of vacancies that can be combined with
your book promotion. Reconciling artistic endeavours which . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
are not, or not yet, a livelihood, can be a tight rope act.)
..............

15 Have you won several competitions? ..............

n = 0 points Y = 20 points
(X: When a writer is trying to sell himself/herself, the very . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
first book can obviously not carry the all important line ‘from
the author of’. This can sometimes be replaced by ‘as seen on
TV’, ‘the case that shook the world’, ‘his son speaks out’ or Total........................
through some tag which gives the buyer confidence in what he/
she is spending their money on.
If you do not have such a tagline, winning competitions is of
great help, e.g. ‘by the award winning author’ ... and then list
which short story or other competitions you have won. If you
have won many competitions you have demonstrated to the
publisher that you are serious about writing for one, and sec-
ondly that you are flexible, i.e. able to adapt to competition
conditions like topics, length, category thinking, deadlines.
This is the writer they look for, adaptable where it counts, with
stamina, and a milligram of independent thinking to make your
material look interesting and fresh.)

POSTSCRIPT: This is, what I believe to be the first public attempt of developing a point
system for the requirements to be a published writer.
May it be useful to the boardrooms in helping to streamline the writers’ selection process.
For aspiring authors, this point system is a tool to assess their chances.
Written for public distribution, not copyrighted.