Yeah, it doesn't sound any more appealing as an adult than it did going to school does it? Okay, we're not counting those who are scoffing because you probably liked school and homework and extra credit assignments, so just pipe down will ya.
Seriously though, we have an important point you need to know about. As a new author you don't know publishers or their publishing houses, oh you've probably heard of them or seen their logo's on the books you purchase, but beyond that you've got no information. To that end, you need to do some homework on them or, if you prefer, investigate a bit. This can be tricky and information will be more than a little hard to discover, but if you press forward, work at it hard, you will find out ... something.
What you find out is anyone's guess and, no matter what the source, look at it with a bit of scepticism. If you get information from an author who writes there, realize that, depending on their personal experience with the publisher, they may be biased one way or the other - good or bad. Try and talk to several author's if you can and preferably from different genres but make sure you attempt to speak with at least three from your primary genre. Find any press releases involving or about the publisher and, if you can, talk to an editor or two that work there. If you can manage it, talk to the secretary too, they usually know EVERYTHING. No matter the company, they always know all the best gossip from around the water cooler.
Be aware though, what's out there for public consumption on the Net about a publisher and their publishing house is usually the "glossy" version of everything. It's the "if this was the perfect universe" model of what they envision their workplace to be. It is never the whole truth. They are trying to keep the public viewing them as solid, loyal and amazing. As any business wants their consumers to view them.
A good thing to do is check out their website, every publisher has one - or should. Look through it carefully, see what other authors are there and what they are writing (genres). Read the bio's of the authors and employees, look for obvious errors like spelling, grammar and even structure - everything should be uniform which shows consistency and attention to details. I know this sounds bad but if your publisher's site looks like a 3 year old on a sugar high designed it in 10 minutes flat, it's probably not the most professional of operations. Because, and let's be honest here, if they can't hire even a semi-professional to create a slick and easy to use website to promote their business, then they are obviously the fly by the seat of their pants sort of operation. After all, with some of the web hosts out there now, you can create one in about an hour that was easy to create and yet make it look amazing and professional.
If you do your homework and remember Rule #1, you are well on your way to getting prepared for being a published author. There is more, but that will be another night. Right now I hear dinner calling to me and that spicy little fajitas is all mine.
The Moderator
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