As a nation of writers/wannabe writers/bloggers and would-be authors, Irish people have always had a hunger to know how best to present themselves in print. One of the leading communication experts in the country, Terry Prone of Carr Communications, has now updated her best-selling Write and Get Paid for It advice book, which includes up-to-the-minute tips on getting published in today’s hugely competitive market.
Explaining the background to this work, Ms Prone explains: “The only thing that hasn’t changed in the 30 years since I first published Write and Get Paid for It is the unending supply of writers. That volunteer pool never dries up. Every year, it’s joined by newer, younger folk who yearn to publish a novel or a poem, write a non-fiction book, upload a blog or produce features for newspapers.
“The writer’s world has changed utterly and one of the big changes is the new emphasis on fame. Before, if you wanted to write for a newspaper, you sent them a feature and learned from the rejections. Now fame comes first. If you’re well-known, your chances of getting into print are enhanced. The paper can run a picture of you, knowing the reader will say ‘Oh, your man who was in that TV show’ or ‘There’s that girl who broke up with head-the-ball.’ All that matters is that you’re a household name.’
Getting around all of this for a freelance writer means becoming an expert on something, according to Ms Prone.
“The expertise can come from your day job as a scientist or doctor perhaps, or even if you’re unemployed you can genuinely claim expertise in the miseries implicit in being jobless. Once you have established a niche of expertise, you can drift into other areas, because you’re now famous.
“The other area of major change is in book-publishing. More books by more Irish writers are being published these days than at any time in the last three decades. Most of those writers are women, and most of the books are non-literary, ie, what’s called “chick-lit” or “hen-lit”.
Ms Prone recalls that previously the route to publication of a novel was via the short story.
“While the short story hasn’t actually died, it certainly is in intensive care. The fact is a more direct approach works these days. Publishers such as Londubh also provide insights and advice to budding writers with instructions carried on their website as to how to present a manuscript.
“Of course, the factor that never goes away is the possibility of being rejected. Everybody gets rejected sooner or later. Roddy Doyle talks unselfconsciously about one rejection he received a couple of years ago, when he had countless bestsellers under his belt. He says he sulked a bit, put it in a drawer, looked at it a few months later, decided the editor who turned it down might have a point, and went to work on a rewrite. Anyone whose dream is to be published and maybe make a living at it has to learn that kind of resilience.”
Write and Get Paid for It by Terry Prone, pubished by Londubh Books, €12.99, is now available nationwide.
