The evolution of the publishing team

The recent Avengers film does not only show that a great selection of Superheroes can pull audiences. It also highlights the importance of working in a team to achieve your goal, even if you are a superhero. When Kia Garriques first began her publishing journey, she was alone, working on her manuscript day and night. The minute she realised that she could do with a helping hand, her dreams started to materialise...

We all have great ambitions whether it is to achieve international success as a recording artist, find the first miracle cure for cancer or seeing the world in 80 days. But ambition can often be blind and it presumes that you can achieve your dream alone. Our dream is only important to us; we do not need anyone else to make it happen.

Kia loves reminiscing about back in the day:

“I never thought that anyone would be interested in helping me achieve success as an author. I just believed in the normal route of submitting proposals to editors that I respected. My story ideas have always been over the top – I suppose it comes with being young and wanted to see the world in a different light.”

But, of course, why would any editor just accept any proposal, no matter how good it is? If it was really as easy as that then the publishing industry would not be as competitive. Editors are very subjective creatures and their acceptance of a story idea can depend on their personality, their mood and whether they personally feel that you idea would sell.

It is easy for prospective authors to criticise editors for not accepting their proposals but have they ever tried building a personal relationship with the editor? Editors in publishing are similar to editors in the print industry. When you start freelancing for them, you do not expect them to accept your first idea and it is all about tailoring your idea to what they would like to see. Once they know you better, they are willing to take a chance on other ideas you might have.

So who did Kia start building her relationship with to get her ‘publishing team’ started? She began with getting an agent.

“I knew of his work previously and was impressed, “Kia says. “ He had great contacts with editors, journalists and PR people as he had also published books before. I thought he would be the perfect person to take me on. He did not make it easy though... he wanted me to work further on parts of my script before he felt it was really for editors”.

After much persuading and preparation, her agent found a new, yet upcoming publishing company to take her on.

She says, “They understand me as a young author really well. They learn things from me as I do from them.”

So, in addition to her agent, Kia now worked with an editor to get her perfect her novel, a marketing and publicity team to sculpt her image and to start profiling her work to the public and a design team to create her new websites, blogs and products.

Over the new few weeks, you will be provided updates on how Kia is working within her teams as she gets closer to her book launch in October. Although writing comes easy to her, it helps to have people around you who are also focused on taking your dream and making it their own.  

The Author 'career' ladder - part 2

Ready to discover the key to Kia’s writing success?

Kia is very much a fan of teaching yourself and so started reading more about marketing herself as a young author and about marketing in general. She backed this reading up with a few stints of marketing work experience and picked up a lot of new tips along the way.

After a year, she found herself as a young marketing manager of a leadership company for black and Asian minority managers and senior leaders.

Over the last year alone, she has been to London Fashion Week, the Top Model of Colour Awards and has become creative director of a fashion show to name but a few.

But, she did not forget her publishing dream. While she did this work during the day, she truly came alive at night with her new gradual plan for getting published: writing short stories.

“I remember thinking that I could never be taken seriously as an author let alone get anything published. Writing has always been a part of me. I always used it to help me through tough times but I never wanted it really before this.

I wanted to be an entrepreneur, to be a boss to be creating something larger than myself. I saw writing as too passive. I remember going through the worst period of my life and the only thing that helped me was to write away the pain, “she explains.

She continues: “I kept writing short stories and I remember my friends encouraging me to send them off but I used to shake my head and say, ‘Who me? A writer?’

I remember sending off my first story, just to put a stop to my friends’ mantras but I was shocked when it was accepted. Then I sent another and another and it just spiralled from there. In fact, I loved writing so much I did it anywhere and everywhere.

It’s my passion, my heart, my soul and I know most writers, true writers would know exactly what I am talking about. It’s a part of you that must be expressed whether you are published or not.”

So, two years later, the young Kia Storm had published over a dozen short stories and armed with this experience was ready to take on the book publishers again.

After carefully crafting her new book proposal, she finally found an agent, a stylist, a book editor as well as a publishing company together with a PR manager who are now working hard to promote her after realising her writing potential.

So, her small steps to become a young author, in the form of short story writing paid off!

Even Charles Dickens started his fiction writing career in 1833 by writing short stories and essays. His first short story ‘A Dinner at Poplar Walk’ was published in Monthly Magazine in December 1833.

After this, he went on to publish some of the greatest classics ever written such as Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.

Similarly, Steve Barnes co-author of the Tennyson Hardwick mystery series has said:

 “Work on shorter projects. Short stories or articles. Do not write books until you have published (and been paid for) shorter work. This is like running a marathon when you’ve never run around the block!”

Have you ever experienced success by starting small? We always want to know what our readers get up to.  

The Author 'career' ladder - part 1

In a recent 2012 book titled The Power of Small by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval, it mentioned that individuals should start small so as to change their lives and power through uncertain times.

Being an author is not a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. Many authors have to wait years before they are published let alone before they start getting recognised and can then call themselves a success.

Kia Garriques a.k.a Kia Storm was no different.

“Even though I was very young when I thought of my first book idea, I knew exactly how I wanted to see it in print. I was not put off by my lack of experience and  I carried on doing what I thought best; pitching my book proposal to prospective book publishers and agents and believe me, it’s not an easy thing to do.” 

Whatever the case, Kia knew that she would have to try a different strategy. 

However, time after time, publishers failed to see the potential in her idea. Her book proposal did not fit in with the publishing company’s criteria or it did not fit in with the editor’s mindset.

“The rejection slips kept pouring in one after the other and I remember feeling worthless. I was ready to give up. I mean it was easy for me when I was sending off my work to short story magazine editors because they loved it.

Although I had got many rejections from editors, I was sending other editors so many proposals that I found that when one editor rejected a story idea, another editor would accept that same story. Before long all of my stories were published,” she says.  

“However, my book was a different matter. The rejections really knocked my confidence and honestly if it wasn’t for my mother taking action into her own hands and physically seeking out my agent, I probably would have stop sending them out for a while. My mother found my current agent and begged him to have a look at my work. Thankfully he did and here I am today getting ready for the launch of my debut novel in October.”

“I am an extremist and I am always thinking of how I can get better. I wasn’t content with writing a book; I wanted to write the next big thing. I also wanted it to be seen and heard and so I knew that I had to get involved in every single process. This included the branding, packaging and marketing of not only my book but also myself as an artist.

I don’t think many authors view themselves as an artist. Too often they separate their book from themselves but I strongly believe that I must become my product and that’s what I set out to do.”

So how did Kia make the jump from young writer to marketing professional/ published author?