Member-only story
Writing a Book? How to Improve Your Chances of Getting Published
Exemplary penmanship alone won’t guarantee success
The publishing industry seems to be on a roll, if a 2018 pilot study by the International Publishers Association (IPA) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is anything to go by. Research covering 19 countries revealed that the trade and educational sectors achieved a combined turnover of USD 50.3 billion, a significant increase over the 2016 figure of USD 41.9 billion.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), roughly 2.2 million new book titles hit the market each year, flooding both digital and brick-and-mortar bookstores. The rate at which these titles are published is impressive, too. In his book Brief Answers to the Big Questions, the late Stephen Hawking puts things in perspective, stating that “if you stacked the new books being published next to each other, at the present rate of production you would have to move at ninety miles an hour just to keep up with the end of the line.”
New titles aside, scores of first-time writers are making the scene, drawn to the conveniences of digital publishing and, of course, the prestige of authorship. Do you see yourself joining this group? Do you have literary potential and plan to write a…
