One of the things I've found most exasperating in the publishing industry over the past couple of years is the incredible number of authors who are completely unrealistic about their publishing experience.  IE, the ones who want the champaign dreams on the cheeseburger budget.  But this little rant isn't about budgets, or money, or any of that.  Well, money is discussed a little, but it's not the main focus here.  My purpose for writing this little rant is to clear the air about a wide number of things that authors get wrong about book publishing.  So here we go.

1.  You are not the only game in town.

Writing and publishing a book DOES NOT suddenly make you a superstar.  Every year there are over 10,000 new authors published worldwide, and over 300,000 titles!  That's on top of the huge numbers of books and authors already out there.  So just because you wrote what you think is the greatest book ever doesn't mean you're suddenly God's gift to writing or the next big name author.  To the publishing world, and most readers, you're nobody.  The only way you become somebody is to A) produce a really, really good book, and B) be able to market yourself well.  Even then, short of a miracle, your chances of becoming the next NYT best seller are pretty much slim to none.

2.  You are not your publisher's only author.

Even if your publisher claims to treat you like their only client, you're not.  Publishers have anywhere from 150 active clients for the smallest presses, upwards to 150,000 or more for the really big presses. and each one of which has published at least one book, if not more.  So you're just one tiny speck on the page of the publishing industry.  So don't think that you're gonna get treated like royalty as soon as you walk through the door.  If anything, they'll typically treat you nice, but that's about it.  Ultimately they're in business for one thing: To make money, and you're part of that plan.  If you don't like that, then you have an unrealistic view of reality, as everyone who

3.  Writing a book does not bring instant fame and fortune.

Don't get the crazy idea that, just because you wrote a book, the likes of Oprah or Disney will come knocking on your door begging for an interview.  In all likelihood you *might* get a brief mention in the local paper.  The only time people get the "Oprah" treatment is when they've already sold 10 million books.  Big companies and shows like that only come *AFTER* you're famous.  They DO NOT make you famous.  That's your job.  So work hard on achieving that first, and the rest will follow on its own.  But it's certainly not going to come to you the day after you publish.  Sometimes it'll take several years before you even get noticed, if ever.

4.  You don't know everything.

Yes, believe it or not, you don't know everything.  Even if you have a PHD or other similar title, you're just another fallible human being.  The only person who knows everything and is perfect is God, and you're not Him.  Period.  You're human, and as such, you WILL make mistakes.  That's what editors are for.  Use them.  They will tell you what needs to be fixed, if anything.  If it's bad enough, you'll need to go back and keep editing and cleaning up the book before it goes to press.

If you can't afford an editor, take it to a writers group and get it peer reviewed and critiqued.  They'll tell you if it has any issues (and it always will), what you should fix/change, and if it's even close to being print ready.  I can't stress this enough, because a book full of errors, or one that is badly written, is a book that WILL NOT SELL.  You can't become the next Dan Brown if you write like a 3rd grader, and believe me, I've seen PHD's who actually write worse than most 3 year olds.

5.  It takes LOTS of hard work to succeed.

No author who's become world famous has either done so overnight, nor on their first try.  So don't think that you'll write a masterpiece the first time you sit down behind a keyboard.  It took me 20 years before I reached a level where I felt comfortable with being published.  Some might reach that level quicker, but on average it takes no less than five years of hard work before you should even fathom the idea of getting published, and only if your writing passes peer review.

6.  You never "arrive".  You just get good enough.

There's no day when you just "arrive" and become a super writing star.  No matter how good you are, there's always room for improvement.  If there's not, then you've either quit trying, or you've reached the limits of your talent.  A good author works until they're "good enough".  A great author keeps getting better until they die.  So if you're not always trying to improve yourself, then you may as well just quit writing, because all you're doing is ink slinging, which is something a monkey could do.

7.  No book is ever perfect, only "good enough".

No matter how great, or awesome, or wonderful, or even perfect you might think your book is, the fact of the matter is, it's not.  No book, no matter the author, is ever perfect, as every single book ever written, with possible exception of the bible, has room for improvement, and always will.  Why?  Because we're fallible human beings writing books devised from our own fallible natures.  

So when you hand your book to your publisher, please don't torture them by either A) saying it's perfect and doesn't need to be fixed, or B) going back and constantly changing, updating or fixing it after it's gone in for publishing.  If it's not ready by the time you submit it to them for publishing, or you refuse to acknowledge it has issues when the editor goes through it, why are you even publishing it in the first place?

The best thing to do is write your book, clean it up, and polish it until it can't be polished anymore (at least in your opinion), and then get it peer reviewed.  If it needs fixing, go back, fix it, polish some more, and then get it reviewed again.  Only after it comes away from those third party reviews smelling like a rose should you even consider sending it to a publisher.  However, if it comes back from one of your peer reviewing smelling like a turd, it's probably a good idea to burn the manuscript and start from scratch.  I say that because there's already too many turds in print today.

8.  Fame is fleeting, if it happens at all.

Fame and fortune are one of those funny things in life.  Fame is fleeting no matter what you do to achieve it, or maintain it.  Fortune, even more so.  That's why you hear the phrase "15 minutes of fame".  That's pretty much all we ever get in life.  Fame is hard to achieve, and even harder to hold onto.  It will never be handed to you on a silver platter.  You have to earn every second of it that you get, because typically the kind that just falls in your lap is not the kind you want.

9.  Be patient.  It takes time.  LOTS of time.

Just because your book is accepted doesn't mean it will be out on shelves immediately.  It takes time to publish a book.  A LOT of time.  The average book takes NO LESS than 8-12 weeks from acceptance to book shelf before it's finished, let alone out in the wild or available to bookstores, and that's best case scenario.  Most average around 3-6 months from acceptance to book shelf.

Even then it takes time for your book to be noticed and gain traction.  Same goes for printing your books, or distributing them to stores, or pretty much anything in the publishing industry.  It takes time.  Lots of it.  So be patient.  Nothing goes quick in the publishing industry.  Nothing.

10.  It's NOT about the money.

Forget the money.  Depending on how you publish your book, you're more likely to lose money or break even than actually make any real income.  In fact, even among traditionally published authors, probably one in one hundred make back their advance in total book sales.  Well, those that actually make an advance.  Most authors won't.  Also, NEVER publish a book because you want to make a living off of it, or a fortune.  

That is the absolute WORST reason to publish, or for that matter, for writing a book.  Either write books and publish them because you love to write, or don't do it at all.  If you can't imagine yourself writing for any reason other than fame and fortune, then don't do it, because you're in the wrong line of work, and doing it for the wrong reasons.  Besides, if the big name, best selling authors can't live off their book royalties, what makes you think you can?

11.  Check your ego at the door.

Don't write and/or publish a book to pad your ego.  That's the absolute worst reason to write and publish a book, period.  As I tell people over, and over, and over, and over again, write because you love to do it, and not for any other reason.  Also, always keep your readers in mind, and never yourself.  Your story should entertain them, and not be a platform for padding your own ego.  You should always have others in mind first, and always, and yourself last when writing a story.  Anything else is just narcissism.

12. Be willing to accept criticism.

Another of my gripes I have with authors is how so many of them are unable to accept criticism, be it constructive or otherwise.  I know one lady who got a bad review, and then blamed it on the publisher saying it was his fault, then turned around and called the reviewer all kinds of bad names.  Yeah, that's not a good idea.  If anything, it'll make a bad review even worse.

First off, if you get slammed on something, find out what you did wrong, and why it was wrong, then fix it.  If you won't do that, then why did you become a writer in the first place?  Criticism is the best way for a writer to learn and get better.  IE, how can we know what we did wrong if someone doesn't tell us?  Also, if you want to avoid bad reviews once the book is published, get it peer reviewed BEFORE you get it published, then fix the problems they point out to you.

Conclusion

Just to clarify something, this post isn't intended to discourage potential authors, or even already published authors, from continuing to write and publish.  Writing is a gift, and it should be fun.  But it also should never be done for the purpose of money, fame, success, etc.  If you get published, it should be for one reason only: Because you love to write and you want to share your works with the world and make others happy.

Regardless of the genre, if you're writing and/or getting published with ANY other reasons in mind, you're doing it for the wrong reasons and you do nothing more than clog the system with garbage that prevents or hinders good authors from having their chance at the spotlight.  So do everyone a favor.  If you don't love writing, or you're just in it for the fame and fortune, don't publish your book.  It'll just be better for everyone else who actually does love writing, as well as the readers.