Right now I am reading The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction, by Erik Bork. I don’t read many how-to writing books, but this one was a gift, and I decided to give it a go before deciding against it. I love it. It’s basic, understandable, with loads of common sense.

Right off the bat, he states, “…reaching the right people is really not the hard part of succeeding as a writer. The hard part is creating something that the “right people” would be excited by if they read it.”

If the story idea isn’t unique, the characters identifiable, their wants serious, the obstacles real, their efforts deep and burning, the struggle hard, the purpose relevant and important, it isn’t a story to tell. It doesn’t matter how well you write, if the story isn’t good, it will not sell. That logic right there is why 90 percent of rejections take place by agents and publishers.

Yet I mentioned in my earlier comments above, that a well-read friend of mine stated she hated the story concept of a book she promised to read, yet once she got into the author’s voice, she loved it. It mattered how well it was written.

So who is right? Both of them.

In traditional publishing, you have to impress the agents, publishers, and editors in your queries, loglines, and synopses before they ever read your first paragraph. If your story concept isn’t unique and impressive, you won’t make the cut. Your great writing clipped to the back of these initial pages is never read.

Many writers leap to self-publishing in order to bypass all that gatekeeper business. All that querying. All that added effort to prove to a stranger that your concept is worthwhile. Instead, they go straight to publishing, hoping that the concept and the writing are worthy.

In other words, the story concept isn’t thoroughly vetted as to its marketability.

Not that I’m telling you to traditionally publish. However, you do need to vet your story idea first and foremost, and not via novices or the unpublished, but via those who know the business. To skip that stage is to take a chance and spend money to self-publish, betting upon your writing ability to sell the book before the concept.

Self-published books fail to sell for three reasons:

1. An average story idea / concept.
2. Average writing.
3. Insufficient marketing.

Most of the time, the self-published blame number three when it’s more often one or two. But nobody will tell them that. They argue that nobody reviews books anymore, so their book only has nine reviews and can’t sell. Maybe people didn’t like the book.

So how do you know if your book idea is great? You get experienced people to hear the logline or read the synopsis. So how do you know if your writing is good? You get experienced people to read it.

If they don’t walk away enthused or awestruck, go back to the drawing board.

The most common reason I hear from people about skipping professional editing and traditional efforts, is time and age. They are impatient. They feel time is running out. They want that book in their hands.

But sometimes, theirs are the only hands the book winds up in.

Slow down. The same time is running out if you write a good book that sells or an average book that doesn’t. Even if it takes longer to attempt that higher caliber, is it not worth the extra, quality time invested if it sells the book….versus the book not selling?

Publishing is not a step you take lightly. The less blood and effort you sweat over editing, making publishing choices, and seeking advice, the less your odds of selling. Writing a book isn’t easy. Writing a good book is much harder. Publishing well is even harder. Just know that going in, and you’ll better plan success.

(Picture source 17325097 © Maxim Bassein | Dreamstime.com)