At Book Swap, we like spicing things up. We like to keep things interesting by doing something different to our usual exchanging of books, but relating to art and literature.
For our last Book Swap for 2016, we decided to invite a few writers to talk about their journey in getting published. Our aim is to inspire writers and poets to somehow get their book published. Cafe Mocha By Barista hosted our event as usual and added the much-needed coffee & bookie vibe ❤
We invited Imanthi Perera author of ink theory, Marilyn Wouters author of Picking Up the Pieces, Chamindra Warusawitharane author of Lost Voyagers, Grace Wickremasinghe author of Perception and Closure and Nadeesha Paulis author of the Sri Lankan horror story collection Water in My grave .
Publishing in Sri Lanka isn’t easy for beginners. It’s expensive, risky and frankly, very scary. You don’t know if you are good enough, or whether people will read your writing, or if it will be worth it. Most writers approach publishers in Sri Lanka onto to get rejected because the publisher doesn’t think the book will sell. The publisher also takes 60% of the profit once the book is sold, and you have to pay for the printing cost too which is often 100,000/ + for 500 copies. So writers usually end up ‘self-publishing’. Which is again, a very new and scary experience for anyone, specially if you’re like me and have no clue about it.
Self publishing involves, writing the actually book, editing and proofing it, getting graphics and the cover designer, the page set up, getting the ISBN from the National Library, getting a printer to print x amount of copies, sending a few copies to the National Archives, distributing and marketing the book (which again involves approaching book stores, managing social media and other platforms, getting people to read and review, maybe even running a blog or web about the book) and having a book launch. All of which cost money.
Since publishing is somewhat of a large scope, I plan on breaking this topic into different sections starting from ‘Writing in Sri Lanka’, to ‘How to Self-Publish’ in Sri Lanka. In future articles, I will be touch on topics ranging from the challenges in getting published, the process of getting published in Sri Lanka, to the pros and cons of publishing, approximate finances that go into publishing, marketing and distribution tactics that you can use to publish your book and so on. It’s nothing hard and fast, but I will interview writers whose experience may add intel to your journey in getting published. 🙂 Our aim is to inspire aspiring writers and sharing information about publishing.
How to start writing in Sri Lanka?
You love to read, and you scribble down quotes and poetry on the side of notebook. But are you really publish worthy? Is my writing good enough? Will anyone even want to read what I have to say?
These are questions everyone comes across when the thought of writing strikes inside you. Every aspiring writer goes through a phase where they doubt themselves and their ability in the craft. The best way to overcome such a challenge is to ask friends and family to comment and give feedback on your writing. Ask them to give constructive criticism, and not just praise because no one really got anywhere by floating on praise. If you are really keen on improving yourself, you need honest opinions. As you start feeling less shy and more confident (because let’s face it, you need really feedback here) share your writing with strangers. That’s right. As scary as it sounds, you need to know what people who you don’t know have to say about your writing. Social media is a tried and tested option and the perfect outlet for your writing. Start a free blog on WordPress or Medium which you can customise and keep a track of views and comments. Post your writing out there and learn what others have to say about your writing. Maybe even ask them to let you know what they like about the particular piece of writing. Use contacts and literary events to spread the word. This might be easy enough if you’re in Colombo and in the middle of all the urban chaos, but if you’re a little far away from the action and don’t have many contacts, this could prove challenging. Try and find ways to spread the word.
Most writers are introverted and awkward to go around asking everyone around them to read their writing, and rightly so because you may feel like you don’t want to force your writing on them.
It’s then a matter of believing in yourself and being around people who support you.
You may be out of your comfort zone, but you have to do it.
How do I improve my writing?
- Read.
The simple most basic activity to do if you’re an aspiring writer, is to read. Read in whatever language you want to write. Read a few authors until you find someone whose style you like. If you like poetry, read a few well-known poets and listen to spoken word poetry online. If you’re into short stories, read your favourite collection and analyse what elements you liked about it. If you like novels, analyse them and read about what others online have said about the book. Goodreads is a popular place to look for books and read reviews about books. Join forums and discussion groups and fb groups such as Book Swap Colombo, පොත් කියවන අය , A poet’s tool box and Bookies United that talk about books too.
A word of caution, select good reading material to read often too. I don’t mean to say that only well-known writers are good enough to read. There may be plenty of unheard of writers whose writing has gone undiscovered for ages (much like yours) but it’s always better to read rich material first. Once you figure out the style of writing you like, you can experiment adding those styles to your writing i.e. imitate it. (imitation IS NOT plagiarism. Do not copy someone else’s work. Besides, you can’t do that forever. One day, someone’s going to figure that you copied and there goes the end of your reputation as a writer)
2) Expand your vocabulary
Learn and understand the meaning of certain phrases and their use. In this day and age of the internet, there’s no better learning institute than the internet. Allocate an hour or two of your day to work on your writing. Unfortunately for us, we still don’t have the ideal institute to learn writing. Unless you’ve done literature in school and have gone through some form of coaching, there is hardly any place that will teach you how to write in Sri Lanka. (No, the journalism college doesn’t work) Use the internet to learn and improve.
3) Practice
Learn how to write a good sentence. Be conversational in your writing. More active. No passive tense (unless you’re writing for your dissertation at University) Experiment with voice and punctuations and rhythm. Practice smooth transition from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. Avoid stuffy words used to just to show that you know that word. Simple, yet effective, is what you’re looking at.
4) Believe in yourself 🙂
You aren’t trying to write just for the fun of it. It’s clear that you’re passionate about it if you’ve done all of the above. So don’t be too hard on yourself.
How to ‘Self-publish’ a book in Sri Lanka?
You can start off by collecting your writing in a single manuscript. It’s always best to get someone else to edit and proof it for you, as there may be mistakes and typos that you miss because you’ve been going through the same writing over and over again. If you have friends who know graphics and page setting, you can ask them to create the cover, any inside pictures and set the pages using the many softwares available. From what I know, page setting can be done through MS word too, but its better to use Adobe In Design as its more sophisticated.
How do I get the ISBN?
Every printed book has an ISBN. It is a unique number that identifies the book internationally. The National Library located on Independence Avenue is the responsible institution that will allocate the ISBN number for your book. You must visit them (Monday to Saturday from 8:30 am to 4:15) and fill in their application form.
What information do I need to apply for the ISBN?
1. Publisher – Publisher is defined as a person, company partnership, association, group or body of any kind what to ever issuing and publishing a book. Publisher is the Person/Institution (i.e. you if you’re self publishing) who is financing the production of the item.
2. Title – Title of the book and if there is a sub title please state.
3. Edition – Which edition of the book? (1st edition or 2nd edition etc.)
4. Print – Which print? (1st or 2nd print etc.)
5. Translation – Please state the original author and original title.
6. Volume/Part – Which volume/part of the book? (1st volume/part, 2nd volume/part etc.)
7. Date of publication – Month and the year of publishing. (approximately)
8. Price – Price. (approximately)
9. Subject
With this information, they will generate an ISBN number for your book.
Now you have the ISBN, which you can include in printing the book.
How to find a printer for my book?
There are plenty of printing presses in Sri Lanka. You have to select a place that matches your budget and the expected level of quality.
Cost for the printing will depend on the printer, the quality of the book and paper used and quantity. Often the printing of 500 copies will cost about 100,000/= or more. You may be able to find sponsors for your book depending on what its about and your contacts. (Let’s face it, we Sri Lankans function on contacts.)
Once the book is printed (and you’re delving in a state of bliss and fear combined), it’s the time to have a launch followed by a solid marketing and distribution strategy — topics that I will cover in my next article.
We will be hosting a similar gathering of writers next year. Stay tuned to Book Swap Colombo where we announce the event. If you aren’t on fb but would still like to get alerts on our next event, please email us on bookswapsrilanka@gmail.com OR comment on this post with your email address so we can email you. 🙂
Let us know what else you would like to us to cover in our future articles? Any questions you may have with publishing in Sri Lanka.
Happy reading!
Blessings for an epic 2017 with loads of inspiration to write and good books to read!
Book Swap Sri Lanka 