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How to Write a Novelby Stewart Ferris

Lesson 08 of 08

Beyond the draft — the work after ‘The End’

When the book exists: who to send it to, what a deal actually says, how writers are paid, and how not to do it alone.

In this lesson

  • Whether you need an agent, and how to approach one without wasting Tuesday
  • What a publishing contract is doing to the money and the next ten years of your name
  • Thirty-four ways a writer is paid — royalties are only one room
  • Queries, prizes, groups, and the publicity that happens after the book exists

Finishing a novel is a rare competence. What follows is a trade. You can walk it alone or with an agent. An agent sells the work, negotiates the contract, and is paid when you are paid. If they want money before they have sold anything, walk away. The Writer’s Guide to Agents will tell you what they do, whether you need one, and who is actually open.

A deal is a set of sentences. Advances, royalties, subsidiary rights, option clauses — they decide what the next decade of your name is worth. Inside the Contract is a reading of current UK and US boilerplate from someone who has signed them and issued them. It is not a solicitor’s letter. It is a torch.

Most writers still picture a straight line: write a book, find a publisher, collect royalties. Royalties matter. They are not the only door. How Writers Earn maps thirty-four streams: rights, audio, festivals, teaching, self-publishing, commissions, the hired sentence. The desk is only one of the rooms.

Keep a ledger of what you sent. The Query Book is that ledger. Enter prizes on purpose, not as a personality — The Prize Calendar orders the deadlines. Find a room of other people who mean to finish; The Writing Circle catalogues them. And when the book is out, market the book you actually wrote — The Author’s Desk, without the agency.

None of this is a substitute for the pages. It is what the pages deserve once they exist.

Open a companion studio

Tools by Stewart Ferris, on grok.me — for the part of the job this lesson names.

HoursFound TimeLocate the hidden pockets in an ordinary week and turn 250 words a day into a draft over a year of unremarkable days.CompanyThe Writing CircleA catalogue of writing groups — local rooms and online circles — filtered by place, genre and whether you want a chair in the room or a screen.MoneyHow Writers EarnA field guide to thirty-four ways a writer is paid: rights, audio, festivals, teaching, self-publishing, commissions, and the work that sits beside the book.ContractsInside the ContractRoyalties, advances, subsidiary rights and the clauses that decide what a UK or US book deal actually means. A field guide, not a scare story.AgentsThe Writer’s Guide to AgentsWhat an agent does, whether you need one, how to approach them, and a directory of literary and film agencies you can sort by region and type.SubmissionsThe Query BookA private ledger of what you sent, to whom, and when to follow up — agents, publishers and producers, so nothing sits forgotten in an outbox.PrizesThe Prize CalendarA deadline-ordered directory of writing competitions worldwide — short stories, poetry, novels, memoir and scripts — filterable by genre, age and region.PublicityThe Author’s DeskBook publicity without the agency: a clear promise, a press letter, a few rooms that will have you, and a way to be found.

Exercises

  1. 01

    The one-breath promise

    Describe the novel in one breath — the sentence you would give an agent, a bookseller, or a cousin. If you cannot, the book is not yet ready to leave the house.

  2. 02

    A short list, not a blast

    Using the agents guide, shortlist five agencies that represent your genre. Read their guidelines. Log the first query in The Query Book when — and only when — the manuscript is the one you mean.

  3. 03

    Find the room

    Look up one group near you, or one that meets on a screen, in The Writing Circle. Sit in it once. Notice whether the work gets better or merely praised.

Common pitfall

Querying a first draft because you are impatient, or waiting for permission that will not come. Finish, revise, then send. The industry is slow; your pages should not be sloppy.

Milestone

A revision plan, a one-breath pitch, and a next action in the trade — not a fantasy of arrival.