Top Five Author Pain Points
/by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
“If it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it,” wrote Charles Bukowski in his poem “So you want to be a writer?” Being an author isn’t easy. Writers experience challenges in research, struggle with expressing their thesis, and even have writer’s block at times. But even if the ideas, the story, the research, and the writing all come bursting out of a writer, the difficulties don’t end there. Once the work is written, writers must then attempt to get their work published. And, as any writer can tell you, navigating the publishing process may be even more difficult than writing in the first place.
From an author perspective, the lack of development of this process poses significant difficulties during a time when their earnings have declined dramatically—42 percent over the last decade, according to an Authors Guild survey of trade and academic writer associations. The following are some of the more significant pain points for authors that publishers can help them navigate.
Submission
Once an author has completed writing their article, essay, or novel, they must begin the difficult submission process. A 2018 author survey by Editage noted that 76% of writers claim that manuscript preparation (particularly for those who do not have English as a first language) is the most difficult part of the publishing process. Whether submitting to a journal, an agency, or a book publisher, there is no uniformity of style among publishers, so authors must read the guidelines for each submission carefully, change appropriately, and submit in the format required, causing an incredible delay. Also, by making the submission process challenging for English speakers, that limits the ability for writers outside of English-speaking countries to reach key audiences with their work.
Editing
Once an author’s work has been acquired by a publisher, so begins the often incredibly lengthy editorial process—structural editing, line editing, copyediting—which often consists of multiple drafts going back and forth between various editors and the author. Each stage of the editorial process is reliant on each editor’s workload and schedule, so this process can stretch from weeks to months to even a year in some cases. For those authors with timely research or information to release, this process can seem interminable.
Communication with Editor/Publisher
As the editorial process is under way, one of the biggest challenges an author might have is communication with their editor. While an author’s work is often their sole project, it can be one of many projects on which an editor is working. This Chronicle of Higher Education article outlines a bit of the disconnect between authors and editors throughout the submission and publishing process, along with what some authors might be thinking and what is really going on with editors.
Production and Speed to Marketplace
Just as editorial can be a lengthy process, so can production. And, for many authors, speed to publication is key for timely research, so a slow and laborious production schedule can cost them important time. In this AJE Scholar article, sometimes it is the speed to marketplace that has researchers deciding whether to post their work in an Open Access platform or a traditional journal so that they can collaborate on their research with other researchers out there more quickly.
Promotion and Discovery
Authors often have very little input as to how the publisher promotes their work and, with Open Access and the glut of information out there, discovery is one of the challenges both authors and publishers have struggled with. Today, publishers are often reliant on an author pitching in with the promotion tasks by pushing out to their own networks, seeking speaking engagements, and more. According to this Inside Higher Ed article, an author highlights how publishers, authors, and libraries must work together to promote an author’s work, taking the author away from the task of writing future work.
With all of the struggles that authors face, what if the whole process could be simplified? And what if submission, editing, and project tracking could be done in one place rather than going back and forth in emails that risk version-confusion and human error? Savvy publishers are simplifying their workflows by implementing systems to streamline the editorial process. These systems help speed content to market, largely freeing authors from getting bogged down in red tape. By publishers prioritizing author care and providing new tools, they allow authors to focus on their work instead of enduring the pain points many of them have long felt.
KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL) is the industry leader in editorial, production, online hosting, and transformative services for every stage of the content lifecycle. We are your source for editorial solutions, intelligent automation, high-speed publishing, digital delivery, and more. Email us at info@kwglobal.com.