Directly asking the editor in charge of #WritingHabits about how to publish a book!

I am sharing an event report featuring freelance writer Yuki Ishikawa, who published the book "Writing Habits" after posting on note, and her editor, Mr. Ishii.

The facilitator was Erumo-san.

At the event, questions about how to get a book published were focused on Mr. Ishii!

How do editors and publishers find authors?

It seems there are two patterns: having a book concept and looking for an author, or choosing a concept that fits an author.

In Ishikawa-san's case, he actually searched Google for "writing like" (or maybe "writing like method") and found "A magazine for articles that make you like writing"!

On the other hand, the reason Ishikawa-san created the magazine was...

Because people kept asking her how to write, and it became a hassle to explain, so she made it (laughs).

How do you choose an author?

There are two types of authors: (1) people who are achieving results with their own unique methods, and (2) people whose thoughts, if shared with the world, would resonate with or save others.

The number of followers doesn't matter; it's about the value as content, I suppose.

If you want to publish a book, should you do a "pitch"?

While the "pitch" route is common in manga, one might think it exists for books too, but it seems the hurdle for a "pitch" is quite high.

Also, it is better to approach them at the planning stage, such as with a table of contents, rather than bringing in a finished manuscript.

This is the same as creating a proposal. It might be the same as aligning needs based on the main items written out before taking a fully crafted proposal to your boss.

How much writing ability is required of an author?

It seems that the writing ability required varies depending on what the editor understands and the nature of the project.

You don't need to worry about how you summarize the content you are putting out; that will likely be left to the book project. Above all, the core message is what is important.

Where should one broadcast that message?

It seems that it is surprisingly difficult to be discovered on note.

It seems like it would be better to combine Twitter and note effectively...

The event was overflowing with the passion of people who want to publish a book from start to finish, but...

The difficulty of being disliked if you are too aggressive about wanting to publish!

The comment that cooled down the heat of the event made for a good punchline. Good job, Ishikawa-san!

Furthermore, the editor, Ishii-san, added the caveat, "This is just in my own case..." It certainly seems that every editor has their own style.

There is also a Togetter summary of the event participants' tweets.