What does a writer do?
A writer is self-employed. Even if they have other day jobs, when writers write for publication - particularly when they write full-length fiction - they do it in their own time and usually in their own homes. They do not work on a publisher’s payroll so the way they make a living from writing is to make a financial deal with a publisher, sealed by a contract.
Every time a book is sold, a writer gets a fraction of the price paid. If it is sold at the full marked price on the book, it will be a percentage of that price, usually up to 10% (halve this if it is a picture book, because the illustrator gets half). These payments are called royalties.
But hardly any books are now sold at the full price. You get books discounted on the Internet, in book clubs, in supermarkets and in big bookshop chains. That discount – and it may be huge from publisher to bookseller, 80% or higher to the big players – takes a huge bite out of authors’ earnings. A sale to a book club of 1000s of copies may mean that the author makes less than a British penny – a few cents – on each copy.

In the writer’s contract, there will be an agreement to pay an advance, which means an advance payment on royalties. This is usually paid in thirds – a third on signature, a third on delivery and a third on publication, which should be no later than a year and a half after delivery.

So far this has all been about money but that’s so that you can see:

a/ that writers can’t just write what they, or you, want and get it published
b/ it’s very hard these days to make a living as a writer, unless your books hit the big time.
A writer has an idea for a book. If she is an established published author she may be able to get a contract with a publisher on the basis of an outline and a sample chapter. If she is just starting out, she will need to write the whole thing before submitting.
While there are some courses that might be useful (Arvon, Ty Newydd etc in the UK) there is no qualification you can get that will mean you are able or qualified to write a book. I recommend to everyone, regardless of age or gender, the magazine Mslexia. It is absolutely brilliant and even much-published writers love it.

What does an agent do?
An agent places books for publication, negotiates the terms of the contract with the publisher, sends the writer royalty payments and statements, deals with queries and disputes and generally supplies support, enthusiasm and praise. For this they take a percentage of your earnings – 10-15% in the UK, sometimes higher in the US. YOU SHOULD NEVER PAY AN AGENT A FEE TO TAKE YOU ON!

If you and your agent don’t get along or you are scared of her, get a new one. Get an agent before trying to get a publisher. Most publishers will look at a manuscript more seriously if it comes from an agent. Many of them no longer read unsolicited manuscripts (the slushpile).
You can find agents listed in the A & C Black yearbooks listed under Favourite Books. That will tell you their addresses and what kinds of books they take.

​
What does a publisher do?
A publisher takes the financial risk on a book. They pay the writer money, some of it in advance, because they believe that they can sell copies of the book. Since they have to pay the printer to produce the books and the salaries of all the editors, marketing, sales and publicity staff, rights managers, secretaries, reps (the people who take samples of the books round to bookshops), they have a lot of expenses and need to be sure that each book they publish will make money.

They are frequently wrong about this.

I’ve listed a lot of the people who work in a publishing house but the editor is the most important to the writer. They have to love the idea of your book because they are the ones who take it to a meeting and convince everyone else that it is a great book and will make back the money they pay out in advance and a lot more.

They should read your book, get back to you in reasonable time and comment on it and ask for changes. It is the editor’s responsibility to make clear what changes are needed. You don’t have to accept them all but be reasonable.

Remember that all people in publishing and all literary agents are on a monthly salary, paid straight into their bank. They never have to wait six weeks or more for a payment to go through. The people in the accounting departments of publishers don’t know you the way your editor does and sometimes it seems as if they don’t realise you have to eat, pay rent or mortgage and feed your cats, let alone keep yourself in computer consumables and clothes that don’t fall to bits.

Alternatives to conventional publishing are probably the way of the future and my description will be out-dated before long. Desk-top publishing, print-on-demand, electronic formats – all these are cheaper and easier than ever before. So your chances of being published will be higher, though your chances of making money at it probably lower, though these have never been high anyway.

Vanity publishing, where you pay a company to produce privately what looks like a commercially published book, is not advised. Let me say this another way – NEVER PAY ANYONE TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK!