Book Review: ‘ASA’S Guide to Getting Published’

I’ve always sensed something lacking in publishing conversations. Whether it's in author interviews or panel discussions at writers festivals, there’s never enough detail. I gain random (yet valuable) pieces of information and then leave, needing to connect them on my own. I have a mental murder board, with red string that leads nowhere, trying to link agents with editors with bookshops.  

Oh, how glad I am to have stumbled upon this gem.  

ASA’s Guide to Getting Published is a transparent and comprehensive guide to the Australian book publishing industry. The publication process is overwhelming and there are so many components beyond finishing a manuscript, but this book demystifies and details it all.  

Opening with an overview of the publishing industry (publishing categories, distributors, booksellers, sales, acquisition, departments in a publishing house) and a discussion of the market at the time of this book’s publication (2022), Rogers swiftly moves to the publication process. She simplifies it into two, equal sections - traditional publishing and author-funded (or self) publishing – and details everything: submission, contracts, editing, design (including illustration), promotion, income, post-publication and red flags. Her advice is realistic; her tone encouraging. Rogers doesn’t pretend it’s easy (one doesn’t fall into an author career), but she also doesn’t present a negative image. Yes, submission is grueling. Yes, the pay is poor. Yes, self-publishing is a mammoth undertaking. However, for those who write because they truly love it, the final product is highly rewarding.  

The detail is what makes this book sparkle. There are headings and sub-headings and sub-sub-headings. There are comparison tables, bullet point lists and a pie chart. There are the measurements for paperback formats, definitions of contractual terms, a breakdown of costs in self-publishing, guidelines for illustrators, suggested reasons for sales failure, a plus-and-minus assessment of both corporate and indie publishing houses, and so much more. Rogers condenses what can be a years-long process into a 200-page encyclopedia. 

There’s only so much a one-hour event can cover. Panels and author discussion just don’t have time to provide the nitty-gritty details that my mental murder board needs. ASA’s Guide to Getting Published does. Rogers takes her time: she’s the wizened detective to your rookie cop. While there is still red string all over my mental murder board, it now leads somewhere. The publishing mystery has been solved.  

Written by Jess Dinning