# Getting published in 2018



## PenCat (Jan 14, 2018)

I’ve read a few of the threads here concerning publishing, publishers, getting published...

overall, it feels discouraging but with some rays of hope.

I’ve heard and read elsewhere that if you’re a nobody (like me), publishers don’t want to waste their resources on you.

And yet, everyone is a nobody until they’re a somebody.

ms. rowling was a nobody with barely a pot to pi$$ in, until Harry Potter took off and placed her pert near at the top of the list of somebodies...

are those days over, does it still happen or is the road to publishing littered with corpses and shattered dreams?


----------



## Sam (Jan 14, 2018)

Of course it still happens. If it didn't, there wouldn't be any new books on the shelves. 

And, no, you don't have to be a 'somebody' to get picked up, but it helps if you've got a track record of sales somewhere on your CV. Whether that's short stories or previous novels, it doesn't matter, but publishers are more willing to take a chance on you when they see that someone else already has. 

Of course, you could always lie, but I wouldn't recommend it.


----------



## Jay Greenstein (Jan 14, 2018)

> I’ve heard and read elsewhere that if you’re a nobody (like me), publishers don’t want to waste their resources on you.


Nonsense. Every writer is a nobody till someone reads their submission and says yes. All you have to do is write brilliantly.

When you submit your work, some junior member of the staff, called a first reader, will look at it. They have the power to say no, but not yes. But...if they pass on something that is selected for publication, it reflects  on them, and that's how they advance. So while the one reading your submission expects it to be crap, because the vast majority of submissions is, they _want_ to find a jewel. And thousands of never before published people are chosen every year. Why not you?

But that being said, you have to do your part:

• Your submission must read as not only thoroughly professional—as a publishing prow views that—t must be the best one out of the thousands received every month. If the one reading it can tell that this was submitted by a new author, by reading, you lose.
• To accomplish the above you need to know what _they_ see as great writing. And since it's not a matter of luck, or a lottery, it involves a _lot_ of skill sweat on your part preparing yourself to please _that_ reader. In short, to write like a pro you need to know what the pro knows.
•  You need to know the business side as well as the writing side of the profession, and be certain that the one you're submitting the work to is seeking what you're providing.
• One of the biggest killers of writing careers is the belief that if you get a good story idea, and have a "knack" for words, you're good, because you already know how to write. But we don't. Like any other profession there are endless numbers of tricks and specialized knowledge that aren't obvious till they're pointed out. And like any other profession, it's all in the becoming.

But that's no big deal, because every field has tricks of the trade and trade secrets. It'ws often called paying our dues.

But given that you hope to begin submitting, why not post a few hundred words and get some feedback? It's better to have a friend say, "I think this is a problem," than the publisher/agent you submit it to.


----------



## Ralph Rotten (Jan 14, 2018)

I love writing, but trying to sell a book to a publisher or agent is a downer.
The reason that I left the conventional path and became an Indie was to avoid the negativity of the submission process.  It's a real downer, and more than once made me want to give up on writing.  Even when I worked past this it tended to detract from my writing.  It's hard for me to justify getting up every morning at 0400hrs to write with those kinda negative waves.  Y'know what I mean, Vern?

But Indie publishing was way cool.  I control EVERY part of the process.  Success is totally in MY hands.  If my book doesn't sell then either it wasn't good enough, or I didn't market it well enough.  Sure, it means that I have to do it ALL, but I actually enjoy 95% of the process.  I love the writing, the cover design, the print layout, formatting for e-book, and best of all---no *#@$!#* queries!  The only downer to Indie publishing is the marketing, and even that isn't really all that bad.

But to increase sales for my current brand, I am back in the ring trying to sell one of my books to a publisher. (insert groan here)


----------



## Monaque (Jan 21, 2018)

Ralph Rotten said:


> I love writing, but trying to sell a book to a publisher or agent is a downer.
> The reason that I left the conventional path and became an Indie was to avoid the negativity of the submission process.  It's a real downer, and more than once made me want to give up on writing.  Even when I worked past this it tended to detract from my writing.  It's hard for me to justify getting up every morning at 0400hrs to write with those kinda negative waves.  Y'know what I mean, Vern?
> 
> But Indie publishing was way cool.  I control EVERY part of the process.  Success is totally in MY hands.  If my book doesn't sell then either it wasn't good enough, or I didn't market it well enough.  Sure, it means that I have to do it ALL, but I actually enjoy 95% of the process.  I love the writing, the cover design, the print layout, formatting for e-book, and best of all---no *#@$!#* queries!  The only downer to Indie publishing is the marketing, and even that isn't really all that bad.
> ...



Well then, hope it works out. A lot of people have gone the indie route for the same reasons you have.

@PenCat - All the best with your efforts. It has to work out, otherwise we wouldn`t bother would we, writers do make it all the time; why not you?


----------



## Emilia (Jan 23, 2018)

I know someone who writes children's stories. She keeps being told by friends and family that it's a waste of time because getting published is almost impossible. This person has been conned by fake agents as well. She still writes however because she says  it is something she must do - it's a passion. You could say that most things are  a waist of time really.  I think you have to write just because you love it and be proud of your work weather it is published or not.  I do understand how depressing it must  be to keep getting rejection letters. I have emailed my work  to three agents in October, November and December of last year and so far have had no response. They all wanted different things too, half a page synopsis, which I would slay was a blurb, a full page synopsis, a short biography etc. It's easy to become despondent.


----------



## SueC (Jan 23, 2018)

Its all a crap shoot. Most writers write because they can't not write. Deep, huh? And people love to read. So why is the process of sharing what we love to do with people who love to read so difficult? The problem, I think, is we are writers, not marketers. We are closet people, sometimes lonely, but that's often where we find our inspirations right? Sellers and promoters like to schmoose. They like to mingle and chat and debate. 

One day, when I was still working, I had given a co-worker a small magazine that held my one and only published short story to read as I went to lunch. The lunch was really a job interview at another law firm, and I was late returning - very late. When I walked into the door of my current office after the interview, people were standing around and everyone turned and looked at me. I was terrified I had been found out. The girl I gave the magazine to came up to me and said, "I loved your story. It reminded me of my grandfather. I gave it to a few other people to read. I hope you don't mind." She actually had tears in her eyes. Several people commented on the story, how it had touched them and I was shocked. I thought getting that story published was fun, but when I saw the look in their eyes and their appreciation, I was hooked. I knew i had to do it again.

So it doesn't matter how hard it is, PenCat. The journey to tell your stories is always going to be worth it. Find a path for yourself that works, whether it's with an agent or a publisher or the do-it-yourself route. To move someone to tears, or make them laugh out loud at something that came our of your head, your hands is an awesome gift! I wish you all the best and I know it will happen - in 2018!


----------



## PenCat (Jan 23, 2018)

Thank you all for the stories and relating.

I’ve been an artist my entire life and whether something is “hard” never makes my list of whether or not to do something.

 I dont want to help stoke the free content machine but I do want to be published. I will 
 write my story anyway, book deal or no. I was writing before there was a writing forum, or a kindle, etc.

the meat of my question is to do with navigating the waters of getting published. Sounds like even for the bigs, there is no one path.

kind of like a story..


----------



## Bayview (Jan 24, 2018)

PenCat said:


> Thank you all for the stories and relating.
> 
> I’ve been an artist my entire life and whether something is “hard” never makes my list of whether or not to do something.
> 
> ...




There's definitely an element of luck to it - right time, right place for the story you've written. And that's pretty hard to control.

But there's also a lot that _is_ within your ability to control. You can make sure you have a reasonably marketable story idea, and you can make sure your writing is also marketable.

There are some standard rules for those qualities (story structure, intriguing characters, effective writing) but there are even more qualities that vary from genre to genre (which means market to market). If publication is your main goal, study the genre (the market) and see what people are looking for (based on what's on the shelves). There's a bit of a lag, certainly, with the books appearing on the best seller lists now probably being sold about a year ago, but as long as you avoid the "trendier" elements things don't change all that fast.

If you're at the earlier stages of writing, critiques on general sites like this one can help, but once you've gotten the basics down it's probably best to find genre-specific readers. (I don't like hard scifi, so my critique of a hard scif book would involve things like "there's too much talk about technology--this is boring!" but that's a terrible suggestion for a genre in which technology is one of the featured elements. It'd be like someone who doesn't like teenagers reading one of my YA efforts.)

I think in general it's best to think of writing for publication as a marathon, not a sprint. The first novel I wrote got published, but by a smaller publisher (due to subject matter it wouldn't have sold to a major publisher regardless, but looking back, there were elements to the writing that would have disqualified it from larger distribution as well). I worked with that small publisher and several others over the next few years, always pushing myself to develop my writing skills. I eventually wrote something in a different genre, one that might have more mass appeal, and got an agent based on that story. It took a long time to sell, but in the meantime I wrote another book and my agent sold it to the Big Five, with a second book in the deal. They both sold horribly, so that series was dead and I wasn't in a great position for other Big Five sales, so my next few books went to a smaller publisher. Now romance isn't doing too well with the Big Five (too much competition from self-publishers and small publishers) so I'm working on YA (which I've written and published before) to see what happens there.

I'm hardly a writing super-star, but I have no problem finding publishers for my work. Not always the publishers I want, but reputable publishers. And I self-publish some stuff too, because... why not?

So, long-story short... there's no "made it". There's no finish line. You just keep working and refining and adapting.

Hang in there. Writing is fun!


----------



## stevesh (Jan 24, 2018)

Bayview said:


> So, long-story short... there's no "made it". There's no finish line. You just keep working and refining and adapting.



This, I think. I suspect a lot of writers are looking to reach a point where they can just write the same book once a year or so (25 years in the case of Sue Grafton, R.I.P.) and coast into a life of luxury. It happens, but that's not the way to bet. If you don't like writing, you'll never be any good at it. As @Bayview said, it's a journey, not a destination.


----------



## PenCat (Jan 24, 2018)

Yeah..good call..as if there’s a rinse and repeat. My mother, who read far more than average of all genres, loved grafton’s books. If there was a formula to her writing, I’m compelled to think she did it very well..


----------

