5 Steps to Publication
So, you want to be an author? I gave you five steps to writing a novel a couple of weeks back. Now, here are five steps to getting it published.
Find agents and publishers
The standard approach is to submit your manuscript to an agent you find in the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, but agents and publishers are people too. These days, you can ‘meet’ them first, online, if you know where they hang out. Find the names of the people you’d like to meet, in the book mentioned above, and look up their blogs. Do not ask questions. Watch for a while. You need to understand what they are looking for and how they think.
Meet agents and publishers
After you have a clear idea of the people you would like to work with, as the relationship you have with your agent and publisher will be a professional one, begin to talk to them. DO NOT PITCH THEM. Comment on their blog posts. Follow them on Twitter, and add to the discussion when it is appropriate and helpful to do so.
Follow influential lists on Twitter, to get a feel for the kinds of conversations that are happening between writers and the publishing industry. One of the most influential writing lists happens to be one of mine – @rebeccawoodhead/word-nerds – but don’t limit yourself to that. Find people on that list and follow their lists. You will get a real-time overview of the industry.
Submit to an agent
Only submit to agents who are seeking submissions. Follow their guidelines to the letter. Only submit to agents seeking your genre of book. You will almost definitely be rejected many times. Don’t give up. Eventually, if you follow any advice you receive with these rejections, you should find the right agent for you.
Get a publisher
If you have an agent, they will find you a publisher. You may choose to skip the agent part and go straight to a publisher, but it is not advisable. Publishers prefer you to have an agent.
Despite the difficult times for publishers at the moment, they are taking on new writers. Many of my friends have found publishers in the last year. In fact, many of the writers I listed on my word nerd list have found publishers in that time. Either publishers are stalking that list, or I rock at picking winners (maybe I should become an agent. What do you think?)
Be Good
Agents and publishers are very picky, so behave well. Know that everything you put online is there forever. Don’t troll people. When publishers and agents want a reference, they don’t ask your friends first, they ask Google.
Recently, an author was attacked on a blog, for bad behaviour, by a number of aspiring writers. The story became so huge that it trended on Twitter. This was not great for the author. It was not good for those people who punished her behaviour either, however. One agent commented, after seeing the behaviour of the people who commented on the blog, that they would not consider representing any of them. Some of them were under consideration by this agent. They were dropped immediately.
This is worth bearing in mind if you troll places like Amazon too. You may get attention, and you may appear on Google, but the long term effects of this kind of attention may harm your own writing career, so think very carefully before attacking someone online, even if they have behaved badly. Attention is less important than influence. Fame is less important than accomplishments. Google never forgets.
Alternatively, publish yourself. This is no longer a ‘last choice’. Many of us are approached by agents and publishers, but prefer to publish ourselves. I will be doing so this very week! One of my friends did the same, and is now an Amazon bestseller. I think I’ll bring you an interview with him in a few weeks, if you’re interested.
That’s the final point. It’s still about being ‘good’ though, so I’ll keep it to five: be nice to writers. They are not your competition. We all help each other out, and most of us are chums with agents and publishers. Don’t be the newcomer who barrels in being all competitive and paranoid. Come over to twitter and chat. You’ll make friends with authors, agents, and publishers. You may even get published.
For more information about writing, and to get my new book (published on Wednesday, 6th April) check out my site: RebeccaWoodhead.com
Good luck with all your writing exploits!
Thanks for this – a novel and useful tip. I’m putting off getting involved with blogs and twitter because I’m afraid it’ll run away with me. I want to write my novel – I need no more pencil-sharpening diversions!
But your piece is steering me towards the inevitable….