“You do not get what you deserve in this business, only what you negotiate –
no one will beat your door down to publish you.”
From listening and talking to writers, literary agents, book doctors, publishers and retailers over the weekend, certain messages ring out loud and clear for those with aspirations to get published as a fiction writer:
Voice is the key
Be different, be imaginative, be yourself
Make the reader care
Make each page you write compelling, making the reader want to turn over to the next
Develop resilience, rejection is all part of the process
Keep on keeping on.
Self-publishing is a real possibility for many writers today and many are finding success, making some dollars. But self-publishing is not the easy way out, for manuscripts that have been rejected because they were not up to standard. The book writing still has to be good, very good.
Self-publishers must not forget:
the editing process only begins once you have redrafted five, six or more times. Professional editing is essential to make the book better. Then re-edit to make it even better: polish it until the shine reflecting off your manuscript is so blinding that you have no alternative but to submit.
Once you have learnt how to write – go and sell.
In certain categories (Romance, for example) you need to sell 1000 e-books a day to get into the Amazon top 100 best sellers.
Now there’s a challenge.
As always, your comments would be welcome.
GREAT