Written and Edited; Now Whirring Nervously on the Hard Drive

(This series first published in 2000 or so about)

Where to start? Have you written - or started - a good novel, wads of paper hiding back there in your closet or 0's and 1's filling your hard drive? Once again I will paraphrase (and probably misquote) Alex Haley: Apply your seat to the seat. In my words, persist and write, re-write and polish until you have a manuscript that causes others to have a positive reaction. This is all directed toward fiction, but most also applies, or can be translated by the fluent, into nonfiction.

First, expose your work to the harsh light of criticism. Get the manuscript out and take it to a community writing group or find one online where you can exchange critiques. Someone will want to read and offer suggestions. Not family, though. Get someone else to critique your work. As a rule, you will either get "Oh, that's nice." from a miserable piece of work; or scowls of disapproval over something that is really pretty good. For some reason, family just doesn't work. I'm always an optimist, though, so try it once, maybe your family or partner is the exception. Probably only if the reviewer is also a writer. I have found that critiquing other's works always help you understand your own flaws. 

If you are a little shaky on the craft and skills of writing a good book, there are many references that can help. My favorites books to help find the writer's path are listed in the Writing Craft page for a  recommended selection of writing references. And if you think you are extraordinarily skilled by virtue of writing all those tech manual at the plant or class outlines from the course you are teaching.....guess what...fiction writing is just not the same. Another reason to join a critique group. I am ten years into learning to write fiction and recently bought a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style to defend an argument I was having with an editor. Got the book home and discovered I was wrong as mud.

The old traditional way still works - kinda. Buy or borrow the very latest edition of Writers Market and/or the Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents. Look up agents who say they are interested in the style of work you produce, read their guidelines and submit accordingly. ....Now wait.........If no success, then following the same procedure, submitting directly to likely publishers.......Now wait some more..... This process usually does work, if you have enough patience - AND - a good book. Agents and publishers are constantly changing - so make sure you are using the latest editions for your research. You have taken years to write a good book. It will probably take another year or so to get an agent to take it on, then another year to tease a publisher to bite, and another before you see it in print.

 If you really have a great book and more luck than any one human should have, maybe you'll get picked up. But the traditional world of publishing is finicky, VERY bottom line driven. You've got to match a perfect book with a talented agent and a receptive publisher. I suspect that most of us need more than a dollop of luck to make this match.

That, my friends, is the traditional publishing model. It is the way the established authors make the big bucks, and where you should try, at least to learn the pleasantries of filing rejections notes, seldom personalized, more often haphazard and obvious machine copies, a sign the industry is overwhelmed with submissions.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work, even when the book is good. Sometimes the desired confluence of buyer and seller just never aligns. If your patience runs out, or other circumstances intervene (like you have been submitting this manuscript for five years and you're not sure the Postal Service will continue to deliver mail to the nursing home you have signed up for), there are other options.

Independent publishing can put you in control of the publishing process. This can be good or bad, depending on your editorial and computer skill level, and the time and resources you apply.

A slight variation on the traditional process is to go to one of the small electronic publishers, most of which now also publish in paper. Many of these small publishers can have you contracted and a book on the street in six months (if minimal editing and cover design is required) or at most a year after you submit. The best single source for a listing of these outfits is through EPIC, the electronic publishing's professional author organization - which I highly recommend.

However you decide to publish, you are still responsible for your own editing, promotion and marketing unless you are one of the top ten or twenty authors in the USA (a Clancy or W.E.B. Griffith). Or maybe you will be. Just keep your seat to the seat!

For more information and general writing books, go to the Reference Page. Each page (e.g., Promotion) also has specific links to appropriate references.