Attempting to Write and Publish a Novel...Tips and Advice?

[Giegue]

As the title asks. I have for a long time had lots of ideas for stories and have decided to finally put one of them to pen...or in this case word processor and hope to get it published one day down the road when it is complete. However, "being the next harry potter" is not my concern nor what I am looking for. I'm honestly just looking to publish it so I can have some forum to share my stories, characters and worlds with and am more in it for the opportunity to entertain people then make money.(Though any cash obtained through this venture is a nice side-effect.)

Anyway, I've already begun to write but have been a bit apprehensive due to lack of knowledge over the "professional writing world." As a result I've started studying up and such, reading "for dummies" guides and so forth.....but I want tips from all of you here...what does it take to actually get published? I have heard horror stories about writers getting piles and piles of rejection letters, yet somehow stories that are considered horridly written(I.E. Twilight) get published and thus I want to know how exactly that can be. More importantly, I want to know what I can do to hopefully someday get published once my work is in a state in which I deem print ready.

Also, just to let you all know, I'm writing in the YA fiction genera and my story is a mixture of dystopian si-fi and fantasy. I have everything well thought out but don't want to go into the details of it here. If your interested in the actual plot, world, characters ect.. of the story feel free to drop me a PM...I'd love to discuss such things with interested people.

[--Lime--]

You need to go into this knowing that you probably won't get published. Yes, I know the quality of some things that do get published is questionable, but rejection is generally the rule, and you probably aren't the exception.

The first thing you need to do, without getting ahead of yourself, is write the thing. If you're passionate about the story or stories, you'll already be writing for the fun of it - publisher or no, doing it is its own reward.

Once you've finished, you might as well try contacting publishers. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Go to your local library and look at who publishes similar books. Many people send their work off to the Big 6 and leave it at that. There are, in fact, many smaller and more specialist publishers who might be more interested in getting another book out than getting the next bestseller. Many of these smaller publishers supply specialist catalogues and book groups, like Sci Fi and Fantasy or Detective and Crime etc. Because members of these book clubs sign up for the newsletter and the special deals they have, the market is a known size and getting news of a new book in the genre they like to them is very cheap and easy. That means that if your book gets published, it might get fewer copies, and never be on a bookshop shelf, but would probably be bought and read.

But just because it is more likely does not mean that you are guaranteed to get published. Remember the bit about rules and exceptions?

What I did with my novel was self-publish. I wrote it for myself, because it was fun to write. I wanted to have that story in print because of all the care and effort I put in, but I didn't want the hassle of sending it off to publishers. So I self-published, and got a copy for me, and a few extra for family members as gifts, and then I called it a day. It's something I loved doing and am proud of every time I see its spine on my shelf.

If your goal is more about creating something you're proud of rather than making bank, this might be the road to go down. I've heard mixed things about places like lulu.com, but you can self-publish there and leave the book up on the storefront in case anyone else wants to buy it. You set the profit margin you have per copy, from cost-price up to whatever you want. Like I said, it won't make you famous, but you'd be able to see if anyone else found your book and ordered one.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

If you seriously want to get it published, try and find a literary agent to represent you first. Send your novel to the AGENTS first. They'll give you some preliminary advice, and forward you some other contacts, or maybe even take over publishing negotiations for you, if you're lucky.
After contacting an agent, if you don't get a publishing offer right away, don't worry. It means that more of the process is coming out of your pocket, though. Because the next step is sending things to an editor.

Here's a hint: don't become TOO attached to anything in the book. If your agent or editor says "This character is unnecessary, cut him from the book", do so, no matter how much you love that character. Their probably a lot better at their job than you are.

The editing stage is long and difficult: depending on the job, you'll first have an editor who deals with big-picture issues: continuity, historical accuracy, is the character progression natural, plot, things like that. THEY WILL CHANGE YOUR STORY. YOUR BOOK IS NOT YOUR OWN. If something in the novel doesn't work, they will tell you. They'll also do a reasonable amount of style-editing: getting rid of adverbs, cleaning up dialogue, getting rid of all the style-tics that just scream "I AM AN AMATEUR AUTHOR".

After going back and forth with your editor a couple of times, it'll be sent to a copy-editor, who does style-editing, format, accuracy, spelling, grammar, terminology, etc.

Thing's'll go back and forth for a while. At each point in this process, if you haven't gotten a publishing deal, send some manuscripts out. Your first manuscript doesn't even have to be a full book, the one you send to agents. It can be partial, and if they see promise they might look it up.

Yes, it's costly. But if you're serious about writing, it's worth it. Oh, by the way, my mum is an editor/copy editor, one of the best actually, so that's where my knowledge of the biz comes from.

[The Durvin]

If you're serious about this, go join the forums at nathanbransford.com. He's a former literary agent turned YA author, and there are some really great people over there that can be a huge help. (Not that my book ever got published, but that's because it sucked.)

The most important tip I saw, though, was to quit reading books about publishing, at least unless they came out in the past month or two. The industry has changed massively, and most of the books you find out there are too old. For example, I read a bunch of 'em about what to put in my query letter to lit agents, and they suggested a cover letter that was a few pages long, and never using e-mail because it was too informal or something. Turns out, NO. Most agents these days use nothing but e-mail, and you had better summarize your novel in an appealing way in a sentence or two if you want to even get as far as a form rejection.

I can tell you that YA dystopian sci-fi is huge right now, so at least as for that, you're off to a good start...as long as you don't take too long in writing.

[GnomeFighter]

My advice:

1) Self publishing in "the trade" is call "vanity publishing" and for a good reason. If you want a copy of the book you wrote properly bound to keep and a few to give to friends then go for it. It will make you proud every day you see it. If you want to be properly published, forget it.

2) An agent, as others have said, is a good way to go. Even if you do manage to get your book published you will get eaten alive by the publishing house. Without an agent you will be going in on your own, knowing nothing, against people who negotiate contracts day in day out.

3)
I have heard horror stories about writers getting piles and piles of rejection letters, yet somehow stories that are considered horridly written(I.E. Twilight) get published and thus I want to know how exactly that can be. Publishing houses are not there to put out the most worthy of books, but to make money. Twilight is considerd "baddly written" because it dose not use complex language, uses cliches and has plots thinner than the paper it is printed on. So what? That dose not make it bad, just pulp. The acusations of "bad writting" comes from the same sort of people who think pop should be banned... It's just elitism.

You probably will get piles of rejections. Part of this is down to the fact that commisioning editors have piles and piles of manuscripts to read, and if after a few pages they feel it is not worth reading more it will go on the rejection pile very very quickly. Something easy to read that grabs the reader fast is more likely to at least get at least a first read. Also, many people get rejection after rejection because what they think is a work of literary perfection is actualy c**p. Even the uglyest baby is beautiful to its mother.

[Mx.Silver]

My main advice would be write it first. You can start worrying about publication after you have something to publish. Right now, you should be focussing on writing something, because that is going to be what takes up more of your time and energy. Start getting words on paper (or text document or whatever) now, and don't worry about the publishing side until you actually have something for other people to read.





3) Publishing houses are not there to put out the most worthy of books, but to make money. Twilight is considerd "baddly written" because it dose not use complex language, uses cliches and has plots thinner than the paper it is printed on. So what? That dose not make it bad, just pulp. Erm, no. This is wrong on why Twilight is generally considered badly written (I've never seen or heard anyone say it's bad mostly because it uses simple language) and rather questionable about the definition of 'pulp' (as you've essentially said that all pulp work has to be clichéd and have a thin plot).


The acusations of "bad writting" comes from the same sort of people who think pop should be banned... It's just elitism.
Something to remember: personally attacking and insulting someone because they don't like something is just as bad (and, one could argue, 'elitist') as doing the opposite. And as it stands most of this 3rd point has consisted of you making veiled and explicit insults towards people who don't share your opinion on a work.
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[shawnhcorey]

About advice: learning to write means learning what works for you and what doesn't. Try ideas that seem good for you but if they don't work out, drop them and don't worry you're doing something wrong. What works for one person may not work for another. Don't waste time beating a dead horse but especially don't waste time worrying about it.

Blogs you may find interesting:

Dean Wesley Smith (http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/): a writer and former editor/publisher of a sci fi mag.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch (http://kriswrites.com/): a writer and former editor/publisher of a sci fi mag.
Cory Doctorow (http://craphound.com/): a writer who gives his ebooks away for free and makes money off of them.
The Passive Voice (http://www.thepassivevoice.com/): written by David Vandagriff, a lawyer who gives insight on the legal aspects of writing.

[Castaras]

Write it first, then go find an agent to help you if you're wanting to do non-vanity publishing.

You will likely get rejected from most agents you apply to though, be warned.