Advice to Aspiring Authors

For those of you who are aspiring authors, some advice.  I write romance, however, the advice I have can be utilized for any genre of fiction.  If you are currently writing a book, thinking about writing one, or have one written and are wondering where to go now, then read on.

It's always good to have a Plan A, B, C, etc. with regards to publishing houses.  Find the publishing house that best fits your book.  Now find another one.  And another.  Send your book to the first one and if they reject it, then send it to the second and so on.  Never give up on your book if you believe in it.  One of my favorite quotes is "A professional author is an amateur who didn't quit." ~Richard Bach.  That is so true.  If you are rejected at one house, don't let that get you down!  Keep submitting!

While you are submitting, keep writing!  Some publishing houses can take OVER A YEAR to get back to you.  So during that time, write your little heart out.  Have more and more books to offer, should you be accepted.  If you finish those books, then send them out.  Your odds of publication grows with the more books you have.  I have written a lot of books, but that's not because I'm terribly prolific.  It's because I kept writing while I was submitting.  And once I was accepted, all of my manuscripts were suddenly interesting to my publishers.  So don't put all your hopes and dreams in ONE book.  A house is made with many stones, and in the same way, an author is made with many books.  It is rare that an author get's rich from one book.  It has happened, but unless your book is FANTASTIC, it won't happen.  Plan your career and write your heart out.

Speaking of submitting, NEVER throw a publisher's guidelines out the window.  If the publisher wants the book single spaced in New Times Roman font with no page numbers, do NOT send them a double-spaced manuscript in the Courier font with page numbers.  The guidelines are not there as a "suggestion."  Publishers have guidelines for two purposes.  One is for their own ease, so they can read the submissions quickly and get them out the door as soon as possible.  And secondly, they want to see if an author can follow directions.  If they get the manuscript that doesn't follow their guidelines, do you know what happens to it?  It lines the trash can, unread.

Publishers and editors simply do NOT have the time to read all manuscripts, so that's the first thing they look for.  They weed out the ones who don't follow the guidelines first, and then get to the ones who did.  VERY important, never forget that.

While you are waiting for your big break, build your "resume" by writing poems or short stories and submitting them to newspapers, magazines or e-zines.  Not only could you make a few bucks, but publishers like to see some kind of credentials on your query letter other than "Never been published."  Even if you've only been published in the High School Newsletter, they still want to know about it.  But doing this will accomplish not only another thing to brag about, but it will teach you a lot about publishing in general.  Rarely does anything go to print without it first being edited by an editor.  NEVER assume that your book is so good that it will not need to be edited.  Every book that is published will be edited.  It's a fact of life.  Unless there are gaping holes in your manuscript, it's rare that you have to do re-writes.  Editing is usually looking for grammatical errors, spelling errors, and clarity issues, meaning, if it's unclear who is talking to whom, an editor will catch that and fix it.

Learn to grow a thick skin.  Don't let rejections get you down, and don't fly off the handle if someone doesn't like your book.  You cannot please all of the people all of the time.  While you might view your book as a masterpiece, not everyone will see it that way.  So do not get discouraged, simply move on to Plan B. 

Stay away from vanity presses.  I cannot stress this enough.  NEVER pay someone to publish you.  YOU should get PAID for writing, not the other way around.  When you are accepted for publication, the publisher will request a full copy of your manuscript for editing, send you a sheet for your suggestions on cover art and a blurb, and get the process rolling for a release date and such.  NEVER ONCE does the author have to pay a dime.  In fact, big houses PAY AN ADVANCE on royalties, hence the term "My book has been purchased".  I have not paid a red cent to be a published author.  Neither should you.

Never stop learning.  No matter how many books you've written, you will never "know it all".  Learn about voice, pacing, point of view, goal, motivation, and conflict, internal conflict, plot, etc . . .  Learn about the correct way to format your manuscript as well.  There are some publishers out there who do not count actual words, but rather, estimate the word count by the number of lines on the page.  If you do not have your manuscript formatted correctly, then your word count will be off.  So learn everything you can about your craft.

Do not poo-poo the e-publishing industry.  For those who might not be familiar, e-publishing offers electronic downloads of books that you can read either on your computer or a hand-held device.  Many publishers in e-publishing are moving into the print world, AND the print world is moving into e-books.  Soon, I believe everyone will be doing both formats, electronic and print.  One of the biggest e-book distributors on the 'Net is www.fictionwise.com, and if you go there, you'll notice e-books from Harlequin, Ballantine, Bantam, HarperCollins, Pocket Books, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Warner, Zondervan . . .  The list goes on.  If you get accepted at a big New York house, there is a good chance your book will end up as an e-book.

On the flip side, publishers that were once only carrying electronic downloads, are now moving into print and bookstores.  Champagne Books, Samhain Publishing, Ellora's Cave . . .  I liken it as "getting into bookstores via the backdoor."  :P  But it's true, if you find the right e-publisher, you could well find yourself in the bookstores, just as at a New York house.  So do not dismiss it as "not true publication".  It is very much recognized as "true" publication. 

So while you are thinking of Plan A, B, & C, let one of your plans be an electronic publishing house.  And even if you still want to be published by one of the "big boys", by all means, keep trying!  There's no law that says you have to stop where you are.  Many authors have many different houses that they write for.  But each house you write for is experience, and each house is another notch on your resume.

Take it from me, heed these things and you will find success.  Good luck, dear writers!

~~Rebecca Goings

http://www.RebeccaGoings.com