It's weird to me
that I still get asked, probably three or four times a
week, how does a writer get published?
My suspicion is that, given the Internet age, young
writers especially assume there is some quick and easy
solution out there - some secret that need only be
discovered - and that the answer can't be so obvious.
Because the answer is obvious - and it's the same as it
was ten years ago, fifty, one hundred, two hundred years
ago.
You have to submit your manuscripts to publishers.
That's it. No secret. No magic formula. No way around it.
And still the most preferred method of submission is off
line - snail mail, real world paper, envelopes and
stamps.
There's a reason for this: namely copyright.
Publishers prefer a paper trail and the trouble with
email submissions is that a) they tend to get lost,
deleted and / or overlooked and b) having a writer's
manuscript on their hard drive can expose a
publisher to accusations of plagiarism if the writer
can prove the publisher owned a digital copy of their MS
on, for instance, a particular date before a similar work
was written.
I think the other reason writers don't want to be told
they must serially submit their MSS to have any hope of
publication is that, well, it all seems too hard.
But that's actually the point I think.
What better way to avoid receiving hundreds of new
manuscripts than to make the process as difficult and
time consuming - and fraught with disappointment - as
possible.
Plus, of course, many publishers are traditionalists.
It's the way it's always been done - and despite it being
a cumbersome, slow and involved process, it has worked
for a couple hundred years, so why, they ask, would
they change it?
Indeed, recent attempts by Random House and other
companies to compile on line repositories of submitted
MSS have failed dismally to find any books worth
publishing.
A couple of years back an inventive TV production company
tried a writerly version of "Idol" that
involved writers submitting potential blockbusters to a
competition. The result? The show was canceled due to the
lack of good manuscripts submitted.
Real writers with talent it seemed, weren't going to get
involved with anything so crass as a reality show, even
when instant fame would normally be enough of a carrot
for anyone, right?
Apparently not for us, camera shy, writers.
No, the serious writer must abide by the rules.
And the rules state that you must send your paper
manuscripts in to editors, publishers, agents and anyone
else who may be interested in your writing. I guess it's
the care and attention to the process that ultimately
shows how seriously you take yourself.
And of course by limiting the means of access, you
curb the masses who might clutter the system if you made
it any easier!
So what's the answer?
Firstly, you need to ensure you have the time and
inclination to submit your work. And here arises the
first hurdle. In reality the confidence to submit your
work comes from self belief - an all too rare commodity
in the emerging writer.
How long have you spent agonizing over whether you
believe your manuscripts are strong enough to show
anyone?
It's a dilemma. Because, if you think too hard about the
question, you'll end up never sending out anything. But
then, if you ignore the nagging doubts about your
ability, are you really going to be sending out work
that's effective and commercial?
Assuming you have work that you believe, at the very
least, is ready for professional eyes - and maybe
deserves a shot - what's the next step?
Finding a suitable audience.
Again, not as easy as it sounds.
A casual search through publishers' guidelines - a
process that I personally still find distressing - and
you would be forgiven for thinking that no-one is
really interested in manuscripts of your type.
New writers can feel unwanted. It's clear that agents and
publishers, on the whole, already have all the writers
and manuscripts that they could ever want or need - and
more besides.
But we must take comfort in the knowledge that this is
how it has always been - and that every writer must go
through this experience to progress.
And beyond, there is one very simple premise that we need
to embrace: that if you haven't had your work published
yet, you simply haven't sent it out to enough people - or
you haven't sufficiently pursued all the angles and
directions you might need to take to get your work into
the public arena.
You need an almost maniacal need to be published in order
to achieve your aim. You need to be hopelessly resilient
and be able to adapt with chameleonic tenaciousness to be
continually in the running.
In short, you need a strategy - one that is flexible
- but more importantly, is consistent.
Create a spreadsheet containing all the publishers and
agents you might want to submit to. Add more as you find
them. Research and find more. Then systematically submit
ALL of your best work to ALL of them ALL of the
time.
Make thinking
about your submissions a daily activity. And make one
submission at least once a week, whether it's a short
story or an article or a pitch for a novel or non fiction
work, or whatever.
As the saying
goes, You Have To Be In It, To Win It.
