The Secret to getting published

Aspiring authors often ask ‘What is the secret to getting published?’ Well, here is the definitive answer: don’t try to get published. Writing for the express purpose of being published is like painting because you’d like to see your work hung in the Guggenheim for all to admire – it’s self-defeating.

Frustrated aspiring authors will comment that it is ‘impossible’ to get published – that’s clearly not true. Publishing companies are commercial enterprises that make their money from publishing books. The people who work for publishers love books and reading - they are looking for books to publish. It’s simply that the standards are high, the competition is fierce and if a publisher does not feel there would be enough customers prepared to buy a particular book, they cannot afford to invest in it.

Liberate yourself from these constrictions and write the book you would love to read. Be passionate about the experience your words will deliver the reader. Read everything you can find in your genre of choice. If it is romance then read the classics, read Mills and Boon, read it all until you understand how to make your characters loved and loveable. Thrillers, crime, adventure  - read what you love and write what you love. Learn to master words in the same way a musician strives to master notes; practice, hone, refine, be brutally honest and tough on yourself until the words sing off the page. Love what you do, be passionate about writing for the reading experience your words offer and, in time, you will write a book that a publisher will be passionate about.

Write the best possible book you can and getting published will be a natural outcome. So, just forget about it – and write!

The race in writing is not to the swift but to the original.
                                                                            Janet Frame

My Best Tips:
Write: Sorry to have to tell you what every other writer will tell you – write! It’s really important to build your writing muscle by working with words and gaining mastery over them.

Listen: Eavesdrop, listen to the way people really speak to each other. How does their speech vary from a close family member to a friend or stranger? What about the difference between the way men and women speak to each other? The way men speak to men, women to women?  Dialogue needs to reflect the individual’s personality as well as move the story along. Be careful what you watch on television – it’s very easy to start writing dialogue that sounds like an American sitcom!

Watch: Keep a notebook and when you hear an interesting fragment of conversation or see someone with an interesting face take a few notes.  Eddie in Two for the Road was inspired by a truck driver I saw when sitting in traffic and quickly made a note of my impressions. Offer your readers just enough description to spark their own imagination – don’t hammer it home.

Love: You need to love your characters and care about them – if you don’t who will? Your characters don’t have to be beautiful, rich and thin, the key is that we can empathise with at least one character enough to care what happens to them.

Synopsis | Q&A | Extract | Reading Groups | Secret to getting published