Writing Fiction - 3

Getting Published

However good you are, however talented and dedicated you may be, you will only be read once you're published. And you'll only be published if you write what people want to read. And publishers should know - their business depends upon it, and these days publishing is a business like any other.

So, it follows that you should write for the market rather than seeking a market for what you want to write, and that way you'll save a lot of time, effort and heartbreak. Therefore your major task as an ambitious writer is to be a voracious reader, especially of the genres you like to write for but as widely as possible, too. That way, you'll be much more able to write what's in demand and also much better equipped to assess your own writing honestly and objectively in comparison to published work.

Once you've done that, and you've written some stories of your own, you've really no excuse not to start sending them away; releasing your babies into the big bad world to fend for themselves. But you must only send them where you have good reason to believe they'll be welcomed, having read and researched just who publishes what. The biggest publishers of single short stories are women's magazines, so they're often your best bet to start with. You should read their guidelines and all publishers' guidelines carefully - each magazine and publisher will have their own - and don't expect to be the exception to their 'rules', especially as an unknown writer.

Aim to use the type and level of language your target publisher or magazine usually employs, make your story the length they usually publish, keep a copy for yourself and record when and where you send every one - you will forget otherwise.

Then you'll have to be patient, I'm afraid. If your story is 'right' for the place you've sent it, there's a reasonable chance it will be used. If it's almost right, they may tell you what needs changing, but remember they're busy people, working to tight deadlines, so they very probably won't. If they decide don't like your story or can't use it, expect to hear eventually, but it may take up to two or three months.

Meanwhile, divert your mind away from your 'baby' by keeping busy with other writing projects. And reading. Lots of reading.

And if you conclude at this point that you're not ready for publication yet, that doesn't mean you never will be. It doesn't mean you will be the most in-demand writer on the planet one day either, but you can only keep trying!

Roy

PS. Don't forget there's a free ebook available from published author Jacqui Carrel, on all aspects of making money from your writing, and with other products in the pipeline for coming months. Click here to find out more.