The Path to Publication: Bring Your Hardhat and a Sense of Humor

By WriterX

A few days ago, John Keats wrote a great post called Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before. He said something that I could completely relate to. He said, “Being a recording artist sucks.”

Man, can I relate.

I’m not a recording artist but most days I try to make my living as a writer. That might be even worse because at least John gets to hang out with cool people. Most days I only hang out with my laptop. And as I said to John in my comment to his post, some days I’d think it would be easier to make a living as a basket weaver.

Today’s post will give you a little bit of insight into my path to publication. It’s certainly not the only path. There are lots of ways to get there. But if you’re an aspiring writer of fiction or non-fiction, hopefully you can pick up a tip or two and learn from my many mistakes. A writing career is by no means impossible but unless you were born with a silver spoon or happen to have an uncle who owns a major publishing house, be prepared for a rough ride. But, the rougher the ride, the sweeter the success, right? Well, sometimes.

A bunch of years ago, I wrote my first book. I thought it was THE BOMB. It was a masterpiece and I was quite confident that it would become a bestseller and I would make millions and live happily ever after churning out a book a year on my secluded Montana ranch or whenever I damn well pleased. Well, that masterpiece still sits in my laptop, unpublished. And I still dream about owning a ranch in Montana.

Seems none of the New York literary agents that I queried about my masterpiece were as enamored by it as I was, but it was during that time that I learned how to effectively query agents and what makes these very strange people tick. So, the next step to getting published, after you’ve polished up your book, is finding an agent (unless you decide to go the self-publishing route and that’s a completely different post). Side note: There are some people who publish without agents but most of the larger publishing houses will not read a manuscript unless it is agented.

There are all sorts of ways to find literary agents: writers’ conferences, reference books like Writer’s Market, word of mouth, even reading the acknowledgement pages in books. You know, that first page in the book where the writer thanks everyone under the sun and fawns over his agent and editor. My recommendation is to check out two free web sites: PublishersMarketplace.com and AgentQuery.com. These web sites also offer helpful tips on how to write effective queries. Writing a query that attracts an agent’s attention is as important as writing your book.

It took me a year to find my agent. Most of the successful agents reside in New York, close to the major publishing houses, although not all. Do your homework on agents (e.g. read their blogs, their web sites, do google searches) before you sign with one. Remember that you’re looking for a long-term business partner, not a best friend. And not a scam artist either and there are plenty of those, too. Look for someone with a proven track record of selling books. Signing with a bad agent is worse than not having one.

When I signed with my agent, I naively thought that the rest would be history: My big-time NY agent would share my book with a big-time publisher, I’d be offered a multi-book deal for six or seven figures, and then my publicist would begin scheduling book signings and stints on talk show programs to promote my book. Hah!

That’s not what happened but my agent did give me a great piece of advice. He said, “Keep writing.” And so I did. As it turns out, it wasn’t my first book that attracted the attention of a publisher. Or the second. Or even the third. It was my fourth.

Along the way, I’ve gotten plenty of rejection. Tons. Truckloads, even. I’ve had to make edits and changes to my books that I haven’t always agreed with. I’ve had to wait weeks, sometimes months, only to hear “no.” And then, in between all of the anxious moments, sometimes I’ll write something that connects with an editor at a publishing house and the rest becomes history.

The publishing industry, like the music industry, is so completely subjective: What one person likes, another will hate. And vice versa. And maybe that’s what makes it so frustrating. And, even a little exciting. I’ve also learned that persistence is key, timing is critical, and a little luck never hurts.