Goodreads asked Gideon Burrows:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Gideon Burrows My most honest and true, even if painful, advice is that publishing is a lottery. Spend your time and effort writing, not chasing the dream of a publisher or even an agent.

I spent years writing to agents and publishers, mostly never getting even a reply, let alone being turned down. I slowly came to realise that getting picked up like that was essentially down to luck.

So, believing in my work, I decided to self-publish and had the simple equation in mind: self-publishing is a lottery too. I might, just might, get picked up by thousands of readers, become a sensation and all my dreams will be fulfilled.

I've got as much chance of doing that as I have being picked up by an agent or publishing house, but at least I'll get my stuff published and read by someone my way. Hey, and if I'm super lucky, a publisher may pick me up from my self-published work. And I might (though I might eat these words too) have the opportunity to send them a rejection slip of my own.

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