How do you go about getting a book published?

[Beth]

Books have been written about how to get a book published! I am a big believer is trying to get your manuscript, particularly a fiction manuscript, published by a traditional publisher before going the self-publishing route, where you must become the distributor and promoter of your work, thus needing to learn even MORE about the publishing business. And to be traditionally published, esp. by one of the big New York houses, you need to find a literary agent first.

Networking with other writers is one of THE most important things you can do for your writing career, to learn about the publishing business, and to start compiling editor and agent contacts. I present workshops at writing conferences and write articles on how to network and why you must do it. In fact, I have an article in the September issue of The Writer magazine on just that. I met my editor and both my first and second literary agents through networking with other writers.

Also, being in a critique group helps you improve your writing to the point where it becomes publishable. In my initial critique group of five brand-new fiction writers, three are now published in short stories, three in book-length fiction, and all five have won or placed in writing contests.

Find a group of fellow writers who are going through the same process to commiserate with and to help each other improve. When I was looking for an agent, along with my critique group, I joined the Guppies online group of Sisters in Crime. Guppies stands for the Great Unpublished. They have a subgroup of those who are actively hunting for agents that I joined and was involved in until I found my agent. They trade information on agents, critique each other’s query letters, have an annual Queen of Rejections contest, and generally have a lot of fun helping each other get through the process. And it can be a long, hard process. I got 89 rejections from agents before the 90th one took me on as a client.

[Sheila]

Oh wow. I see my rejection wall is still way too small, and my enthusiasm wanes too easily. But how did you choose 89 agents (90) to contact? I seem to put so much effort into each choice that each rejection makes me feel like there's no one left to try.

[Beth]

There are guides to literary agents that are produced annually, and the reference desk at your local library should have copies. Ask your reference librarian. Two that I remember are Jeff Herman's guide and the Writer's Digest guide. It's always a good idea to check each agency's website after finding good matches for your genre of writing in the guides, because by the time the guides are published, they could be out-of-date, esp. because junior agents change jobs a lot.

[Sheila]

Thanks Beth. I've used the Writer's Digest guide quite a bit and found it very helpful. I guess the trouble is if I look for someone who covers all the things I'm interested in, and takes newbies, I end up with only a few agents left to try. I suppose I ought to narrow myself down to one genre, or maybe just to trying to sell one genre.