Get Published

You have a novel and you want it published. In order for someone to proofread it and make the necessary corrections, make sure it is double-spaced. Get some opinions from friends who are knowledgeable in the field. English majors, but anyone who is highly literate. Listen to their opinions and digest them. If in your heart they had points to make, incorporate the positive ideas.

Your next step is to do some legwork, so to speak, on agents. Which ones cater to your genre in writing. Read their biography and see what they have accomplished. Their clients in the past. What they demand in compensation. You will have to research the going rate of agents of all calibers.

You cannot just send in your manuscript to publishers.

In most cases they will not be accepted without an agent. The publishers deal primarily with agents. Such is the way of the world.

When you finally get an agent to read the novel, it is not guaranteed that he or she will recommend the work, meaning they are not going to represent you. This brings you back to square one. Let’s assume you have finally retained an agent. Your work will be critiqued and you will have to except the recommendations for changes if you indeed want the services of the agent. Your novel will have to undergo structural rebuilding, if you agree.

What we are speaking of is a whole series of rejections, not unlike salespersons going through this on a daily basis. In a sense you are a salesperson, hawking your novel first to the agents and then to many publishers, before a publishing house believes your work to be one that will sell and make money for them.

Once the changes are in place there is no guarantee that the publisher will not, if interested at all, request additional reworking. Yes, it is a long and tedious process.

Let us jump ahead and make the assumption that your novel is published. Even if it is a success, your royalties will not make you rich through the publication of just one novel, in most cases. It will require you to continue writing. Be sure that is what you want to do before embarking on such an endeavor.

If writing novels is what you love, go for it. The more you believe in yourself the better the chance of having your novel published, which will make you proud.