Get Your Novel Noticed and Published

Step One: Get Published

It may sound like this should be the last step to getting your novel published, but the truth is, it's almost impossible to get a novel noticed if you're not a published writer. This means you'll need to spend many hours away from your masterpiece perfecting short stories and sending them out to countless literary magazines. The most important part of this step is getting one of those literary magazines to accept your story. Then, getting a few more to take notice and publish your work. Once you get a few smaller pieces of fiction published, you can start building your bio sheet. This is sort of like a resume for a novelist. When you get an undergraduate degree, you need to find a professional job without ever having had one. But you've had part-time jobs, internships, and done volunteer work. That's what the short story is. It proves that you can write and that there's someone out there who wants to read what you've written. It gives you credibility. But it's a tough business, and you're going to need to develop some tough skin. Remember, it takes more than one published short story to make a bio sheet.

Step Two: Handling Rejection

Sending out short stories is like practice for when you finally put the whole novel out there to be judged. You're going to get rejected...a lot. You need to prepare yourself to have ten, twenty, thirty rejections coming in every few weeks. And the more you send out, the more rejections you'll get, and if you're not prepared, the more rejected you'll feel. The trick is to not let the rejections make you feel like a worthless writer. You need to have two editors for all of your work: one who tells you the truth, no matter how awful and devastating it may be, and one who tells you that you're the best writer in the world, no matter how crappy the draft really is. The first editor will ensure that you eventually get something published, and the second editor will make sure you don't give up in the process. But you also need to develop some personal techniques for handling rejection. Some writers keep a scrapbook of all of their rejection letters. Some writers celebrate each rejection, especially those that actually include some feedback. Still others simply ignore the rejection letters and stay completely focused on their writing. Whatever you do, don't skip this step! You'll need to be strong if you ever want to send out that novel you've been working on for the past two or three or even five years!

Step Three: The Book Proposal

After you've had several short stories published, you've created your bio sheet, and you've edited your novel so many times you can almost recite the whole thing by heart, you're ready for the book proposal. There are a few different approaches you can take, and it's important to keep it interesting. But don't stray too far from conventions. When in doubt, follow the pros. There are countless books that include information about how to write a compelling, effective book proposal, but there are a few tricks that can help you stand out from the crowd. First, stay true to your writing style. If you've written a suspenseful detective novel, don't let your chapter summaries read like a technical document. Write them with suspense, intrigue, and mystery. Write them so someone would want to keep reading. Next, edit your proposal almost as carefully as you've edited your novel. This is the only chance you'll get to "wow" the editor or literary agent, so make it count. Also, be sure to have someone proofread your proposal. Don't let a simple typo give anyone an excuse to toss your work. Finally, try to keep it simple. Using overly descriptive language and flattering adjectives to describe yourself won't get you anywhere. Let your previous publications, your brilliant idea, and your writing samples speak for themselves.

Step Four: Literary Agents

This is an issue with some controversy. Do you send your proposal right off to the publishing companies or do you try to find a literary agent? Please, save yourself the headache and find an agent. An agent will greatly increase your chances of handling over your masterpiece to a reputable, fair publisher who will market your work and pay you your royalties in a timely manner. Most publishers don't accept unsolicited proposals, and you'll just end up with a pile of rejections. Also, avoid getting mixed up with print on demand publishers and companies that advertise self-publishing "at little cost to you." Never pay to get your work printed. You already completed the novel for free. Now, it's time for you to get paid. It's true that most print on demand publishers don't charge the author, but with these companies, 100% of the advertising and marketing is up to you. Aside from friends and family, there's no guarantee (and honestly little hope) that anyone else will ever purchase your novel. And your goal is for it to get read, right? So take your time and do your research. Make a list of agents that fit with your chosen genre and send them your proposal. In the end, you’ll be glad you didn’t opt for some quick fix to getting your work on the market.

Step Five: Keep It Up

And now the ugly truth of novel writing: if at first you don't succeed, try again and again and again and again until you do! You might not get accepted by your first round of agents. You might not get accepted by the second or third round either. In fact, you might even be on a second or third book before you get that first book published. Luckily there's one thing that all writers have in common. We don't write to get paid; we write because we love it. So no matter what, you have to always remember that what you're writing may never be published. But if you keep writing and keep sending out your stories and proposals, eventually, you will get something published. Remember, it's easier to get a job when you have a job, and it's easier to get published once you've been published.