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| Image courtesy of Stuart Miles @ at FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
1. You’ve got to sit down and write. That’s kind of a no-brainer.
2. You’ve got to read. See how others are writing so you can decide what works and doesn’t work. This includes reading within the genre(s) you intend to write, and also reading the tips and advice from other writers, agents, and editors. Some of my favorites:
- Pub Rants
- Rachelle Gardner
- Janet Reid
- Slush Pile Hell
- and, of course, The Muffin
3. You’ve got to get feedback from other readers or writers, and then use that feedback to revise. And revise again. And again. And so on.
4. You’ve got to learn the business and scout the literary markets to determine where you could publish your writing. Start with literary magazines. See what they’re publishing and determine if your writing would fit their styles or not. My go-to resource for this is the Poets & Writers Literary Magazine database.
5. When you are ready – i.e. you have gone through tips 1-4 dozens, if not hundreds, of times – you’ve got to send your work out for publication. Follow the guidelines thoroughly, cross your fingers, and hope for the best.
6. Keep repeating steps 1-5. You’ll continue to improve your writing and style. Writing is very subjective – even very well-crafted works will get overlooked in this industry.
Write well. Revise often. Be patient and persistent. And enjoy the process!
Have other tips to add? Let us know in the comments!
Tips provided by Anne Greenawalt.
At my blog (Writer Granny's World)I urge newbies to do all the things you've listed here but I would add one more thing. Start with short pieces of writing and work your way up to the longer projects. I talked to a new writer at a conference last month who told me he was writing a sci-fi novel and after that was published, he'd move on to shorter things. I nodded politely but so wanted to tell him he had it backwards.
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