How to Get Published

by John Bowers

Writing fiction is hard work, but it’s also fun. As a writer you get to create everything, from the world in which your characters live to the characters themselves. You get to determine whether they live or die. But sometimes writing can be daunting; for example, giving your characters a name. How, exactly, does that work?

It could be very easy, of course, if you don’t mind using the same old names as everyone else. You could call your character Dick and his girlfriend Jane, but doing that might kill your chances at a sale before anyone read past the names. If you want your characters to be memorable, you need to give them names to remember. But with millions of novels out there, and ten times as many characters, how do you find such a name that hasn’t already been used? Read the rest of this entry »

by John Bowers

During my first year in college (which was also my last year in college) I took a creative writing course; only three of those enrolled were regular day students - the rest were older people with families and jobs. It was an informal class in which we talked a lot about writing and everyone shared stories and chapters, which were read aloud. I expected my writing to be a big hit, but I had a surprise in store.

“I’m amazed at your dialog!” one man told me. “It sounds so natural.”

“What’s your secret?” another lady asked.

Secret? I didn’t know there was a secret. I was telling a story, the characters spoke, and I wrote it down. I was more amazed than they were, that anyone would have trouble writing dialog.

But apparently some people do. So what’s the “secret”? Read the rest of this entry »

Award-winning novelist Ricahard Bausch spoke to Operation Homecoming workshop participants at Fort Drum, New York, offering his “Ten Commandments” for developing good writing.

Courtesy of the National Endowment for the arts.

by Evan Marshall

When you’re learning how to write a good novel, it’s critical that you understand how very important it is to come up with a really great initial idea. You want to make sure your idea intrigues and inspires you and you want it to hook your readers from the first page to the last. The best way to come up with a good novel idea that accomplishes both of these things is to begin your story with a major crisis. If you choose the crisis using the guidelines I give below, I think you’ll find the resulting story idea will crackle with tension and excitement and will help you write a page-turner that readers and publishers will love. A good crisis will compel your main character to make a decision to solve the problem caused by the crisis and will give him a powerful motivation to succeed. It needs to be a big enough crisis that your main character will need the rest of the novel to overcome it.

Make Sure Your Crisis Fits These Three Criteria Read the rest of this entry »

by Al Kalar

A new writer needs a first chapter hook to sell the book.

Well established writers can slog through the chronological background and then on to the “good stuff” only because they have developed a following that trusts them to deliver a good yarn — eventually. Disaster movies get away with slow starts because the studio spends millions on advertising trailers showing the explosions that come later in the film. Read the rest of this entry »

by Kelly Simmons

And now, the answer to the question that stymies me whenever I speak to a group of high-school-age writers: “What should I major in if I want to write novels?”

Major in statistics. You’ll learn the odds of getting published are roughly three zillion to one.

Major in economics. You’ll understand why the publishing companies will never put you on a book tour or run an ad for your book in The New Yorker.

Major in law. You can fight Google and everyone else who wants to offer your book as a free download.

Major in journalism. Your future will appear so tenuous your parents will beg you to be a novelist instead.

Major in history. You’ll unearth enough material that you won’t need to invest in research and travel, which you’ll never make back on your advance.

Major in drama. Being rejected during auditions will make being rejected on paper seem like child’s play.

Major in forensics. When you inevitably end up writing for a hack TV crime show, you won’t have to work too hard.

Major in English. That’s what all the English majors would tell you to do.

Major in computer science. You can invent something with a better name than “vook.”

Major in Spanish. It will help your parents understand your Hemingway-esque desire to run with the bulls.

Major in psychology. Trust me; it’s easier to work through daddy issues on the couch than on the page.

Major in Phys Ed. Most first-time authors are attractive and fit. (Oh, don’t tell me you don’t look at those author photos!)

Major in music. Since you’re going to be singing the blues your entire life, you may as well be in tune.

Kelly is a member/contributor of the Philly Liars Club.

Brad Stone

Excerpts from an article written by Brad Stone and Mokoto Rich for the New York Times

Ever since electronic books emerged as a major growth market, New York’s largest publishing houses have worried that big-name authors might sign deals directly with e-book retailers or other new ventures, bypassing traditional publishers entirely. Now, one well-known author is doing just that.

Stephen R. Covey, one of the most successful business authors of the last two decades, has moved e-book rights to two of his best-selling books from his print publisher, Simon & Schuster to a digital publisher that will sell the e-books to Amazon for one year. Read the rest of this entry »

by James Scott Bell

1. Before you approach an agent, make sure your concept is killer. That means a) not shopworn (”We’ve seen this before”); or b) not so far off the map that anyone with a profit motive will run screaming from the room. It has to be fresh but not too weird. The characters have to jump off the page. There has to be enough at stake. Your opening pages have too move. Easy, right? Of course not, because if it was your Aunt Sally would be writing New York Times bestsellers. But here’s where you have to dig in if you want to interest an agent.

2. You are better off having no agent than having a bad agent. Anyone can print up business cards and call themselves “agent.” But what do they know about the business? Find out. A reputable agent should have a website with a list of their clients. Start there. What’s their background in the publishing biz? How long have they been agenting? There are some “watchdog” sites that issue warnings about certain names, so use your old pal Google. Read the rest of this entry »

by Diane O’Connell

At the beginning of my online writing seminars, the students each introduce themselves. On more than one occasion, a student will reveal that he or she is coming to the class after having experienced a devastating rejection. By that I mean, not the standard rejection you get when you send your work out to get published, but the more personal kind that rips apart your writing with no constructive feedback, the kind of rejection that feels as though you are being personally attacked, and leaves you wondering if you were crazy to ever think you could write. Read the rest of this entry »

by Don Lafferty

(Cont. from 11/24/09):

6. Know your local booksellers.

Buy the Books. More importantly, make sure they know you and your book. When your book hits the shelves, a passionate bookseller can be your best advocate. Create an Indiebound affiliate account and put that link to your book on all your Internet outposts.

When you do a “drive-by book signing” tell everybody in your online community where they can find signed books. Follow up with the bookseller to make sure your signed books are moving. Read the rest of this entry »