How to Get Published

by John Bowers

Nobody can write all the time. Most of us would like to, but in the real world we have jobs, families, and bills to pay. Given our obligations, few of us can devote the time to writing that we’d like, and finishing a project often takes us much longer than we prefer. Writing a novel entails several things: coming up with a story idea, identifying the characters, plotting the story, and writing it. All those things take time, and many things get in the way-work, family, social events, reading, watching TV…and writer’s block.

Writer’s block is a beast. It most often hits new writers who aren’t quite sure where their story is going, but it affects everyone at one time or another. You may be halfway through your novel, or right down to the final few chapters, and there it is-you’re staring at a blank computer screen with no idea what to write. Even if you outlined your book in advance, writer’s block can stare back at you from a blank page, baring its yellow fangs and snarling at you. And it’s frustrating. (more…)

by Al Kalar

One of my jobs in this madhouse, is “gatekeeper”. I review new submissions to see if they get rejected up front or considered for publication. I hate saying “no”, but if I don’t, we’d be flooded with less than top notch material.

Lousy material takes too much time to whip into shape and often can’t be saved. Although we edit everything we publish, we’re not in the business of editing poor quality stuff to help a writer get published. There are people who do that and some are very good at it (and some are not). But, even though our editors are great, our job is publishing.

Back in May, I gave you 11 Ways to Get Rejected. Well, what about the flipside? You know, the goal of the submission process - acceptance.

Obviously, the most important thing is to not do any of those 11 deadly things.

We’re strictly an eBook publisher, so we do everything digitally. To get a novel accepted at AKW Books, you should do the following: (more…)

by John Bowers

One of the hardest things I face when writing a novel is keeping the story consistent. Writing a book-length story may take from a few weeks to a few months, and you put the story down a few hundred words at a time. Over a period of several weeks, it’s sometimes hard to keep track of what happened earlier, and consistency can suffer.

If you’re writing from a detailed outline it may be easier, but if you’re like me, outlines are too restrictive. When I start a novel I usually have a general idea of what the book is about, three or four high points I want to hit, and a couple of characters. From that starting point, the adventure begins, and I usually don’t end up where I thought I might. But the journey is fantastic-I discover the story as I go, just as the reader does later on.

The problem with writing that way is that things will often happen that I didn’t anticipate. Characters may make decisions on their own (don’ t laugh, this actually happens), and I find myself on a side road heading for a different horizon than the one I had aimed for.

That isn’t always a problem, but when you get into the details, consistency can get lost. (more…)