How to Get Published

A Rerun
[The last in the series]

By Al Kalar

Write something every day

You’ve found a publishing house and they’ve agreed to publish your book. The editing/re-writing process is over. All the decisions about cover, dedication, and such have been made. It’s time to celebrate!

Maybe a trip to the Bahamas? A cruise? Why not? You’re gonna get rich off your book. Right?

Weeellllll, maybe. (more…)

by Michelle Gagnon

Recently a friend asked for writing advice on behalf of her husband, who started writing a book a few years ago but hasn’t made much progress.

“Let me guess,” I asked. “He’s right around the fifty page mark.” She double-checked with him, and he’d stopped at sixty pages even.

I’m willing to bet that most of the people who never finish writing a book stall out right around that point, somewhere between 40-60 pages. And here’s my theory as to why.

After months or years of talking about writing a book (because at least as far as my experience at cocktail parties dictates, almost everyone believes they have a book in them), they’ve finally sat down and hammered some of those words on to the page! Initially, that’s excitement enough.

Because the outset is always thrilling. And things usually go swimmingly for ten to twenty pages. Then, something gets in the way–maybe they can’t figure out what to tackle next in terms of the storyline, or their day to day life intrudes. So they leave for a bit, and come back to it. Or they manage to overcome whatever hurdle they encountered, plot-wise or life-wise, and forge ahead. Another twenty pages in, they’re feeling a genuine sense of accomplishment. They’re doing what so many people talk about but never achieve–and they’ve already written around fifty pages! The rest should be a breeze, right?

So what do they do at this point? (more…)