How to Get Published

by John Bowers

You read an awful lot these days about the good writers who never get published.  You read how the system is structured to make it very difficult to break in.  And what you read is true.

There’s another reason good writers often don’t get published.  That’s because they never really try to break in.  They become discouraged and give up.  That query letter is just too intimidating, or researching the markets just seems hopeless. “I can’t do it.”

I understand that mentality completely.  I’m one of those writers.

I discovered a love of writing in junior high.  Long before I bought my first typewriter, I was writing short stories with a pencil.  I just loved to create adventures in my head and write them down.  When I got to high school, four of my English teachers (which means…ALL of them) were astounded at my natural gift (I didn’t even know I had one, I just thought it was fun), and expected great things of me.  So I began to believe in myself.

Then I ran into the world of reality.  People I knew - friends of the family, people at church - they smirked.  They laughed.  “You want to be a writer?  Who are you? What makes you special?” (more…)

by Al Kalar

A poet called in about a submission he’d sent. While we talked, he asked that if I didn’t like his poetry, could I give him some guidelines as to what to write. He seemed to think he could write poetry to order.

I can’t think of a better way for him to kill his writing career.

Poetry, song writing, and such can indeed be cranked out to a formula. Unfortunately, formula writing comes off as just that.  Some of it will actually sell, but it will never become “great literature”. (more…)