The Wednesday Writer’s Corner: Can you give me some tips on how to get a novel published?
I have a “contact”
email address attached to this website, and the question above is by far the
most common email I receive. In
fact, most of the emails I receive are from hopeful writers looking for advice
on how to get published.
This is not an
easy question to answer, and in truth, it took me years to sort of figure all
this out. However, keep in mind
that at this point in my life, I’ve been working with the same publisher and the same literary agency
since 2001, and so the process for publishing has been a different for me over the last
eleven years then it would be for someone trying to break in. But . . . I don’t
think things have changed that much. I
do have friends who’ve recently landed their first agent and sold their first
novel project.
The basics are:
Complete a publishable novel. Get
the book finished and polished.
Write a 4-5 page novel synopsis.
Get yourself an agent.
But of course, these steps are all a lot more
complex than this simple list.
First off . . . when speaking to hopeful writers
in person about this, I’ve encountered some surprised stares and heard, “I have
to finish the book first? I
thought you wrote up three chapters and a novel synopsis and then a publisher
offered you a lot of money for the book so that you’d have the freedom to
finish it?”
That is true once you’re established (with the
possible exception of the “lot of money” part), but not with a first sale. With a first sale, the agent/editor
wants to read the entire book first, both to see that can finish writing a novel
and to see that the book is truly as good as what the synopsis promised.
Second . . . a lot of new writers often have no
idea whether or not their novel is publishable. I’ve had three editors, and one of them was good about
attending those conferences where people sign up for a spot to “pitch” a novel
to her, and she told me that out of dozens and dozens of those conferences, she
only encountered one project that was plotted, structured, and developed well enough
for publication.
I think work shopping a novel with other writers
at your own level is a waste of time—and could even be damaging if you’ve got
an angry, bitter, know-it-all in the group. I never once work shopped a novel, but I’ve seen a few
friends try this, and it seemed more damaging than helpful.
How to Write and Sell your First Novel
This
book may help you gauge whether the book is ready for prime time viewing—or if
needs a little more work. Also,
writers who read a lot of novels tend to have a better handle on structure,
plot, and character development.
Okay,
so let’s say you’ve finished your novel, and you’ve polished it, and now it’s
time to try to get it published.
Of course you could go the “indie” route, but you don’t need my help
with that. Anyone—and his
cousin Margaret—can do that. I’m
just chatting here for the folks who want a New York publisher. The first thing you’ll need is a query
letter. So, you research agents
and make a list of all the agents that you think are reputable, meaning they’ve
been in the business a little while and they have a list of clients you
recognize—who also represent the type of work you’re writing. You can send queries to any number of
agents. Send twenty queries if you
wish. The query letter
introduces you, lets the agent know you have a finished manuscript, and then
attempts to “sell” the agent on your project. If you remember from one of my earlier posts, the only thing
on the agent’s mind is whether or not he/she believes the project can be
sold. Once an agent contacts you
and says, “Okay, I’d like to see the project,” that’s when you send either a synopsis
and the first three chapters . . . or the synopsis and the entire
manuscript. The agent will let you
know how much he/she wants to see.
At this point, you cannot show the project to another agent until you’ve
heard back from the first one.
This can be frustrating if the first agent is taking months to get back
to you. At a certain point, if you
haven’t heard back, just move on to the next agent who’s
requested to see your book. But
normally, most agents will get to you in a timely fashion.
Agent Query
The second thing you’ll need is a four to five page novel synopsis. Keep in mind that you don’t want to cram in every single plot point from the novel. You want to pique the agent’s interest and get him/her dying to see the book itself. Here’s a decent bit of help for writing a novel synopsis:
Synopsis
Okay,
gang, I hope this is helpful. The
main thing you want to do first is finish that manuscript.
