Have you tried writing a novel or short stories?

By JB
India
September 13, 2018 4:16am CST
If yes, how have you gone about finding a publisher? Or if you know of anyone personally who has authored a novel, how did they find a publisher?
7 people like this
8 responses
@Kasjnak (4492)
• Romania
13 Sep 18
I think Valerie (@just4him) has an answer to your question. She writes novels and she knows more than any of us about editors and publishers .
4 people like this
@just4him (305367)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
13 Sep 18
Thank you for the mention.
1 person likes this
@Kasjnak (4492)
• Romania
13 Sep 18
@just4him nothing to thank me for, I was actually afraid that I might upset you. But from your posts I saw that you are a nice person, so I went on with it . Thank you for being ok with it .
1 person likes this
@just4him (305367)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
13 Sep 18
@Kasjnak You have nothing to be afraid of from me.
1 person likes this
@just4him (305367)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
13 Sep 18
Finding a publisher isn't easy. They all have guidelines you need to follow to the letter. If you don't, they won't even look at your work. The first thing you need to do is get your hands on the current copy of Writer's Market. It has all of the publishers, agents, magazine publishers as well as how to write your query letters. Even if you do your due diligence you can still be turned down. Most publishers won't accept new authors, so you need to find those who will, or in many cases, self-publish. A lot of traditional publishers today are looking at authors who have a following before they will pick them up. Word count is also important, probably the most important, though there are a few, only a few, who will look at the novel versus the word count if you should go over 125K words, as most of my novels are. After spending the majority of my life writing, and making a goal in my 20's to become an author, it still took me 32 years to get my first book published. For me, it was a long journey, and one I had to do by self-publishing. My books have gotten good reviews and after six years of self-publishing, and four novels, I just landed a contract with a traditional publisher. The best thing I can tell you is: Never give up! If writing is your life, as it is mine, you will get there one day. Perseverance is key when it comes to writing. Especially when you see the growing pile of reject letters. It comes with the territory. There is one famous author I read about who papered his bathroom with reject letters before he landed his first book contract. That was in the day before self-publishing. I hope this helped.
2 people like this
@Kasjnak (4492)
• Romania
13 Sep 18
As I thought, you are the most qualified person that could answer this question .
1 person likes this
@just4him (305367)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
13 Sep 18
@Kasjnak I don't know about the most qualified. My answer is based on experience.
2 people like this
@Kasjnak (4492)
• Romania
14 Sep 18
@just4him at least here, on Mylot, you are the best I know. Maybe I'll start writing too, I tried it for a while. If I'll do that, I'm gonna need some advice .
1 person likes this
@Jackalyn (7559)
• Oxford, England
13 Sep 18
I prefer to self publish, but has a Christan online mag pick up a few.Look for writer's groups.
@rakski (112925)
• Philippines
13 Sep 18
I tried before but was rejected. Ahaha. Maybe not for me.
1 person likes this
@rakski (112925)
• Philippines
14 Sep 18
@db20747 no way! No idea about that.
1 person likes this
@db20747 (43425)
• Washington, District Of Columbia
13 Sep 18
Ever thought of self publishing!!!
1 person likes this
@vsai2008 (11796)
• India
14 Sep 18
I wrote a short story on blogger, that's it.
@mnglsp (3614)
• Philippines
13 Sep 18
I tried writing novels and short stories but I never tried publishing them.
@shubhu3 (36464)
• New Delhi, India
13 Sep 18
I always think of writing a novel but never wrote it.
@Shivram59 (31651)
• India
13 Sep 18
@joynatarajan I have written many stories in HindI. And years ago I had also written a short novel on the life of the great martyre Chandrashekhar Azad.My stories were published in some reputed HindI. magazines,but I did not try to get the novel published.