Blogfest 2009

No. It is difficult to get to the point where you are ready to have a book published.

This is not a universal opinion, but I honestly believe that every publishable book can find an agent and then with an editor with relatively little stress.

If the writer doesn’t screw it up. It is surprisingly easy to screw it up.

First, you can be under the impression that just because your manuscript is good, it is automatically publishable. That’s just not the case. Preparing a publishable manuscript requires knowing your market intimately enough to see holes and niches in what’s out there. You need to fit in and stand out at the same time. You have to be relevant. You have to follow the rules, send query letters, network, format your manuscript appropriately. You have to understand that you are not the exception to the word count rule, and just because Harry Potter is a billion words long doesn’t mean your manuscript can be. Your first draft is not perfect. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. Listen to your beta readers. Listen to agent feedback. Revise revise revise.

And don’t give up. Keep a fine balance in your head. Think that you are simultaneously good enough and not nearly there yet. Continue tinkering with your manuscript until the bitter end.

Write something else.

A publishable manuscript will find a home.

I would guess not for everybody, but that’s the general consensus.  My personal experience is it took me longer to get an agent and find a publisher than it did to write my first novel.

It actually wasn’t so difficult for me to get my foot in the door with major publishers because I had a strong track record as a television producer and there had been a lot of major press on me in magazines.  The hardest part was once I got in the door, getting the editors to like my work.  I feel I was very lucky.  However, I had put in major time and hard work on my writing.  I think if you have a compelling and powerful story to tell someone will listen!