We all want to write that first novel that gets us paid, and makes us famous. Then of course we struggle and bang our way through a book or three. With hopes high we wait for the rejection letters, deal with agents that want our money but never makes us any, and all the other hidden things nobody warned us about when we started. Those trying times take away some of the magic that made us start writing in the first place. I've learned over the years there are ways to balance it out. I think one of the essential secrets to finally getting a chance at getting published or noticed is to put work out there that the may not be seen by your adoring public but are recognized by the people that count. The publishers that pay. Several writer friends suggested starting off with technical writing. Long story short of that, some people are really smart and want their particular brand publihsed in a magazine, journal, etc. But in the end they cant really write. Certain publications hire writers for this (more of ghost writing I think). Or if you have certain fields you have a fair amount of knowledge you can try to write publications in those fields. They are hit and miss a lot at first but eventually you will find your niche, also it refines your writing style. Another one is ghost writing. Certain publisher will run say a fantasy series by Xyz author, but in reality almost every book is written by a different one. Think b movies of the literary world and you may find jobs in there. Where I seen peope have the most luck is doing the technical/publication writing get a few professional relationships in the field and eventually get turned on to ghost writing. You wont be rich or famous with these two but it get a paycheck in from time to time and helps you refine your own writing. Then of course the genre writing. One of my friends never could get his work published, and then developed a female pen name and got work writing for the low end erotica. It keeps him writing and getting paid. None of what I talk about is fancy or get your name on the times best seller, but it is a way to break into an industry and get recognition with certain publishers. As your skills mature and your connections grow you may just get your chance at that next great novel. Cant say whether that will happen for any writer, but at least you can get a chance to make a simple living at what you love to do. Food for thought.
This they are but this is also a forum with an archaic posting system. Its the one/last place I'm going to be worried about being grammatically correct, or ensure all my punctuation is correct. Plus that's what editors get paid for in the end. lol
My hopes were to get some good advice across based on experience. Not be worried about the structure of my paragraph's. lol
Chill guys it was obviously a joke. It made me laugh. Of course this is something all writers dream of. Getting published. For me personally this isn't important though. I write because I have a passion for it. I don't want it to be a job. I want it to be just what it is. Something I do because I love it. I've noticed that as soon as you make it your life's mission and you live it 24/7 it wears off and in the end you'll hate it. Good advice? Just write. There are no set of rules or guide books. Ponder that for a moment and you'll understand how much there is to it.
Well I think there are some good rules and guide books, but it depends on what you want to do, a lot of people want to be published and find it to be important to them, if they are trying to build a career. I think the literary journal market is a good place to be. The editors of these are usually writers who are pros, they usually have published books, they can sometimes be guest editors to first book contests and they are sometimes associated with a small-press publishing house. You can also build your way up to getting decent payment in the lit journal scene. Contests are great, but also prizes for already being published can be nice. Really I think if you're a good writer, it's good to be well-rounded. Technical writing is extremely boring to me and it makes me not want to write anymore. Ghostwriting can be good, but I wouldn't be comfortable ghostwriting for a book in which someone was getting famous off my work. It took a lot of time for me to feel like ghostwriting was ethical, but the way I ghostwrite is for series and companies, rather than any certain author, so I feel fine doing it. Writing articles is also good, especially if you write a regular column or blog because your audience will want to follow your other work. It's good to network with the other writers writing alongside you. I forgot to mention, business writing, copywriting, speech writing, writing reviews, etc. This is a great way to make a good living. Self-publishing is more than legitimate these days and sometimes self-published books go on to get re-pubbed by a big publishing house. If you have an agent, a book deal, or even self-publish, the hardest part is to promote your stuff after you publish (and even before) so that you can say that you had as much success as you could have. The publisher or editor isn't supposed to sell your book for you, you have a large part in how well your book is received.
...interesting, though I have seen it all before of course, but before I deal with you "writers" lurking here, click on "views" on the right of the thread list here and see what comes to the top, to see who's reading who here... I'll be back later to discuss the elephant in the room then... "...thanks, me too, it's the only one I have.." Jats laughs and appreciates the exquisite unintentional timing of that apt post "...though no boring dead writers blog for me to link you to, or drab live journal to feed my ego while waiting for that publisher to come and discover me, no books too neither on the dusty shelves, or stacked up in my garage getting damp while waiting for that never to come re-launch..." though thinks Jats there was those amusing short stories published a long time ago, but we have done that post "...no, no crawling to slimy publishing agents, or listening to the drivel of writing critics who would have me writing the same as them, homogenised into oblivion, unless of course I get famous then, where then it's different isn't it as they then come crawling to you, so, no it's 'livewriting' for me now, though not for glory, fame, no it's just for me now, as I write for my self, as I have always done then, and always will like those before me would still..." as the chameleon continues his journey now
