2006-11-01 17:19:59 · 10 answers · asked by Alicia S 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
One of the hardest things to do is for an unpublished writer to sell a book to a publisher. First, you will almost certainly need an agent. Most publishers these days will not even look at a manuscript submitted by an unpublished writer (one who has not had a book published already).
It would be well for you to research agents. There is a site (I don't recall the name, but it shows up in any Google search for writer's agents) which will tell you what to look for. Be careful, because there are so-called "agents" out there who have no track record of selling books to publishers. Look for one with a proven track record, and who will accept new writers as clients. The reason is that, without an agent, you'll probably never even get a manuscript (MS) read by a publisher. They want MSS (manuscripts -- plural) submitted by an established agent.
If you do try on your own, watch out for some common pitfalls. Don't try to do anything "fancy" with it. Enclosing a stick of gum or ten-dollar-bill will get you an instant rejection. Those are signs of an amateur. Do not write it on fancy colored or scented paper...another sign of an amateur. Use plain white paper, and a very basic font (like Times New Roman # 12, or Arial #12). At least then there's a chance they'll at least read the first page.
To answer your question, yes, it is very hard. A publisher may publish only one to six titles per year, but may get three or more per day submitted to them. That's the truth of the matter, and all the more reason to find an established agent with a proven track record of placing books with publishers.
Don't mean to be too discouraging, but if it were an easy field to break into, everyone would be doing it. To be honest, I have a full-length sci-fi novel I wrote (82,000+ words) which will never be published. What I just told you I spent about 2 years going through myself.
If you have real faith in your book, and are in for the long haul, and are willing to face rejections and keep trying, then you could have a chance.
The last thing I can tell you is "proofread, proofread, proofread." Be absolutely sure your submission copy is polished (free of things not needed, that everything in it advances the story and is not just taking up space -- free of grammatical errors, like sentences and paragraphs properly constructed -- and so forth). It is not easy to get a book published, but it can be done. Just remember about agents. Should you try for one, be sure to check out their track record and that they are, in fact, legitimate agents. Keep in mind that NO legit agent will ask for ANY fee up front. Their entire pay comes from commission from selling your book to a publisher. If one asks for an "up-front" fee, run. That is the first sign of an unreputable agent.
I wish you the best with your book :)
***EDIT*** I finally remembered the link I wanted to give you. Here you will find answers to a lot of questions, as well as many good, informative links. It is well worth having a look at for ANY aspiring writer http://www.sfwa.org/beware/agents.html#Writer ("Writer Beware" site)
2006-11-01 17:42:22 · answer #1 · answered by LSF 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Extremely hard. Any writing is hard. At the bestseller level, competition is extremely fierce. Literature does not usually make the best-seller list, so you'd probably be aiming at popular 'genre' markets (Horror, sci-fi, spy thrillers, romance, etc...).
The problem is, you won't know whether it will 'take' until you write it and publish it.
There's a whole world of marketing for books, especially at the popular literature level, but I can't help you with that - I know next to nothing about it. I'm more in the literature game.
2006-11-02 01:30:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I don't think so, you have just to find a theme that can be found interesting by people. For example, you can think at Dan Brown... I don't like his book and I'm sure he had all this success for the things he wrote about! Good luck.
2006-11-02 04:16:21 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Writing is easy.
Marketing is the hard part.
2006-11-02 01:23:12 · answer #4 · answered by Boomer Wisdom 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Depends. Are you writing for yourself or are you writing for the industry?
2006-11-02 01:45:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No I write one every day
2006-11-02 01:22:31 · answer #6 · answered by Pauline 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I woulent know I've never writen one.
2006-11-02 08:03:10 · answer #7 · answered by midesweet 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nope ... just hard to convince everyone else
2006-11-02 01:27:29 · answer #8 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
2006-11-02 09:32:21 · answer #9 · answered by kp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunatly,..sometimes it's not WHAT you know....
But WHO you know.....
2006-11-02 01:26:15 · answer #10 · answered by CraZyCaT 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋