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WAYB Guide to Getting Published

edited September 2010 in - Resources
Got an email today about this book coming out shortly. The link below has some interesting online extracts which you might find helpful:

http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/gettingpublished.asp

Comments

  • I'll check this out FT.
  • Do you really need a whole book to say 'hard work and perseverance'?
  • I need all the help I can get KJ
  • [quote=KJ]
    Do you really need a whole book to say 'hard work and perseverance'? [/quote] Maybe it mentions luck too?
  • I was idly thinking about you all this morning, trailing around Tescos, looking at the books.
    How did Col B get to have a New York agent take him on? How did Rosalie get a book out? How did Thaddeus get a book out? How does Claudia continue to sell her travel articles and Ceka get into PF time after time after time? and all the rest of the 'successful' TBers too.
    They all got there by w o r k i n g at it. KJ's right. Hard work and perseverance. Luck doesn't come into it. You know well I had 50 rejections for the duke's book. I sold it eventually and it is only the start. 3 books to be published next year - along with at least two reprints. Hard work, writing the thing, perseverance, getting it out there.
    I just heard from another TBer that she has fired her agent, BTW, marketing herself successfully. She puts in the worl, she perseveres with the marketing.
    Who needs books? Go write.
  • [quote=dorothyd]Who needs books?[/quote]
    Extraordinary statement from an author. ;)

    I don't think anyone is suggesting you don't need to work at it. But professional advice is helpful too.
  • On Writing will do the job, FT.
    I bought all the writing books when I began writing 30+ years ago. Mostly the advice conflicted, mostly I found I went my own way and it worked. I wasted all that money and all that time reading them. Nothing beats the experience you gain in writing and submitting and writing and learning from your rejections and then writing some more.

    My comment followed on from KJ's, BTW

    No, it isn't an extraordinary statement from a writer, I just don't believe in books on how to get published. How to write, perhaps, not how to get published. That just gives false hope 99% of the time, people think it's easy.
  • [quote=dorothyd]I bought all the writing books when I began writing 30+ years ago. Mostly the advice conflicted, mostly I found I went my own way and it worked.[/quote]
    OK, so you have had the benefit of reading those books and discovering what suits you. Congratulations! Anyone starting out does not have your 30+ years experience, Dorothy.

    I didn't post this thread to encourage anyone to buy the book but to share the free extracts on the website which might be helpful. As the book isn't yet published I have no idea whether it is worth reading or not. In any case I'm sure people can decide for themselves whether it would be of use to them.
  • edited September 2010
    But of course! Let's hope it gets a few more people into print, after a while you get tired of the same old names on the shelves.

    Don't misread me, I read those books before I acquired 30+ years of experience ... they helped me find my own way. But ... I read books on How To Write, not how to get published. That came through trial, error and finding the right markets for the right work.

    It's good to have different opinions on writing topics, isn't it? Some of the threads are fascinating in their variety. More the better, I say!
  • I would say that my (limited, so far :) ) success comes from a mixture of hard work, perseverance, pretending to have a thick skin and... lots of good advice from fellow writers, often via websites and books (not to mention TB). So my tuppence ha'porth to add to this discussion would be: Use all the help and encouragement you can get but don't let anything distract you from getting on with your writing (and your reading - of novels, short stories, non-fiction, whatever you enjoy and fires you up to write).

    Now I had better go and write!
  • good words, Rosalie! Don't downplay your success, in this tough marketing environment, you did well!
  • I think all sorts of advice can be useful. I agree hard work and perseverance are essential. I'm not sure that there isn't any luck at all involved though. I used to read books on how to write and how to get published - and then achieved my very modest, very insignificant amount of publishing success. I also once read a book on how to get an agent - and then got an agent. Interestingly, it was the one who wrote the book.

    I think the site looks really useful, FT. I'm going to give it a good read as I feel really discouraged at the moment. Thank you.
  • [quote=flyingtart]Got an email today about this book coming out shortly. The link below has some interesting online extracts which you might find helpful:
    [/quote]

    My muse must be on top form today. I just started a new thread asking 'How can you tell when your Opus Magnus is finished?' and I found flyingtarts's link. It would still be interesting tho' to hear how you each judge your own finishing line (oh wow what a pun!).
  • [quote=paperbackwriter]It would still be interesting tho' to hear how you each judge your own finishing line (oh wow what a pun!). [/quote]

    When I write the last closing line. Then it's finished.
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