How To Get Published
How To Get Published: Eight Surefire Steps For Writing Success
Author: Andrea Rains Waggener
How to get published? That’s the big money question for writers. Writing is fulfilling in and of itself, but every writer ultimately wants to learn how to get published.
A lot of writers think getting published is a matter of luck. Or it’s a matter of knowing the right person. Or it’s a matter of simply being born a brilliant writer.
Although all of the above will help you get published, you don’t have to have any of these things. You can LEARN how to get published.
When you follow The Eight Steps Success Plan For Writers, you’ll no longer wonder how to get published. You’ll BE published.
Here’s The Eight Steps Success Plan For Writers:
1. Create a successful writer’s mindset.
To have a successful writer’s mindset, you must know where you want to go with your writing. A goal of getting published isn’t enough. You must have a laser-focused intention. Use visualization to keep that intention at the forefront of your mind.
You must also take an inventory of your beliefs about writing. Any negative beliefs about writing will get in the way of your publishing success. Turn any negative beliefs to their opposite and make them positive beliefs that will serve you.
Once you have your intention, which you nurture with visualization, and your positive beliefs, you’ve established a success mindset that will help you get published.
2. Develop the habit of journaling regularly.
Journal writing isn’t just for memoir writers. Every serious writer MUST keep a journal. It is a tool that will improve your ability to notice the events in your world. Good writers are good observers.
It is also a tool that helps you mine your emotions and thoughts. Writing is revealing. If you don’t understand yourself, your writing will seem flat and uninteresting. Get to know yourself, and you create a goldmine of emotion and thought that will make your writing rich.
Creating rich prose is a key to how to get published.
3. Practice writing daily.
The other way to improve your writing daily is by doing a daily practice. Writing is like playing a musical instrument. You must practice in order to improve.
The easiest writing practice to do is timed writings. Choose a length of time (at least 5 minutes; more is better). Set a timer and just write.
The only rule to timed writings is don’t stop for any reason. If you can’t think of anything to say, write, “I can’t think of anything to say.” But KEEP WRITING! The flow of words limbers up your creative pathways.
4. Understand your strengths and weaknesses and write to your strengths.
Every writer has specific strengths and weaknesses. For example, my style is spare and direct. I wouldn’t do well as a literary fiction author. I am better suited for genre fiction and direct nonfiction.
Discover what you do well as a writer and be okay with what you don’t do well. When you know yourself as a writer, you can choose the projects with which you can have the greatest success.
5. Write with feeling.
Writing is all about emotion. If your writing lacks emotion, it will be flat and uninteresting. You must know your own feelings about what you’re writing, and you must also know what feeling you want to evoke in your reader. Keep these emotions in mind as you write.
6. Fill your writing with just the right details.
Detail is essential to great writing, but too much detail can bury good writing under a layer of distraction that turns the writing dull. When you learn to create the perfect balance of details-just enough, but not too much, you become a writer who can easily get published.
You can choose the perfect details by knowing what it is you want your reader to focus on. For example, in a scene with a man and a woman in a bar, you could focus on the details of the brawl going on behind them or you could focus on the details of their fingertips touching. If it’s an action story, you’d choose the brawl. A romance story would be better focused on the fingertips.
Some writers try and describe everything in a scene in great detail. This just bogs down the writing. Choose details carefully and then describe them well.
7. Make your writing hypnotic.
“Hypnotic writing” is a term created by author, Joe Vitale. It’s a wonderful term that explains how a writer must be able to write in a way that grabs and holds a reader. You must have the ability to mesmerize your reader.
You create hypnotic writing with the use of short phrases, the use of rhythm, and pacing. You also create it with perfect word choice and a constant awareness that your writing must be for the reader.
Understand that the reader always has in mind as he or she reads, “What’s in this for me?” When you write with that awareness, you can make word choices that will make your writing hypnotic.
8. Always have a writing plan.
An absolutely essential element of writing success is motivation. You must be able to stay motivated to start and finish your writing projects.
Many writers fail for lack of motivation. Procrastination and writer’s block are two common writing career killers.
You can avoid both procrastination and writer’s block by always having your projects planned out. Create a short term and a long term plan. List the projects you want to do this week, this month, and this year. Once you’ve created the list, get out your calendar and make a schedule for how you can complete your projects.
Creative people have a tendency to resist structure, but the irony is that structure can actually enhance creativity. So be willing to structure your writing time.
That’s it–The Eight Steps Success Plan For Writers.
These steps are not a quick-fix publishing solution. They won’t turn you into J.K. Rowling overnight. But The Eight Steps Success Plan For Writers will, if you work the steps diligently, turn you into a quality writer. It is also the foundation of how to get published.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/how-to-get-published-eight-surefire-steps-for-writing-success-158020.html
About the Author
Andrea Rains Waggener, J.D., novelist and book author, is the creator of the Novel Writing Made Easy System. Her writing help includes 3 Free Reports on how to avoid common writing mistakes and how to avoid writer’s block and Weekly Writing Tips.
Tagged with: get published • how to become a writer • how to get published • novel writing • write a good book
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1.Visit a good bookstore and a very commercial bookstore (I’d go to Borders and to Atlantic) and scour the section that shelves books the most like yours. You should find as many as you can that are comparable to the book you’re writing/written. Look on the spine for the name of the publisher. These, obviously, are the publishers most likely to be interested in your work, since they know the market to whom they can sell it. These publishers should form part of the list of publishers you will contact. You can get their addresses and phone numbers by…
2.Visit a library (any university library) and look through both of the following reference books, in their most current editions. First, Writers Market, which lists all the publishers in the country and the sorts of books they put out, as well as gives advice about how to submit. It gives phone numbers and addresses. It’s divided into topics, so you can go right to the sections you thinks your book fits (Women’s? Health?) and skip over shit like Agriculture. The second book is Literary Market Place (LMP), which is more or less the same thing, but a little less user-friendly, since it’s organized from the publisher’s rather than the writer’s point of view.
From these two sources you friend should be able to compile a fairly good list of publishers likely to be interested in their work.
Start going to book stores and looking in the magazine section. Find the magazines that print short stories like you write, and make a note of the publication’s name, website address, editor and contact info. Then mail or email them about your work.
Self published works almost never make it into stores, unless it is a book that has immediate local interest and then it will only go in local stores. If you want to get into book stores across the country, you have to go with a traditional publisher – they have contracts with the stores and the distributors.
You find an agent. These days, many publishers don’t accept unsolicited submissions, so it’s really important to get an agent. Go online or look at the Writer’s Market to find lists of agents who represent your genre and do your homework on how to write query letters. There are lots of books and web sites out there that will guide you through the process. Just do your research beforehand to make sure the person you’re querying is a legit agent. No agent should charge you anything up front – they usually take a 15% cut of the money your book makes when it sells, so it’s a red flag if they charge “reading fees” or anything like that. Once you’ve got an agent, they take on the job of selling it to a publisher, and you won’t have too much to do with that, so you start writing the next book. 🙂 And good luck with NaNo! I’m Poetaster over there, if you’re looking for a writing buddy, add me!
Well, first, you need to finish the stories. When you think that they’re as good as you can make them, try to find a creative writing group in your area. Ask the librarian; he or she usually knows, or can help you find the person who does know.
Workshopping with other creative writers is a great way to learn more about the craft, share ideas, and improve your work. And being around other writers is just fun because you’re all there to enjoy the same thing.
When you think that your stories are ready to go, you’ll have to go through the submission process. I like visiting Web del Sol, as they have a large collection of publications linked to their site. You can also go pick up a copy of Writer’s Market. That’s the writer’s holy book. You can probably find a copy at the library. The book is great because it lists agents, publications, contests, et cetera, so you can use it to figure out where your stories might fit.
And Writer’s Market also includes tips for submitting your stories. Editors rarely, for example, want you to staple the pages together (they often prefer paper clips). You’ll also find out which publications accept e-mail submissions and which prefer snail mail, which is very helpful when you’re trying to converve money on postage and self-addressed, stamped envelopes.
Published???
Okay, I have so many stories I am writting.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I AM BEGGING YOU! DONT STEAL THESE IDEAS!
1. Why Girls Rule- 4 bffs who go through life together and encounter different obstacals. 4 short stories. Each froma dif. point a view. In one they go to Jamaccia, in one they go to an imagination island. in one they are spies. in one they are singers. apx. 160 pages.
2. im gonna ride the horses- not finished. about a 12 yr old girl whos family is in the circus. she loves horses and wants to ridde them in the circus but she has to wait until shes 13. her family settles down in a smal town. her mother gets pregnant. once a week they go to a mother father class at the hospital and Sommersett (the 12 yr old girl) meets a boy who turns out to have cancer.
3. about 4 girls who are completely different who form a swim teeam calld the angelfish. they are trying to wind championships without a coach.
how and can i get these published. I am only 13. please help?????
How and where can I get my articles published?
I write.. I mean i’m kind of good at creative writing.. especially short love ‘stories’… and i want to publish them somewhere… preferably even get paid.. I live in Bangladesh.. It would mean a lot if you helped
Thanks:)
how to published books get into stores?
like if someone has published work and they want it in stores how and who do they go to
Now I’ve written my novel, how do I get it published?
I’m a writer, not a businessman. And now I’ve finished writing it, reading it through several times and editing sections that didn’t sound right, I want to attempt to get it published. But I don’t know how to do this. Somebody told me I need a literary agent, but I don’t know where to find one. Any help?
What minor do you think is best?
I am majoring in english
Im interested in pursuing a career in teaching, law, or journalism
I was thinking about
Publishing Arts
Spanish
Criminal justice or pre law
or ????
What do you think, what would be a good minor, how long would it take to get 2 minors?
What happens after you write your book?
I’m writing a novel for NaNoWriMo. I know that once I finish it i’ll deed to edit and write more drafts. But, after you have a novel that is finished and polished, how do you go about getting it edited and published? Have any of you gotten a novel published, or tried to? What do I need to do to get my novel (one I finish writing) published…
i’ve made a film i’m 15 yrs old and i want to get it basically published how can i do it?
i though about going to the local theater (they show films there) and ask if they can show it and try and get an audience for it can i have some advice to get it professionally done? plzplzplz heeelllpppp!
how do i get ride of this network soloutions site replacing airsoftgi.com!!!!!!?
im researching an airsoft gun through airsoftgi.com. ive been using this site for a long time now and all of a sudden i get this netword solotuions page that wont go away. i really need to get rid of it. when i click on “why am i seeing this page” this is what i see:Airsoftgi.com Network Solutions
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Airsoftgi.com Network Solutions
About This Page
This “Under Construction” page is an automatically generated placeholder Web page for a domain that is not yet attached to an active Web site. This page replaces the “Not Found” error pages and notifies visitors that a Web site is coming soon.
How Do I Replace This Page?
Publishing your Web site, updating the name servers, or forwarding to another domain name will automatically replace this default page.
If you do not have an existing Web site hosting package or web forwarding, further information to get your Web site online can be found by clicking the following links.
Web site Packages
Hosting Packages
Web Forwarding
If your Web site is not ready to be published and you would like to replace this page, you may do so by configuring your under construction page.
How do I upload a video file with more than 30 pictures per minute on my computer?
Is it even possible?
I have a Dell Studio XPS Windows 7 Home, I think that’s what is called.
So I made a video on Windows movie. It’s a flash animation so there are obviously going to be more than 30 pictures per minute but it wont let me choose that as an option. It just goes lower to 15 pictures and 10. When I tried publishing it, it cut out around half of the pictures! HELP!!!! How can I get it to upload it? Is there a way? What computers would I be able to upload it on? Do I need a certain software? I just want to know. Thank you! *Gives everyone cookies*
how to make notes on facebook?
okay so i know the process of actually making a note.
you go to the notes application and on the right hand corner it shows you “write a note.” then you click the button and you publish your note and hit save. but i don’t get how you get the surveys or questions that you answer for the notes. all of my other friends write notes by answering random questions and surveys, but i don’t understand where you get them from or how you get them. please help, thanks!