Stephanie Osborn - Things They Don’t Tell You In Author’s School, Installment #4:
Getting your foot in the door can end up with a smashed foot.
Thing Four: The old adage, "You can’t get published without an agent, and you can’t get an agent without being published," isn’t true – but it isn’t far from it. Many of the big publishers won’t even look at anything that isn’t handed to them by an agent. With some of them, it’s impossible for the budding author to even find contact information.
Contrariwise, most agents won’t look at anyone who isn’t published. (There are a few. But your story had better be good, and polished to the nth degree.) But there are some good publishing houses out there that DO accept unagented submissions. The trick to these is that, unless you know somebody, your submission goes into a "slush pile" and will remain there for some time. Slush pile submissions are read in the order received, so your baby will be there for however long it takes for the company’s readers to dig down to it. So be prepared to be patient.
Dixon’s comment: Consider getting your first publication credit from a small, regional press. Also, many authors e-publish and hope that sales on Amazon and other sites may entice a major publisher to pick up their book.
Kootenai River in NW Montana, near Canadian Border
photo by Gene Tunick of Eureka, Montana
Good advice. It seems like a hard circle to break into, which is frustrating when you have a good piece of work. I am sure these publishers read their fair share of "junk" to find the good stuff. Sometimes I wonder just how jaded they become by reading the junk, that when they see a good piece, does it stick out at them? Oh well, persistence is the key. The writers who are not published are the ones who give up trying.
ReplyDeleteGood advice. It seems like a hard circle to break into, which is frustrating when you have a good piece of work. I am sure these publishers and agents read their fair share of "junk" to find the good stuff. Sometimes I wonder just how jaded they become by reading the junk, that when they see a good piece, does it stick out at them? Oh well, persistence is the key. The writers who are not published are the ones who give up trying.
ReplyDelete