Make the Most of Your opportunities!

New and aspiring writers often ask how they can get noticed by publishers.

My advice is to write often, and always submit your work. No sense in letting your writing wither in a desk drawer. If you don’t send it out I can almost guarantee you will never be noticed.

When your submission is rejected, and it probably will be, at least in the beginning, read any comments or suggestions for improvement, and send it out again.

Referring to short stories, I read advice once that said to write one submission a week and send it out. If it comes back, send it out again. After two years of this hard work you will either be published, or at the least, a much better writer.

I was fortunate to enter an international short story contest and win first place. That gave my confidence a badly-needed boost.

I got my start by sending short stories to anthologies and magazines. One perceptive editor told me on two separate occasions that my short stories sounded like they should be novels. I thanked her at a recent writer’s conference when she was one of the featured guests. Now the shortest project I work on is a novella at about 30,000 words. I prefer the longer projects.

One of my short stories was “almost chosen.” Made the second to last cut for an anthology. However, the editor liked my writing and asked me to submit for her next project. My story was accepted, and when I met my current publisher, I could at least point to something in print and the fact that I’d help launch that anthology in my hometown.

I attended conferences and took every opportunity to appear before publishers and agents in person. Be prepared for the unexpected question. Have your novel proposal down so you can tell the story in a few short sentences. Surviving a face-to-face with a book publisher who didn’t follow the meeting rules got my first novels published.

The bottom line is you are guaranteed never to be published if you never write anything. So get busy now!

R.J.Hore

www.ronaldhore.com
www.facebook.com/RonaldJHore

The Dark Lady Trilogy (Volume 1,2,3)

The Queen’s Pawn (Volume 1,2,3)
The Housetrap Chronicles (Volume 1 to 7)
Alex in Wanderland,
Knight’s Bridge
We’re Not in Kansas
Toltec Dawn (Book 1 of 3)