Full title: Is it not okay to pitch a presentation roadshow outside the publishing CEO's house?

Now that the first draft of my novel is nearing completion, can anyone please provide a me with short, bullet point list on recognised advice for getting published or direct me to recommended reference material.

I've got a journalist friend who has been successful in getting three of his books published, but before I go using up my favours I'd like to find out a bit more and have a go myself...

And traipsing through all the posts on this site is a bit time consuming.


Thanks
Michael

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gosh - that's a bit of an open question! What kind of advice are you wanting?

I guess in terms of the traditional ABC:

write your novel

rewrite your novel

rewrite it again and polish it until it gleams with a lustre second only to the sun

write a pitch/cover letter and a 1-2 page synopsis (this WILL take you not quite half as long as writing the novel, it's the law)

select a handful of agents based on their excellent fit with your novel and track record with similar work (the internet is v good for this, I liked authoradvance but many people use the trusty old Writers and Artists)

research the submission preferences of said carefully selected agents

submit

wait

if necessary repeat any of the above steps until success/despair is achieved.

HTH. In terms of reference materials the Writers and Artists is good, and from Pitch to Publication is quite a good rough guide (though with the occasional puzzling oddity). Good web resources include Nicola Morgan's site, and Nathan Bransford's blog, though the latter is US based and therefore you have to adjust for their differences.

You can of course go direct to publishers or do other variations according to your bent.

What Flora said, also the WAAYB Guide to Getting Published covers the same ground as Carole Blake, is very good and is from the PoV of writers

www.amazon.co.uk/Writers-Artists-Yearbook-Getting-Published/dp/1408128950

Nicola Morgan's got a new e-book out on writing a synopsis, which is very good - you can get it from her site (And also, at my especial request, includes Carole Blake's own update on her suprising taste for 4-page synopses...).

http://www.nicolamorgan.com/author/publishing-advice-books/synopsis/

Emma

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As it happens, Danuta Keane has just blogged about submitting to agents:

http://www.danutakean.com/blog/how-to-submit-to-an-agent/

Good version of the usual advice.

Hi Michael,

firstly - well done on getting the first draft of a novel completed. Lots of would-be writers never get that far.

But it is, as you say, a first draft - in which case, I would say don't even consider submitting it to anyone. Unless you are an exceptionally rare person who can write perfect copy the first time round, then it's unlikely to be sufficiently polished yet.

Why not post some on one of the forums here, get some feedback and then get cracking on the second draft? And by all means dream ahead and check out who you might want to send it to when it's ready.

But so many manuscripts (including many of mine) have fallen by the wayside simply through being submitted too early.

Now that the first draft of my novel is nearing completion, can anyone please provide a me with short, bullet point list on recognised advice for getting published or direct me to recommended reference material.

Two points here. First, there is no definitive recognised advice as such for getting published. It all depends on the publisher's need and the timing; and of course the quality of your book in being able to match that need/timing (good luck!). There isn't really any recognised advice even on how to submit. There's plenty of stuff you shouldn't probably do; and of course there's being professional. Which leads me to:

And traipsing through all the posts on this site is a bit time consuming.

Unfortunately, being professional means quite a bit of traipsing. For example, I submit a lot of short fiction. I've now got a pretty good working knowledge of what different magazine/journal editors are looking for/not looking for. Nevertheless, and even with my super-efficient submission records templates, it still takes me quite a bit of time just to register a story as rejected and send it out to another magazine. This is because I always check and double check on current requirements, and that means reading guidelines, blogs, the stuff they publish, etc.

Second, the rules for submitting depend to a degree on where you're at as a writer. Some of the short cuts that can be taken you'll discover when you're ready for them. To take them before you're ready can be counter-productive. What helps you in advance of being ready is to network as much as you can - go to conferences, talks, workshops, etc, where you're likely to meet editors and agents. Subscribe to Publishers' Marketplace; read the Bookseller; join any associations connected to the genre you write in.

Also bear in mind that any advice you're given will never be definitive. For example, others on this thread have advised you to submit to agents first. I'd say try publishers too; find out how to do it. But I'd also add a warning, that given the huge transition traditional publishing is going through at the moment, you need to be very careful about any contract you sign, either with a publisher or an agent.

Terry

Yes, I think Terry makes very good points.

Also there is a lot of value in doing your own traipsing - it's only by sifting the information yourself that you can find the pieces that are specifically relevant to you.

There are many roads to Rome and very few - if any - are shortcuts.

Thank-you everyone. It is very encouraging to receive such thoughtful and detailed replies.

PS Freebird - I've had sections of my novel proofed and commented-on by my 'red' team of trusted readers... so I know that it is 'very not polished' ... but the story makes compelling reading ( I say so!), and I'm having fun playing around with the development patterns, links, threads, character traits, consistency etc.

PPS I'm not ruling out the stalker approach with the CEO.

Michael

ah, that's the best bit - when you have all sorts of ideas firing about how to make it work even better. Good luck with it!

Let us know how you get on with the stalker approach, Michael! After all, if all else fails...