Getting Published

Writing a book – your first novel is something that is both exciting and daunting, or at least this is what I found it to be.  Having finished writing, a friend of mine in America read it for me and told me I should try and get it published.

I didn’t think I a stood a chance of getting it accepted.

But I took her advice and I sent off to many publishers – all told me that it wasn’t what they were looking for.  One of them I am sure had not even read my synopsis, because their comments made no sense to what my story was about.  Another said I had too many characters, another one said the story was too complex.

I was only writing a modern romance, I thought it might appeal to a range of people – perhaps holiday makers who like to take books away with them to read on the beach or some such thing.

I looked into the idea of self-publishing but I was not sure this was the way I wanted to go.

I then purchased a copy of ‘Writer’s Market UK & Ireland’.  I then spent a week or so going through this, finding publishers who would be prepared to take a look at manuscripts without me first getting an agent.  I then sent out a few hard copies of my books – this was quite expensive.  I also sent some via email.

I then had two publishers who got back to me with positive comments.  The first told me that they may be interested, but they would not be able to give me a positive answer for a couple of months.

The second said 'yes' they would publish.

Both wanted me to pay some of the publishing costs.

Now I am only writing as a hobby and money is not that plentiful.  My ambition at this point in time was to see my book published.