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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 4777284" data-attributes="member: 54707">Con, as a published writer I can tell you how to go about getting published, not how to write, what to write, or by what means.I have been a non-fiction writer for a long time. Mainly for private clients, white papers, analyses, reports, etc. But published often as well.Writing is a business, and as such there is nothing special about the business end of writing. It has its own peculiarities as an industry, but these things merely take a bit of familiarity in order to become habituated to the demands of the industry.Because of this I say, study the business end of the equation, if you desire business success and profit.Every business requires at least three things in order to succeed, professionalism of execution, adopting the standard practices and modes of that particular business or industry (e.g.. proper formatting - at least until such time as you establish a reputation and can start improving on old forms of practice), and networking. You must establish yourself on all three fronts in order to be in demand.By the way I have recently turned from writing non-fiction exclusively to seeking publication for my fictional writings. I have learned that although both fiction and non-fiction involve writing and publication, fiction places very different publication demands upon the writer than does non-fiction. For a whole host of reasons. Therefore I have spent the past year or so fully familiarizing myself with the fictional markets and how they operate in contrast to the non-fiction markets. They are not the same in either market expectation or execution.Therefore my advice to you, other than the general advice given above is to thoroughly research your markets and market demands. Network, make contacts, and both nourish and exploit those contacts. Create and establish viable and workable relationships with individuals within the industry who can assist and guide you. And finally submit on a regular basis to the appropriate markets (finding the proper markets, researching them, and locating the proper individuals with whom to network is of course up to you - that is part of the business end of both writing and publishing).With fiction markets I have found the real secret is, once you have mastered all other necessary and required ends of your writing profession, simply to keep your works in circulation so that they can be viewed by as many potential and appropriate editors and publishers as possible. Finish a work, submit it, and then forget about it until such time as you receive a reply, and while you await that reply write more works and submit those to other markets. In a business sense this is exactly the same as exposing your product to as many potential manufacturers, retailers, shippers, jobbers, etc. as you can. In business you would not produce a single product and then sit around hoping to locate a single perfect buyer. That is a profitless and usually bootless endeavor. Instead, you would expose your product to as many potential buyers in your given market as possible and then seek to establish profitable business relationships with either the best, or most (or ideally both), mutually beneficial parties you can locate.You do not take your goods to the market and then attempt to sell to only one man, and then wait weeks or months for him to make a decision. You would sell to any qualified buyer willing to meet your terms and price, and ideally sell as often as possible to every qualified buyer willing to meet your terms and price. Don't kill time, for time is money, waiting on one party to make a decision when you could have dozens of work products in circulation at any given time. In that way, in the fiction market, even in niche markets like the gaming market, the odds favor your eventual discovery and success. But in fiction writing slow submission rates equals slow acceptance rates. And that's very poor business.So, business is business. And that means busy-ness. Keep your work in constant circulation even as you seek to constantly improve your other related writing skills. It doesn't matter how good you are if no one ever sees what you can do, and on the other hand many very poor writers keep getting published often because they at least understand the difference between perfect art, and poor business practices.Would that they knew far more art in many cases, I'll certainly grant you that, but at least they understand commerce. So if you're in this to be a starving artist (and I'm not saying you are) then I say, "don't bother." There are far easier and more productive ways to starve well, and often.If however you're in it to succeed then you must know at least as much of the art of business as you do the business of artistry. So, that being the case, get busy, and stay that way. The rest will come through practice and experience. And research and experimentation.  Though don't bother re-inventing the wheel either. Just get somebody who knows to show you how to grease it, and keep it turning in the right direction.That's why God made people who know more than you do.And somebody always knows more than you do, or I do - for that matter.It's just the way things are.Good luck, and Godspeed to ya.But then again, if you do it right, you won't need the luck so much...</blockquote>

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