[ SECRET POST #2971 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2971 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.


__________________________________________________



13.


__________________________________________________



14.









Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 086 secrets from Secret Submission Post #425.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

It might also be worth saying that it might take 8, 9, or 10 years to actually find the publisher who'll bite. And during that time, you need to be networking and self-promoting your fucking ass off.

That's the thing that stops people. It's not the writing; it's not the editing. It's the amount of time it can take to land a deal, and a lot of the times, landing a deal is more about striking at just the right moment and knowing just the right people than about having a decent body of work.

[(Anonymous)]

Yep, this. It really does take ten years to become an overnight sensation. Brandon Sanderson was writing his 13th doorstop fantasy when his 6th was picked up. And the only way to make it is Write, Submit, Write, Submit, Write, Submit.

I have been doing this networking thing for years--and by "networking" I mean "making actual friends with people without regard to what they can do for me." And it all came together in one lovely package not too long ago, and I was offered a book contract last week for my one and only novel.

But I didn't write that novel and sit on it. I wrote that novel, and before and after I wrote a boatload of shorts. I am still writing shorts; I'm working on my 52nd short as we speak. I use the Submission Grinder to find markets, I have a spreadsheet, and the second it comes back it goes out again.

The only way to make it in this business is psychotic persistence and rhino skin.

[(Anonymous)]

I can't make claims of knowing anything about the publishing business, but I agree. I've known a few aspiring writers who basically gave up after one rejection letter from one publisher. I think they were dazzled by stories of authors who got really, really insanely lucky and "got discovered" or hit the jackpot unusually quickly without a lot of effort, or else they failed to notice that some authors got their start doing stuff like writing short stories for obscure magazines or freelancing for websites or taking commissions rather than writing what they really wanted to write or otherwise getting a foot in the door by doing unglamorous work.