Want to publish your book?

A month or so ago, I spoke with a woman who was considering attending my October 14 Tools & Tactics for Creative Writers lecture. But, before committing, she had a question.

"Will your talk cover how to get an agent?"

I should have just said "yes," and left it at that, but instead, I asked her to tell me a little about the writing she had done.

"I've written a children's book," she told me.

I talked to her a bit about what it takes to get a book published these days. It's very difficult. The publishing landscape has altered entirely in the past 5 years. And it's almost as difficult to get an agent as it is to get a publisher.

But the questions I get most often from people who don't know that or who don't yet have a lot of writing experience is, " How can I get an agent [or a publisher]?"

I spoke to a friend about this and she suggested that I begin my talks with information about how to get an agent or a publisher, to get that out of the way. The information is downright depressing, but there actually are ways to get an agent and/or a publisher. It's not easy, but obviously it can be done.

So, what I'm going to start with in the future is:

To get a publisher, you need an agent.

To get an agent, you need a book proposal and/ or an outline, and a query letter. (If it's fiction, you need several sample chapters or--gasp--the whole book.)

To write a query letter and book outline, get an agent, or get published, you need a platform.

To do all of the above, you need to write very well.

And you need support and guidance.

I've simplified the steps quite a bit, and hope I haven't left anything out.

But the good news is that it's possible to get an agent and get a book published. It's done all the time...