Writing for Publication – Why You Just Might Need a Writing Coach!
November 17, 2009 by Working Writers Coach
Filed under Blog
Okay. I admit it. Even though I’m a writing coach, which means I’m SUPPOSED to be very patient with writers, I DO get a little (okay, maybe I get VERY) impatient with people who come to me and say, “I don’t need a writing coach. I write very well, thank you. In fact, I have no trouble making up stories and writing them down in just a few minutes. And I have a professor who edits my work. I just need to know HOW to find a publisher. Please tell me how to do that.”
If only traditional publishing were that easy.
If only all I needed to do was give a writer a list of publishers and say, “Here. One of these publishers is just perfect for your work.” And then that writer would immediately get a book contract from one or more of the publishers on that list.
Yeah, if only things were that simple. But here’s the way traditional publishing REALLY works – and, in many ways, I’m GLAD it works this way!
Writing for publication (and by publication I don’t mean self-publishing because in today’s world anyone can self-publish and market anything) is a bit different from JUST being able to write well.
Writers who wish to have their work published by traditional publishers need to write well, of course. But they also need to know what makes a manuscript marketable.
For example, many times a writer will come to me with a story he/she has written for the children’s book or magazine market. This story may be well written in that it is compelling, there is an actual plot, and there are no grammatical or spelling mistakes. But yet, the story still might not be marketable to a traditional publisher because the writer did not know all the elements traditional publishers look for in a story for children. So, while I know a particular publisher might be perfect for the TYPE of story this writer has written, I’d still need to coach this writer a bit to help him/her revise the story so that it IS marketable to this (or another) traditional publisher. This means that even though this writer THINKS he does not need a writing coach, actually he does.
So, here’s my best advice to anyone hoping to write for publication by a traditional publisher. Take time to LEARN the business of writing the type of work you wish to have published. Learn not only how to write well, but learn how to produce “marketable” manuscripts.
If you do that, you’ll have a much easier time finding a traditional publisher, and you’ll probably also have a much easier time selling your published book.
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