Advice for Writers

It’s tempting to imagine that knowing a published author might help you to get your own work published.

Sadly this is rarely the case. The ability to write something publishable doesn’t mean that you have the deep and up-to-date understanding of what publishers are looking for in a manuscript. And agents and publishers might respect an author enough to smile nicely when you tell them about your friend with a manuscript. But it stops there - unless the manuscript already has all the requirements that would make it shine on the slush pile, it isn’t going to get any further.

I have totally failed to help get a single one of my closest friends a book deal!

So although from time-to-time I may offer the odd comment or snippet of advice from my own experience of writing, it’s going to fall very short of the intensive advice you need for taking yourself on the long hard road to publication.

And it is long and hard. You need lots of moral support on the way. The most important people will be those closest to you, your family and friends, who will keep the fires of hope burning alongside you. But fellow travellers can also help.

So I always advise people to join an online writing community such as Litopia (www.litopia.com) or Writewords (www.writewords.org.uk). They are two terrific websites for helping people get critiques of their work from fellow writers, both published and unpublished.

Litopia is FREE but there is an entrance test to ensure that the writers there are serious enough about their craft to have reached a basic level of competence. There is also a free weekly podcast about the week in publishing, regular short story competitions and uniquely, access to a top London literary agent who answers questions in a dedicated ‘Ask the Agent’ forum.

Writewords charges a subscription of £20 or £35 per year but has more UK-based members than Litopia and also has a wide range of specialist critique groups, including Young Children, Children and Young Adult. Writewords also has a database of jobs (freelance writing) national writing competitions and very importantly - agent contact details. It also features regular interviews with published authors (many who started at Writewords) and literary agents.

Both groups also have a lively, dynamic discussion forum where writers at EVERY stage of the publication process can share experience, successes, woes and everything about the writing process.

You’ll find more advice on those websites than I could ever possibly give you.

If you are a writer and are looking to get published, I strongly advise you to join one or both of these terrific resources for writers. The members of both communities will make you feel you’re not alone in the process and support you all the way.

Good luck!!!