Well here we go. This is going to be the twentieth and final excerpt in my series on how to write a novel. Go ahead and copy these lessons or save them however you want. I will leave them on line until I am finished with my eBook and then pretty much exactly what you are reading right now will cost. I wanted to offer my advice for free at first because I want people to feel the same passion for writing that I do and feel the tingling inside your body after you finish your first novel.
96. Do This Properly
You have to go out and get a Fed Ex package and get ready to send your book out. Make sure you’re not sloppy about doing this. Take the time to make sure everything is sealed up properly. Make sure it is all squared up. This package is going to be the first impression that a would be agent is going to see and if done sloppily things could go wrong for you right off the bat.
97. Give Your Novel Away
Okay whether you believe it or not the next step was the hardest one for me. I had to give my book away to someone I didn’t know. Remember this was my first book. It almost felt like I was giving one of my kids away. But you have to trust Fed Ex. After all this is what they do. Make sure you keep your receipt. Now you may as well forget about your novel because it is very, very rare that you ever hear anything sooner than 2 months.
98. Kind Of Fun
You have worked hard to get your novel written and submitted so now you can have some fun with it. It’s time to relax and let your hair down. Go ahead and have a drink or something and think about the future of your book. Imagine that it gets picked up for a movie. Start thinking about which famous actor is going to play the lead. Think about who is going to play the other parts. Just remember this is all in fun but in life you have to allow yourself to dream.
99. Just Forget About It
Remember you have to wait at least two months and in several cases you will wait longer for a response if one even comes. Do not even think about doing anything before two months. If after a couple of months you haven’t heard anything then by all means you can send a short letter to the agent. I do mean short. Make sure it is just an inquiry letter and not something that is going to look like your pleading your case.
100. This Sucks But Its Normal
Rejection does suck but you have to turn it into positives. At least you know your work is getting looked at. Follow through on the suggestions that most agents will send with rejection slips. Don’t forget that most of the famous authors out there were rejected numerous times before their works were published. If you take it personally then I can guarantee that your writing career is over so instead of pouting while you are waiting go ahead and start your next novel. You will be surprised how much easier the next one will be to write.
Well now it is time for this series to come to an end. I hope everyone has enjoyed it and even more I hope you have started using it. Please keep watching for more writing tips from me. I will be doing a couple of more long series but I will also be doing a lot of shorter How To Write lessons on several different topics. So now I will sign off and let you get you novel going. Remember you write for yourself first and everybody else second.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment