So You Wrote the Great American Novel and Now You're Ready to Be Famous

Your novel is complete. It is filled with characters that will captivate any reader. The plot will bring them to tears one minute and have them gripping the book with suspense the next. Once they start reading they will never put down; it can't miss. All you have to do now is pick a publisher and follow the guidelines to submitting your manuscript. Once that is done you will just sit and wait to get famous. It shouldn't take too long for the publisher to realize what a great masterpiece you've sent. The question is, should you take the first offer or shop around for a better one?

Hello, hello, earth to writer, earth to writer. I'm sorry to bring you out of your dream but it will only happen that way if you are qualified under at least one of the following three criteria.

You have name recognition from some other work like you're a movie star, a famous athlete, you're a politician, or you're sleeping with a politician.
You have high academic credentials that make you a known expert in a field.

You know someone that can get you in with an editor.

If you don't meet at least one of those three criteria then you have just started to work on your novel. There are some realities to deal with. Yours in not the only great American novel; it is one of tens of thousands that are written every year each by a writer who firmly believes there is no story like their story. Publishing is a business; it is not a charity. Publishers will publish the manuscripts that are more likely to make them money not manuscripts that contain the best story. A badly written story by a famous person will beat out a million great stories written by unknowns. A publisher can count on people buying a crap book from a famous person just to get his or her autograph at a book signing. A mediocre story will be published over a great story if the writer of the mediocre story knows someone that can get that story under the nose of an editor with a positive recommendation associated with it. If you don't have an in, it is likely the great story will never make it out of the slush pile.

So what do you do? Do you give up on this whole writing thing and spend your spare time playing computer games? No, if you are serious about making the effort there are several routes you can take none; of which are easy. No matter how long it took you to write the novel, I guarantee you it will take longer to sell it.

There are many sites that offer print on demand deals. They all have their own sales pitches and some cost a little and some cost a lot. I am no expert on every site or the best route to take, but I haven't seen in my experience that spending more money on these sites gives you a big boost over spending the minimal amount. The steps to setting up your manuscript at a print on demand site are quite simple but make sure you read everything and understand what you are paying for before you put in your credit card number. The minimum you should get is an ISBN number and having the book submitted to Amazon and maybe another web site or two in addition to the publisher's web site. The purists will say that an author doesn't pay to have their book created; they get paid. If you don't meet one of the three criteria above, that is not realistic.

OK, you're going with one of the many methods that will get you a printed book. Now what are you going to do? Now you must spend many hours a day working to make yourself known to the people that would be interested in your book. There are many directions to pursue. Networking is the term that is used most these days to describe the next step. If you have any connections in your community or through work or extra curricular activities that would allow you to set up a public reading and a book signing; they should be exploited.

You need to join online forums and contribute almost every day. Your signature line should mention your novel and where it can be bought. This is a lot harder than it sounds. You should be regular on six ten forums that deal in areas that are related to your novel. If your novel is science fiction you will want to be on science fiction, and alien speculation, and astronomy type forums. You need to read the subject matter and contribute. You want your opinions to sound expert so it is best to research an issue if necessary before giving your opinion. You can see how this can be time consuming and not all that much fun. Pushing your writing is work.

Join sites like Associated Content and display your writing skill by writing articles that people will read. You may protest that you are a fiction writer; well you can be a purist when you're rich. Right now you have a talent and you need to use it. Once you write a few articles on familiar subjects you may find that you actually like it. You can also make a few bucks in the process. When you have a few articles going you may slip in a chapter or two from your novel as a teaser.

You may be getting the picture now that writing is no quick path to fame and fortune. You have a talent and it is worth the effort to use it, but it is an effort so get yourself going.