Getting Published - 1. Finish Your Novel

A reader from Malaysia who is working on a novel has asked me how one gets published in the UK. This is a regular question I am asked by many people in the UK as well.  I thought it would be useful to share what I know* here on the blog for
all my writer-readers - and my readers who are non-writers, you may enjoy a look behind-the-scenes of writing and publishing.

So, this is the first in a series of weekly posts on Getting Published.

First things first. Write your novel. Finish it. Don’t even think about trying to get it published before you have typed out "The End". This is particularly important if you are a first-timer.

Why?

• Without a finished book,it’s like opening up a stall with only half-finished products for sale and saying to your customers, "Oh yeah, I’ll finish it if you want to buy it."
• What are you going to do when the agent you sent your first three chapters to says, "Yes, I love what you’ve written so far. Give me the rest of it tomorrow"?
• If you thought for too long about how convoluted and tough the process is from your first submission to seeing the book in the bookshops, how many hoops you’re going to have to jump through and how many hoops other people like your agent and editor and the whole publishing house team are going to jump through to get your novel published and on the bookshelves, you would never ever even think "Oh yes, I’d like to write a novel and see my name in print."
• Because of that process, your editor will want to know that you have the commitment and stamina it takes to finish a book. And then do several re-writes. And read through the manuscript again and again checking for typos and errors.
• If you start thinking about being published before you finish writing your novel, you’ll start thinking about what other people think about your work and, is it any good and, is it publishable and, will it sell and what will you say when you’re interviewed by Oprah and.. and.. And everything else apart from the story, the words, the characters, the book. So focus. If you don’t love your story and characters etc for long enough to stick with them to the end, then who else is going to love your book and buy it and read it?

I adapted the old Chinese saying to keep me going while I wrote The Flame Tree: the longest novel begins with a single word. And you just keep putting one word in front of the other until you have, in my case, 180,000 words. And when you get to write The End it is very very satisfying.

So keep going, word by word. Just do it. Keep writing and finish the thing.

Next week: What to do once you’ve finished the manuscript.

*PS. These tips are based on my own personal experience and research that I have done for these posts. If you are a writer or publishing industry professional and would like to share your views or add your tips, I would love to hear from you. Please add a comment or email me.