# Getting published **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608 "2011-03-14T01:24:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/1 "2011-03-14T01:24:22Z")
I was trying to get my novel publuished, so I took a look in Writer’s Market 2011. I ahd a choice between hitting up publishers directly or trying for agents, and I thought I might go for the latter option. Anyway, much the same letter. Anyone have some experience or have any advice that way? It’s a Young Adult/Supernatural novel with strong action elements. It’s designed for a somewhat more “realistic” style, with events which have a serious impact on the young hero’s life. To some degree, it was a reaction agaisnt the pseudo-realism of modern fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/2 "2011-03-14T02:05:36Z")
You’re better off going with agents these days; few publishers read slush. Blame word processors and Nanowrimo. Find agents who handle that sort of book and contact them. And never pay money to an agent for any reason whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/3 "2011-03-14T02:11:31Z")
Ironically, I actually did write it during NaNoWriMo. But the plot, setting and characters been developing for years. I jsut finally said, “screw that, I writing this NOW” when NaNoWriMo came around. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/4 "2011-03-14T04:49:14Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Ironically, I actually did write it during NaNoWriMo. But the plot, setting and characters been developing for years. I jsut finally said, “screw that, I writing this NOW” when NaNoWriMo came around. 😃 I don’t have any publishing advice, but the very successful YA novel The Forest of Hands and Teeth was a nano project too, so I hardly think it’s a negative unless someone plans to send off the _exact_ draft written in November. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/5 "2011-03-14T05:03:15Z")
Wannabe novelist asks: what’s NaNoWriMo? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/6 "2011-03-14T05:15:57Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Wannabe novelist asks: what’s NaNoWriMo? [This](http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano). ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/7 "2011-03-14T05:25:20Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > [This](http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano). DUH!! :smack: I HAVCE heard of this! Wouldn’t help me much (I have too much planned out) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/8 "2011-03-14T13:13:59Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Ironically, I actually did write it during NaNoWriMo. But the plot, setting and characters been developing for years. I jsut finally said, “screw that, I writing this NOW” when NaNoWriMo came around. 😃 It’s not that NaNoWriMo is bad, but it brings a bunch of bad novels into the marketplace, filling up slushpiles. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/9 "2011-03-15T22:20:08Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It’s not that NaNoWriMo is bad, but it brings a bunch of bad novels into the marketplace, filling up slushpiles. Well, I tried to be serious, and by serious, I mean it’s an insane situation where the main character’s friends are almost as horrible monsters as the villains, with him caught in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/10 "2011-03-15T23:39:08Z")
Write another book, or three, equally as good. An agent wants to know that you’ll make them money, and having 2nd and beyond novels ready to sell (or mostly ready) goes a long way. Also, learn how to accept rejection as part of the process and not let it discourage you. Just keep at it for as long as it takes. The literary world is loaded with stories of very successful authors being rejected for years before finally getting a yes. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/11 "2011-03-16T16:49:59Z")
A published novelist told me it is probably better to be unpublished than have a book published that did not sell. In other words once you have a book published that fails it’s not easy to get your 2nd book published. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/12 "2011-03-16T16:53:15Z")
For what it’s worth, I got my book published without an agent, but that’s because I couldn’t interest any agents in my book. (It’s also a special case – the publisher had a reputation for publishing works by unpublished authors.) And I find that, even with that and my other regular publications now on the record, I _still_ haven’t been able to interest any agents. Not for lack of trying. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-published/574608/13 "2011-03-19T23:40:14Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Write another book, or three, equally as good. An agent wants to know that you’ll make them money, and having 2nd and beyond novels ready to sell (or mostly ready) goes a long way. I’ve read mixed things about this, mainly that it can be harder to sell publishers on taking a chance on a series by a new author…of course, I could be misunderstanding, and you’re talking about 2-3 unrelated novels, not a series. I’m working on finishing a novel currently, and have 1/2 the first sequel written as well. IS it a good thing (down the line when novel #1 is complete) to disclose to a potential agent that I intend for the book to be the first in a trilogy, and that I’ve done a substantial amount of writing on the second book already?