How to become a Published Author

An article by Kody Boye

It's a question that every aspiring writer asks at one point or another. It's on the tip of their
tongue, the back of their mind, or in the palm of their hand, a constant source of 'how' always
beckoning to be answered.
That question is no more complicated than this:
How do I get published?
It might seem complicating and difficult when you think about it, but, really, what all are you
thinking about? Are you thinking about getting your work into print, the work it takes to get your work
to a publisher, or about the work it takes into getting an agent? All are questions that can be answered
one way or another, though finding an answer simple enough to understand without pulling your brains
out can be a bit of a challenge.
So... the question is, once again:
How do I get published?
Before we can go into that detail, let's take a look at a few more questions you should be asking
yourself before you even begin to consider trying to get your work published.

- Is my work good enough to be published?

- Am I willing to wait weeks, possibly months for a publisher to get back
to me?
- Do I have a thick enough skin to take 'No' as one person's opinion and
not think said person is out to get me?

If you have answered 'Yes' to all three of these questions, or if you've even managed a 'maybe'
on the first one, let's continue on. If you managed to answer 'No' to any one of these questions, you
might want to step back and prioritize just what you want to do with your talent. You don't want hurt
feelings when you face the untimely and highly possible rejection.
Without further ado, let's continue, though keep in mind that every experience is different, and
not everyone gets published on their first or even twelfth try.

Step 1: Make sure your work is well edited.

A good writer knows what it takes to make their story shine in an editor's eyes. It takes story,
characters, emotion, plot—but, you might be asking, what else are they looking for? That answer is well-
written stories. If your work is littered with spelling mistakes, typos, and inconsistencies, you are likely
to get rejected within the first paragraph, if not before that. The first and essential step to getting your
work published is being a good writer, but also knowing to edit your work. Read through your story
before you send it off. If you’re not sure about something, ask a friend to read it for you and give their
opinion. A polished story glows in its own way, especially to an editor who receives more than his/her
fair share of bad writing.

Step 2: Make sure your manuscript is properly formatted.

You might be thinking, 'Formatting? What's that?' To answer simply, formatting is the way a
story is laid out for someone to read. Do you add spaces between your paragraphs? Do you italicize or
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underline thoughts? Do you use dialogue tags when your characters are talking, and do you place the
necessary dividing marks between each scene to signify a break in the rhythm?

The best and easiest way to ensure that your manuscript is properly formatted is to read a publisher’s
submission guidelines, but also to know Proper Manuscript Format. A simple search on Google will most
likely lead you to William Shunn’s website and his very helpful article on how to properly format your
work. In a nutshell though, proper manuscript format is usually best followed like this:

1. Your real name (not your pen name,) address, email address and phone number
should be displayed in the upper left-hand corner.

2. Your total wordcount should be right aligned in the upper right-hand corner. This is
usually accomplished by tabbing your wordcount so it appears flushed to the right. Your
wordcount should be rounded down or up, depending on whether or not the last two
digits or your wordcount is above or below fifty.

3. A space or so below your information should be the title of your story—centered,

with the name you want to be credited as below that.

4. Your story should appear at least one or two spaces below your pen name.

5. Your story should be typed in Pt. 12 Times New Roman or Courier Font, contain a
number stamp (#) between scenes to signify scene breaks, and should contain proper
paragraphs, as you would see in a regular book.

6. Your story should also have headers on every page but the first. Your last name, the
shortened title of your story, and a page number (inserted by using your word
processor’s ‘insert page number function’) flushed right. It should look something like
this: Story/Boye/Pg.#. Look to the header in the upper right-hand corner for an example.

Following the Proper Manuscript Format will ensure that your work is well received by editors. It
will look clean, professional, and most of all, proper, giving your work just another nudge up the
publication ladder.

Step 3: Finding a publisher.

Finding a publisher is usually the hardest part, and finding one that won’t scam you is another
challenge entirely. In a nutshell, you should look for a few specifics things when you’re looking for a
publisher.

1. The publisher has a domain name that doesn’t resemble

www.thisawesomewebsite.freewebsites.com. An early sign of a publisher having a lack
of funds, the lack of a domain name is a tipoff to writers to be careful when submitting.
If they don’t have enough money to establish a professional web presence, where does
that leave you?

2. NEVER submit or agree to any kind of contract that involves paying to be published.
There’s a difference between paying for services from a freelancer and having the
publisher take your money to pay for these services. Cover art, editing, printing and
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distribution are in the publisher’s hands—you should NEVER pay for them. Publishers
that charge to publish your work are referred to as ‘Vanity Presses,’ and should be
avoided at all costs.

3. Make sure you receive and sign a contract. Having your story published is great, but if
you’re getting paid for it and they’re asking for certain rights, you should own a legal
contract which states that the publisher only get specific rights for a certain amount of
time. NEVER sign away your rights for an indefinite period of time. Printing rights is one
thing, exclusive rights are another. If you’re not sure about the contract, ask someone.
It’s better to be safe than sorry.

4. If you’re unsure about the market, type the publisher’s company name or the editor’s
name into Google, or visit the Preditors and Editors website. Designed to keep you in
mind, Preditors and Editors watches markets and receives feedback from those who
have had dealings with them. If they’re good, they’ll say so—if they’re not, they’ll let
you know.

With this in mind, finding a publisher isn’t the easiest thing in the world. When I myself am
submitting my stories, I use one of two websites: www.duotrope.com or www.ralan.com. These
websites are one of many that list markets actively looking for submissions. They’ll allow you to narrow
your search to specific parameters (whether you want to get paid, how much you want to get paid, what
genre your work is in, whether you want to submit electronically or by post,) which will save you and the
editor of the webzine trouble.

Step 4: Submitting
Submitting is the easy part. After following the given submission guidelines, type the editor’s
email into a new message, follow what they specifically ask for in the subject line (this usually involves
something along the lines of, ‘Submission: This Amazing Story by The Amazing Amazoness of the
Amazon.’ )

Once that is finished, write a submission letter. They usually look like this:

Hello,

My name is Kody Boye, and I’m submitting my story entitled

‘STORY’ for your consideration.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

~ Kody Boye

Below your name should be the contact info you specified in your manuscript—your real name,
address, email address and your phone number. A submission letter should be short, to the point, and
contain only the information asked for. Don’t mention any unnecessary details (age, race, marital status,
etc.) A bio might be requested, but take note in including what you’d like people to know about you in
your bio, nothing more than that.

Step 5: Waiting
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There’s really nothing you can do for this step. Whether a publisher will get back to you within a
week or a month depends on several factors—the number of submissions they receive, the length of the
stories, the holidays, and personal matters. Editors have lives too—many don’t live exclusively on their
work. If you haven’t received word on your story, query, but don’t send too many—the editor looking at
your work might have personal matters or something worse that might be keeping them from getting
back to you.

Step 6: Acceptance or Rejection

Having your work accepted will mostly entail a repeat of the above. An editor will ask you to sign
a contract, they’ll ask you to edit your work to their specifications and, if necessary, edit your work
themselves, and they’ll pay you depending on what kind of submission you sold.
Rejection, however, is tricky. As noted above, don’t take a rejection personally or as a personal
attack against you. Ten editors might not like your story, but there’ll be another who will. There’s no
need to respond to a rejection unless there’s feedback involved. Deleting it and wiping it from your view
is the easiest way to avoid possible confrontation, which can get you blacklisted (as in, permanently
banned) from said publications. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Don’t feel the need to
defend yourself if they say something snotty. It’s them with the problem, not you.
When rejected, simply repeat the steps outlined above and resubmit the story. It’ll get picked
up eventually if it’s good.

Step X: Tips
Here are a few added pointers to get the best out of your submission process.

1. If a market doesn’t respond to you a month after they say they will, query them—but
only once. A query a month is polite and tactful. Anymore will leave you open to
speculation and might get you rejected.

2. If for some reason your queries are going unanswered even after you’ve sent multiple
messages, simply write an email introducing yourself, the story you submitted, and say
you are pulling the story from consideration. It’s easier to submit one story to one
market at a time so issues with simultaneous submissions don’t arise.

3. If an editor responds to you in a way you feel uncomfortable with, simply respond by
saying that you’d like your submission taken from consideration. You have to consider
your professional reputation early on. You don’t want people not reading your work
because of the people you associate with.

4. It’s highly recommended that you get a P.O Box and a cell phone before you start
dealing with people you don’t know. Horror stories arise in all shapes and forms from
writers who have given unstable individuals their physical address and home phone
numbers. From stalking, to calling you in the middle of the night, to harassing you for no
reason at all, the writing field isn’t immune to its share of crazies. A P.O Box can be
rented for fairly cheap, and a Trac or pay-as-you-go phone only costs how much you use
it. It’s a highly effective way to ensure that you’re safe when dealing with someone
you’ve never met before. This way, if the person on the other end of the line DOES in
fact have some problem, you can simply throw your Trac phone away without too much
money lost. With a retail price for around thirty dollars (some of which include minutes,)
it’s a safe investment to partake in.
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Remember, fellow writers—honest and truthful publication relies on talent and a publisher’s
ability to work with the author. Though this isn’t to say that bad work will never get picked up, a writer
with a shred of talent will usually ALWAYS be recognized sooner or later. Like anything, you only get as
much out of it as you get in, so don’t give up submitting, and definitely don’t give your talent up just
because you’re rejected. It takes years upon years of practice to become a good writer, and even then,
you’re always learning.

About the Author

Kody Boye is a dark genre writer
and life blogger currently residing in
Southeastern Idaho. He is the
author of the out of print zombie
novel Sunrise and the short story
collection An Amorous Thing, which
is now currently out of print. His
short fiction has appeared in over
thirty-one anthologies, magazines,
webzines and podcasts. You can
visit him online at KodyBoye.com.