You want to get published? The first rule is, don’t bother writing the book of your heart. Write something’s that commercially viable. If you manage to combine those two and do it well, congratulations. You might become a best-selling author in record time. Or…you might not.
I always thought my local newspaper had a love for self-published authors. If you’re legitimately published, even through a small press, it’s like pulling teeth to get coverage in this newspaper. Even to do that, apparently, you have to “know” somebody or your minor publishing success (where a publisher paid YOU for your book) is not news.
You might think there’s a lot of genius involved in writing fiction, but if that were true, it doesn’t explain why there’s so much writing that just isn’t that good. Unless there’s a new definition of genius of which I’m not aware.
But at the same time, if I never sold another thing, would I keep writing? Yes, of course, because if I give up, then assuredly I won’t sell anything else.
