February Roundup: How to get Published

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the monthly roundups!

At the end of every month, I'll be tackling a more evergreen question about writing, publishing, and the writing life by providing some brief thoughts and then some great links to professional writers' and editors' blogs, so you can get a variety of perspectives.

Basically, it's like a one-stop shop for your internet-searching needs.

Let's start with one of the basics: How do I get published?

There is one small glitch in the Matrix—that asking “How do I get published?” is a monster question and not easily answered. There are many, many paths to publishing, so it helps to narrow the focus.

Some questions to consider:

What’s your end goal in publishing? For instance, do you want to simply publish a book, or do you want to make a career out of writing/publishing?
Are you looking to publish traditionally (your book in Barnes & Noble, for instance), or is self- or indie publishing your goal?
If trad or indie, how seriously do you want to pursue publication?
Do you want to publish one book or multiple books?
What do you want out of it (career, hobby, pleasure, etc.)?

Narrowing this down will help tremendously. Check out the following links for resources, tips, anecdotes, and advice on How to Get Published below:

Jane Friedman, columnist for Publisher's Weekly

https://www.janefriedman.com/start-here-how-to-get-your-book-published/

Writer's Digest

https://writersdigestshop.com/pages/how-to-publish-a-book-an-overview-of-traditional-self-publishing

Stephen King, author

https://jerryjenkins.com/stephen-king-writing-advice/

Nathan Bransford, author and former literary agent

https://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/08/how-to-publish-a-book

Malinda Lo, author

https://www.malindalo.com/blog/2019/12/10/9-lessons-from-10-years-in-publishing?rq=published

Tomi Adeyemi, author

http://www.tomiadeyemi.com/blog/how-to-share-your-story-with-the-world