Be Professional

Aside from writing the most incredible, riviting, heart-warming, tear-jerking, action-packed novel you possibly can, your reputation is the only thing that will make you stand out in this business. Make sure it's a good one.

Start this business the way you'd like to continue in it...professionally. Remember, it is a business.

Learning your craft and the publishing industry are the first steps to professionalism. Submitting crisp, well-written work in the proper format to the proper place is your first (and sometimes only) opportunity to demonstrate this. That manuscript may be all an editor or agent will ever see of you. You may think a submission on flourescent paper with a bold script font will make you stand out, and it will. Your manuscript will scream UNPROFESSIONAL. This is one case where you should leave all the creativity to your words. Plain paper and standard fonts will make you stand out—in a much quieter but more important way. They show you know what you're doing.

Handle every contact with an agent or editor carefully. This a close-knit business and people move around frequently within it. That agent you're dying to get may have once been an editor who remembers your call in response to a rejection letter and every foul-word and threat that went with it. ;-)

Always think before you speak. Always look before you leap. Always spellcheck before you submit.

 

• Believe In Yourself/Take Chances
• Learn Your Craft
• Learn The Industry
• Be Professional
• Network
• Get Feedback on Your Work
• Just Do It