Tips to get published

People always ask me how they can get published, and I wish I could say that it’s easy to do. It’s not. It’s hard. But never fear, if I did it, you can do it … it just takes a lot of hard work, determination, and talent.

1. Read a lot
I know, I know, all authors say it, but it’s true. I read every day when I was growing up, and even though I don’t have as much time to read now as I’d like to, I still love a good book. Do you get that excited feeling when you pick up a new book you know you’re going to love it? Can you instantly tell me what your favourite books are, and why? Do you know why some books are bad, why some are slow, and why sometimes you give up before you’ve reached the third chapter? These questions sound simple, but if you think about it – and I mean really think about it – you’ll understand why reading loads is important when you’re writing. If you don’t think your book will be better than the ones you’ve read, then you need to consider a different job. This isn’t a career for the faint hearted.

2. Write a lot
When you’re writing a book you need to be 100 percent confident in your writing voice, your style. When I was writing The Making of Mia I thought I had it sussed, but it wasn’t until I was about halfway in that I found my true writing voice … and it’s a style and tone that’s never left me. And the thing is, I wish I’d known this before I started writing properly. I’d written a couple of chapters of a horror book a few years before, but until I sat down to write Mia, I hadn’t written any fiction before. None. If I had, I could have developed my style before learning how to do it on a real book … and even now I cringe if I look at Mia. It may not be to obvious to others, but it’s all too obvious to me. I really learnt how to write when I was creating Mia, and while I love the book and wouldn’t change it for the world, I wish I’d practiced my writing first.

3. Know what you want to write about
Before I start writing a book (and especially the dialogue, which I like writing best), I have it all planned out. I write a synopsis of everything that I want to happen, then I divide it into sections, then chapters, then scenes. I literally know everything that’s going to happen in the book – as it’s important that you reach all your milestones in your plots – but I also like to see what the characters want to do, and see where they take me. For example, I had the ending of Spotlight all planned out, and I’d worked out the perfect way for Beau Silverman to get his come-uppance. When one of the characters told him what they were going to do to him, he turned around, laughed, and told them why their plan wouldn’t work. I was horrified, and I had to go back to the drawing board. Even though I invented him, and he’s completely fictional, Beau Silverman still managed to screw me over. Probably because I was dazzled by his swarthy good looks.

4. Actually write your book
When I was writing Mia I had a full time job. I’d write for an hour or two every evening after I got home, and then I’d do a 12-hour stint on a Sunday. That’s right. 12 hours. I did this for nine months, and after all that hard work I had a finished manuscript. People think authors are lucky, that a fairy godmother has twinkled into their homes and told them to write a book, but unless you were born very rich or to Kingsley Amis or another author, that’s not going to happen. You have to work hard, be dedicated, and be prepared to give up other aspects of your life to get it done. Lucky for me my mortgage repayments at the time were extortionate, and I didn’t have any money to go out and get drunk. If I had, I’m not sure I’d have got my book done ….

5. Find an agent
Even though I’m not Martin Amis, I was incredibly lucky when I found my agent. I picked him because I loved an author he represents (Louise Bagshawe), and I wrote him a letter telling him why I thought I was as good as she is (I don’t actually think I am). This made him laugh so much that he looked at the sample chapters and synopsis I’d included with my letter, and he encouraged me to keep writing. I did, and when I finished my manuscript, he sold it to the first publisher he offered it to. So I was extremely blessed when it came to finding an agent and getting a publisher – the first agent I approached took me on, and he sold my manuscript straight away. I know this hardly ever happens, but it can happen. If it doesn’t, don’t despair. I know lots of authors who had plenty of rejection letters before they got anywhere. Keep going … but if it doesn’t happen after a year, think about why it’s not happened. You might be a great writer, but if your book’s about vampires, you should probably forget about it. Publishers want the next big thing, not last year’s news. A few more points – never send your manuscript directly to a publisher, it will go straight in the bin, and approach agents one at a time. There’s nothing that pisses an agent off more than him offering to represent you only to find you’re already represented.

6. Don’t stop working hard
I love my agent and publisher, and even though I have a book deal and have written two books, I still work hard. There are some days when I get up late, play with my kittens, and stare into space – but they’re few and far between. Just because you have a deal you’re not guaranteed success, and you need to keep working hard … but trust me, it’s so, so worth it.

Good luck!

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