10 Essential Things to Do Before Getting Published

Getting published by a traditional publisher is a process that can take a long time. Querying agents and publishers and trying to get your book noticed is not easy. And there’s a lot of competition out there. But there are things you can do BEFORE you approach agents and publishers that can help you on your journey to getting published. Some of these things may make your submission to agents and publishers even more attractive. As well as help you stand out from the crowd.

While it’s vital to put time and effort into writing and editing your book, you should also be thinking about what you can do to get published. It’s never too early to start building your author platform and to get your book marketing ducks in a row. In fact, having an established author platform, networking with other writers and building your social tribe can all help you get published. Building your writer profile and your network of readers takes time. That’s why I always advise to start planning well in advance of trying to get published.

Here’s my list of 10 Essential Things to Do Before Getting Published

1. Create an author website and blog.

Setting up an author website and a blog takes time. So, it’s a good idea to get started on that now if you’re serious about getting published. Creating a website using WordPress, Wix or Squarespace is relatively easy. But if you’re not technical, or don’t have the time, you can outsource this to a web developer.

Having an author website is the most powerful tool in your book marketing arsenal. Unlike social media accounts, a website is a piece of digital real estate that you own. It’s not at the mercy of social algorithms. It can be a hub where you can list everything from your author bio, updates about your work in progress, contact details and – once your book is published – links to where to buy your book from.

You can also use a website for blogging about your writing journey and starting to build an online community. Make sure you include links to your social media accounts. Another great thing to add to your website is an eNewsletter sign-up form. This way you can start gathering email addresses for the day when your book is published and ready to promote.

Use your blog to engage with book bloggers, reviewers of your genre and other writers. Building a community takes time, which is why you need to start well in advance of your book getting published.

I highly recommend blogging as a means of reaching an audience of engaged readers and book lovers because I’m a book reviewer and blogger in my spare time! You can visit my book review blog What Jane Read Next here.

2. Use social media to start building a reader base before you get published.

I highly recommend starting an Instagram account and building a following of fellow writers and readers. Instagram is a fantastic place to find potential readers because it’s the home of #bookstagram and plenty of other reading and writing hashtags. What is bookstagram you ask? Bookstagram is a community of thousands of book lovers who share photos and reviews of books. It’s a huge, friendly community who live to read. And it’s a great place for authors at any stage of the publishing journey to connect with readers. You can find my bookstagram account at @jane.read.next.

If you’re writing a business-related non-fiction book then you might connect with a different audience on Instagram than bookstagrammers. It just depends on what subject you’re writing on and finding where your potential readership hangs out. You might be more likely to find them under business related hashtags, or on Twitter, PinInterest and LinkedIn.

I won’t go into details about how to connect with readers via Instagram – that’s worthy of a series of posts. But if you set up an Instagram account and start sharing content related to reading, writing and books, you will start to gather a following.

Here are a few more tips on engaging on Instagram:

• Check out what hashtags bookstagrammers and other writers are using and make sure to include hashtags on each post.
• Follow writers and readers who read and write in your genre and comment on their posts.
• Spend time getting to know people and having conversations by comments and DMs.
• Reply to any comments you receive and keep the conversation going.
• Make sure to like, comment and share other people’s posts in return.
• The more you engage and be social, the more you’ll get out of this platform.

Slowly, but surely, you’ll start to build your community. Focus on making friends, not just followers, if you want real engagement. Also, when it comes time to submit your book to agents and publishers, having an engaged Instagram following will really help your chances.

Don’t leave it at Instagram. Facebook and Twitter are also great places to start an author account. Make sure you use the name you will use when you get published. Also, set up an author Facebook page rather than using your personal account. Facebook groups are also great places to network with other writers and authors in your genre. Getting familiar with a reading and reviewing platform like Goodreads is also a great idea. Basically, you want to start hanging out wherever your readers get together online.

3. Read as much as you can in your chosen genre.

I’m surprised when some writers tell me that they don’t read. They say that they’re too busy writing to read. These same writers often struggle to categorise where their writing fits in the marketplace. What’s the best way of keeping up with the current book marketplace? By reading!

It’s so important to make time to read if you want to become a published author. The reality of the publishing industry is that books have to be classified into genres in order to market and sell them. Booksellers and retailers have to know what category to place a book in. Genres come with certain plot conventions and word counts. Fantasy novels tend to be on the large size. But if you submit a 100,000-word YA novel, you may struggle to find a publisher. You should have an intimate knowledge of the genre you’re writing and your book’s place within it. Not only will it improve your writing, you’ll also be able to position you book easily and accurately in the market when approaching agents and publishers.

That’s not to say you can’t mix genres. But you should start out writing your book knowing what genre you’re writing for. It’s much harder to try and shove your book into a genre once you’ve written it. Also, be original. Put a fresh twist on a genre. If you’re writing a romance, chances are that your readers will expect a happy ending. But you can be original about how you get there.

4. Network with other writers and authors.

No man is an island and the same goes for writers. Writing is such a solitary exercise, so it helps to develop relationships with other writers. Follow fellow writers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It can be inspiring to follow published authors as they sometimes share tricks of the trade or give tips on how to get published. Follow authors who write in your genre as they can be a good source of advice and support. Join your state writer’s centre or a local writing group in your area. Do short writing courses and workshops to meet other writers. Join online writer forums. Remember to focus on building relationships, but never hound anyone.

There’s also value in following and connecting with aspiring writers who are unpublished. Or authors on the cusp of publication. If you offer support and encouragement to other writers throughout their publishing journey, they’ll be sure to return the favour. If a writer friend is getting published, offer to read and review their book via your social channels. They will then do the same for you when you get published.

And who knows what opportunities will arise when you support a fellow writer. It could be an introduction to their publisher or agent when your book is ready for submission. Other writers can be your greatest source of support when you’re writing your book. And then your greatest source of promotion when your book comes out. So, start building those relationships today!

5. Workshop your work in progress.

Your chances of getting published increase when you have a strong manuscript to submit. Agents and publishers can’t go past a well-written book with a fresh take on a genre that fits the current marketplace. Although having a writing profile and an author platform helps, it’s still all about submitting a quality manuscript.

But how do you whip your book into shape? Well, you need to show it to people and work on it. It’s difficult to edit and judge your own work. It can help to let other people read your book and offer their constructive feedback. I’m not talking about giving it to your mum or friends who will only sing its praises. You need to give it to people who know how to write or who are avid readers of your genre. Try workshopping it with other writers by joining a local writer’s group. Use professional BETA readers to give you feedback on your book. Trust me when I say that outside feedback will strengthen your writing. Other people will see that giant plot hole that you haven’t seen.

You also need to make sure your book is free of spelling and grammatical errors. After this workshopping and rewriting stage, you might like to get more professional feedback from a reputable manuscript appraisal service. Or work with a freelance editor to help iron out any problems with your manuscript.

Publishers and agents don’t expect to receive a perfect manuscript. But if your manuscript is riddled with errors then they won’t continue reading. Make sure the sample chapters you submit are the best they can possibly be!

6. Keep your eye on the market.

It’s no good writing a book and then finding out it’s too similar to other books on the market. It’s just another book in an oversaturated marketplace and there’s just no room for it. While it’s hard to predict the next great trend in publishing, trends come and go. Be careful about writing a book because you think it will be a bestseller. By the time you write it and try to get it published, the market has probably moved on, or become swamped with similar books. One year it’s all about vampires, the next colouring books. A hit comes out like The Dry by Jane Harper and suddenly every publisher is scrambling to find Australian crime novels set in remote places. Or non-fiction books with swearing in the title.

This tip goes hand in hand with reading a lot in your genre – you need to keep up-to-date with the marketplace. How?

• Follow the book publishers in your country who publish the kind of book you’re writing. Subscribe to their new release newsletters.
• Browse your local bookstore in person and subscribe to book retailers’ emails.
• Keep your eye on the bestseller lists.
• See what books are ranking highly on Amazon.
• Join bookstagram or start a book blog to keep up with what readers are loving.

If you do this, you’ll start to see trends emerge. It will also help you to position your book in the marketplace when submitting your book to publishers and agents. Keep in mind that your book might not be published for a year or more after your book is acquired. A lot can happen in that time. Also when it comes to querying agents and publishers, they like it when you can tell them where your book fits in the marketplace.

7. Look out for writing events and writing competitions for unpublished authors.

Writer’s festivals are a great place to go and learn about the writing and publishing world. Sometimes there will be panels on how to pitch your novel to publishers and agents. Sometimes you can even pitch your book idea directly to decision-makers.

Go to author talks at your local bookstore or library. You’ll often meet and talk to an author in person and get to ask questions about their writing and publishing experiences. It’s also inspirational to hear from other writers who are making it in the publishing world

Look out for unpublished manuscript competitions and other writing competitions. Often the prize will be money and a publishing contract or a handy editorial mentorship. There’s quite a few of them in Australia and all offer a great pathway to publication.

Here are some of the unpublished manuscript competitions in Australia.

• The Richell Prize for Emerging Writers – This competition is run by Hachette Australia. The winner receives $10,000 in prize money and a 12-month mentorship with a Hachette publisher.
• The Australian/ Vogel’s Literary Award – This competition is run by Allen & Unwin Book Publishers in affiliation with The Australian newspaper. It’s for unpublished manuscripts from writers under 35-years-old. The winner receives $20,000 and a publishing contract with Allen & Unwin. Sometimes runners-up also end up getting their book published. (I know this for a fact because I used to work at A&U!)
• Penguin Literary Prize – The PRH Literary Prize, launched in 2017, was established to find, nurture and develop new Australian authors of literary fiction. The prize is valued at $20, 000 and the winner receives a book every month for a year, plus the potential for publication with Penguin Random House Australia. Submissions are open to all Australian residents aged 18 and above.
• KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award – This prize is run by Kill Your Darlings magazine. The winner receives a $5000 cash prize and a mentorship with Hannah Kent, or Rebecca Starford (both are published authors). It’s open to fiction and non-fiction writers. There are also a few other writing competitions available via the KYD website.
• Write It Fellowship – This is run by Penguin Random House Australia and aims to find, nurture and develop unpublished voices across all genres (fiction and non-fiction for both adult and young reader age groups), focusing on writers from a socio-economically marginalised background, LGBTQ+, Indigenous or CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) writers, or writers with a disability. As part of the fellowship, the winners travel to Sydney to participate in a PRHA Open House Day with Writing NSW.
• The Banjo Prize – This prize was launched by publisher HarperCollins Australia in 2018. The winner receives a publishing contract with HarperCollins and a $15,000 advance. Two runners-up receive a written manuscript assessment from HarperCollins. It’s open to fiction writers.
• The Ampersand Prize – Run by Hardie Grant Egmont Publishers, this is a prize for unpublished manuscripts for Young Adult and middle-grade fiction. It’s taking a break in 2019 but will be back in 2020. The winner receives an advance against royalties, a publishing contract, and full editorial development to bring their book to market.
• Text Prize – Run by Text Publishing, this is another prize for writers of Young Adult and children’s books. Published and unpublished writers are eligible to enter with works of fiction or non-fiction. The winner receives a publishing contract with Text and a $10,000 advance against royalties.
• Valerie Parv Award – This prize is run by Romance Writers of Australia (RWA). It offers romance writers a one-year mentorship program with the bestselling Australian romance author Valerie Parv. As a bonus, every entrant receives a critique from a judge on the first 10,000 words of their manuscript. Note that there are plenty of other competitions to be found on the RWA website.

Even if you don’t win a prize, often runners-up still receive publishing contracts. It’s also a great incentive to get your manuscript, synopsis and query letter up to scratch. As well as getting your writing in front of publishers. Just make sure to follow the entry details exactly and read through the terms and conditions.

If you need a publishing professional to look over your submission to any of these competitions, I can help. I can assess your synopsis, sample chapters and anything else needed for the competition and offer feedback on how to strengthen and improve your submission. You can find more information on my Book and Author Marketing page. (Note I don’t write the submission for you. Just offer you guidance.)

8. Build your writer profile before getting your book published.

What do I mean by this? Having a published writing track record matters to agents and publishers. If you’ve won a prestigious short story comp, or had articles published in the mainstream media, this will get you attention from publishers and agents.

If you’ve never had any of your writing published, consider beefing up your writer profile before approaching agents and publishers. It’s one more thing that can work in your favour. Try to get articles or short stories published in mainstream literary journals or mainstream media to grow your writer profile. Or do a guest post on a popular blog. All this helps to raise your profile as a writer. It can help your submission stand out when they are considering your manuscript for publication as it shows them that you have proven writing expertise.

Having an established writing profile is also a great marketing hook that agents can use to get a publisher interested in your book. Or it can capture a publisher’s interest if they see people responding enthusiastically to articles you’ve written. It’s especially important for non-fiction authors to have published content in their chosen field. Or to have a speaking platform — even a podcast. It makes you look like an authority on your subject.

9. Start preparing a strategy for approaching agents and publishers.

Once you’re in the process of editing and refining your book, start compiling a list of agents and publishers to approach. In Australia The Australian Writer’s Marketplace is a great resource for this. It’s an online directory that contains a complete list of Australian publishers and includes the type of books they publish, whether they accept unsolicited manuscripts and how to contact them. You do have to pay to subscribe to this service. Alternatively, you can google publishers and most will have a page telling you if they accept unsolicited manuscripts and how to submit your manuscript. Literary agents will also list these details. You can find a list of agents via The Australian Literary Agents’ Association website.

Not every publisher or agent will accept your book proposal. Many don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. Make sure you pay attention to what genres they accept and don’t waste your time or their time sending a submission if they don’t accept your book’s genre. Pay close attention to their submission guidelines and follow them to the letter. Many writers will get their work rejected because they failed to follow the submission guidelines.

Do your research. As well as reading books in your genre, read articles on how to get published. Listen to podcasts by publishers and agents. Visit your local bookstore and look at books in your genre of writing. Look at the acknowledgement pages of books similar to yours as authors often mention their agent or publisher by name. It can give you some ideas on who to approach. Learn as much as you can about how the publishing world works in addition to writing the best book you can.

By the way, I offer a service where I can help you hone your cover letter, synopsis, author bio and other pitch material before you approach a publisher or agent. View my Query Letter + Submission Appraisal Package here.

10. Work on your mindset.

Try to be realistic about your writing and your chances of getting published. Few people write the perfect novel on their first attempt. It may be your fourth manuscript that gets published. While you can always self-publish, if you want to get traditionally published, know that it may not happen quickly or easily. You might be a great writer, but competition to get published is fierce. But you can use your time honing and improving your writing, networking and building your author platform. Above all, learning all you can about writing.

Work on the “I don’t like marketing myself” mindset. Some writers that I have worked with fear the marketing process and putting themselves out there. But the authors who succeed are the ones who understand that marketing is an essential part of the publishing process. And the marketing part kicks off before you get published.

If you want to become a published author, you have to be able to market yourself and your book. And this marketing process continues before, during and after your book is released. Very few authors get away with not doing interviews. I know it’s tough to put yourself out there – most writers prefer to write rather than promote (me too!). But it’s the nature of the publishing industry that you need to be an active participant in the marketing and publicity of your book. If you’re planning on becoming a self-published author, you’ll have to do it all yourself.

On the flip side, don’t psych yourself out. Whatever you do, keep writing and don’t give up on the idea of becoming a published author. So many bestselling authors were rejected time and time again before getting traditionally published. While getting published is a challenge, if you keep working on your writing and learning how to improve it, your perseverance will pay off.

In Conclusion…

The journey to getting published traditionally is about writing the best book you can, as well as starting to build and grow your author platform. You need to network with other writers and be on the lookout for writing opportunities. Keep your eyes on the market and read, read, read as much as you can.

No one’s path to getting published is quite the same. I hope these pointers give you some ideas on how to improve your chances of getting published.