Chapter One: On the Path to Getting Published

I began writing a couple years ago because I love words and mysteries. Naively, I expected to get published right away and earn big bucks for turning out, in my opinion, a pretty gripping page turner.

When I deemed my Young Adult Mystery ready for print, I began querying agents to find someone to represent it. Over a period of months, my efforts yielded many no-responses and auto-rejections, some requests for more material, and a few personal, favorable comments but no offer for representation. At one point, I thought I’d snagged an agent but, to my sorrow, she bailed.

Not surprising, numerous agents cited the downturn in the economy as a reason for not taking on new writers. Now that the economy is showing some signs of recovery, I’ve decided to give publishing another shot.

I’m starting this blog as a forum for serious beginning writers to pool information about the frustrating and confusing task of finding a literary agent. It’s true that a lot of sites and books offer such advice but I’ve found many are outdated, contain erroneous information, or offer useless tips on topics such as spell-checking and repeated editing. I’m assuming that anyone who seriously expects to publish is aware of the basic fundamentals of polished writing and practices them zealously.

It’s my intention to share my querying experiences through this blog with other new authors. In turn, I hope they will share their efforts with me so that we can weed out querying tactics that don’t work and identify and promote those that do.

As I renew my attempts to get my novel published, I welcome the input of not only beginning writers but established writers, agents, editors, and teachers who can help us negotiate this seemingly hopeless phase of our writing careers.

Let’s get published!