[Note: I just want to disclose I\u2019ve had my book published by Bookkus, it can also be found on Goodreads, and I\u2019m a member of Book Country. I\u2019m much less familiar with Wattpad (I do have a short story posted there) and Smashwords.]<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve finished writing your novel \u2013 congratulations!\u00a0 But now what do you do with it?\u00a0 Where do you send it?\u00a0 If you follow the old rules, you carefully print it out, mail it to a publisher with a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and eagerly check your mail each day.\u00a0 Now, of course, there are a number of other options.\u00a0 You can self-publish an e-book very easily, or you can post it to Wattpad, or Book Country, or send it to Bookkus (among numerous other options).\u00a0\u00a0 So what\u2019s the option that is most likely to get you to your goal (no, not to have it published, that\u2019s easy in the e-book age) \u2013 to get some readers?<\/p>\n
At this point you need to take a hard look at your novel \u2013 how well polished is it? Is it a first draft or a tenth draft?\u00a0 Have you had it read by anyone who would be honestly critical (this excludes your mother, best friend, other close family members, and that person who really, really wants to be your significant other)?\u00a0 Look, it\u2019s a great ego boost to have someone tell you your novel is the best thing since (fill in the blank based on genre), but what you need is someone who will say: \u201cHmmm, have you run spell check on this?\u201d or \u201cThat plot twist doesn\u2019t make any sense \u2013 no one is that stupid.\u201d Yeah, this will deflate the old ego, but more important it will tell you what you need to do to really make your book as publishable as possible.\u00a0 On the other hand, if you belong to a writer\u2019s group and have been getting honest feedback as your book has developed and grown, then you\u2019re in an entirely different league.\u00a0 This is where the decision comes in.<\/p>\n
Think of your options as a spectrum.\u00a0 On the really well polished end (lots of valid, critical feedback received, been through multiple drafts) you can try sending to an established publisher.\u00a0 If it\u2019s only a first draft, and you have no opportunities to get critical feedback then you need to post to a writer\u2019s workshop like Book Country.\u00a0 From about the center of this spectrum (been through a few drafts, gotten some critical feedback and considered it carefully<\/em>) and ranging towards the well polished end is Bookkus.\u00a0 I should add there\u2019s always the option of self-publication (and plenty of companies that will be more than willing to help you for a fee), you can also post to Wattpad or Smashwords, but I think of that as just dropping out of the system and literally going it alone. Don\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s worked for some, but a) your novel better be damn good, and b) you\u2019d better be prepared to spend a lot of time marketing, etc.<\/p>\n Okay, next time \u2013 when Book Country works for you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [Note: I just want to disclose I\u2019ve had my book published by Bookkus, it can also be found on Goodreads, and I\u2019m a member of Book Country. I\u2019m much less familiar with Wattpad (I do have a short story posted there) and Smashwords.] You\u2019ve finished writing your novel \u2013 congratulations!\u00a0 But now what do you…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,8,6],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-photophoosk100","4":"post-244","6":"format-standard","7":"category-jotting-and-stray-thoughts","8":"post_tag-getting-published","9":"post_tag-novel","10":"post_tag-writing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/259"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245,"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomwolosz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}