Is anyone a published author or an editor?

[surlycurly]

Hi, and thanks for having a look at this thread. I was just wondering if anyone is a fiction author that wouldn’t mind give me a bit of advice? I’ve become a bit lost down a rabbit hole about publishing and am not sure how best to approach getting some feedback on my novel, and, hopefully, how to go about getting it published. As we all had to start somewhere I’d really appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance.

I used to be an editor publishing, though I'm not anymore.

The standard route was send a synopsis and a sample chapter to an agent. Try to identify an agent who specialises in the genre you write in, don't just send in willy-nilly. It'll take a lot of goes before anyone will bite, even if you're good, but keep trying.

OTOH, that advice could be 20 years out of date, I don't know how digital publishing may have changed things.

I presume there are feedback services online but I'm not sure how you find one that is reputable. There's a lot of people out there preying on enthusiasm and inexperience of aspiring authors I imagine.

@Echobellythank you so much for the reply. Your approach seems much like the advice online. The problem is that there are a million publishing houses, and I only know the well known ones, as it were. As for the rest, well it’s an absolute quagmire of people offering services that all seem to be geared at making money from enthusiastic new authors. I’m not sure how marvellous my book is but I do think it has some potential. I am clear that I don’t want to self publish. Thank you so much for the reply- I very much appreciate it.

It’s been over a decade since I last needed a copy but this was always a good resource:

A copy of Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2026 would be invaluable. Full of information and good advice. If you are specialising in children's lit. there is a Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook too.

www.whsmith.co.uk/Product/Writers--Artists-Yearbook-2026--The-best-advice-on-how-to-write-and-get-published/15613336?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-7g6Q0J17YlDFpwLp7mTIirephf&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5OCXjvzAjAMVmoBQBh3QdSDTEAQYBCABEgLx9PD_BwE

I'm a published author.

If you've written anything that could be called romance, have you thought about joining the Romantic Novelists' Association? They have a New Writers Scheme that gives feedback on a full length manuscript as part of the joining fee - I'm not sure about some of the other associations but I think that the Sci Fi writers do something similar. Even if they don't give you feedback you will make valuable contacts (I first got published and also got my agent because I was a member of the RNA).

https://romanticnovelistsassociation.org/

I am a not an editor/publisher but I am a writer (as yet unpublished but newly agented so I have been writing and querying agents for a few years). In most cases, in order to be published you need an agent. There are some publishing houses that accept unsolicited manuscripts but I suspect they'll be smaller houses. The Writers and Artists' Yearbook is an excellent resource to give you more information on agents and publishers.

In terms of getting feedback, there are lots of reputable editorial services like Cornerstone and Curtis Brown but they do cost. There are also lots of great courses, and competitions to enter (some offer feedback, some could win you a publishing deal), and you can pay for short agent 1-2-1s as well, eg through I Am in Print. The cheapest way to get feedback is join a critique group, online or IRL. Find a writing community - Twitter used to be good for writing community and it's still there although lesser. Or try Instagram. Follow authors you like or write in the same genre, and seek out other writers who are doing the same and follow them too, and see what resources, talks, courses are available. Join an online writing community like Writers HQ, Write Magic or Jericho Writers and get really immersed in your genre. Work on your writing. Do pitch events and perfect your query letter. And be prepared for it to take a while! Good luck.

Oops. The link didn’t post 🤷‍♀️

It was for the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook another poster recommended.

Thanks so much to all. I have no timescale for this so appreciate it will take a while, if I’m lucky enough to get it published. Much appreciated for all the invaluable advice. I better get busy!! (Also- more literally fiction- not romance/ kids or sci fi unfortunately)

The best of luck with it, OP. Literary fiction can be an incredibly tough sell and, because most of the money is in genre fiction it can be hard to find agents and publishers who deal with it, which slightly restricts your options.

But well written fiction will find a buyer, just buckle up for the long ride and, in the meantime, get started on your follow up (most publishers will want to grow an author's career, so they will want to see you are serious about your writing by wanting to know 'what else you've got'.)

Thank you again. I’ve started a second novel and have a third (potential sequel to the first book) planned out. I’ve always written but decided to take it seriously last year. It’s a stimulating and rewarding journey so far. Now I need to do the hard bit…

I'm not published, but what I've done so far (other than buy the Writers' Yearbook mentioned upthread) is:

First and second draft critiqued on Scribophile, which is an online critiquing group. There's various ones around, but that's the one I've got on best with.
You can join for free as a basic member; I choose to pay annual subscription, which is cheap for what you get. You critique other works (which does also really help your writing) and in return you can ask for your stuff to be critiqued. It's good fun and we even have a MN group (not very active) on it. I get a huge amount out of it.

Then I paid for a full Cornerstone report. This was excellent, but expensive. You get a written report and a 1-2-1 zoom meeting. My agent was fantastic, and I was on for a good couple of hours with him. I did another rewrite from that.

More recently I had a IamInPrint 1-2-1. This gave me some good ideas, but it's only 15 minutes zoom so did leave me with a good number of unanswered questions that there just wasn't time to go into. But it was much cheaper than Cornerstones, and still worth doing.

Read John Thompson's book on the publishing industry. 0.25% of manuscripts get picked out of the slush pile. I would also consider self-publishing.

Merchants of Culture is the title

Thanks all. I have even more to learn than I thought!!