Getting Published

From Mark Grisham: The best advice I could ever give to anyone attempting to get a book published is to have faith in your abilities and never give up. I have yet to hear of an author who had an easy time getting published. (except for celebrities who do very little of their own writing) David and I were rejected by several publishers before we signed with Borders, and we almost gave up hope ourselves.

The process of hiring an agent and submitting manuscripts is a slow and painful procedure. Unfortunately, because of the sheer number of submissions made to publishers each year, some good books do fall through the cracks. Even my brother John, was rejected almost thirty times before he found a publisher for A Time To Kill, and things worked out pretty well for him.

If you are serious about being an author, you must continue forward no matter how difficult that may seem. You must also be able to handle criticism of your work. Another bit of advice I can share is to be patient when you are submitting queries to potential agents. I would guess that a lot of writers sign with the first agent that contacted them. Unfortunately, we did. This can be a mistake if you rush into it.

If it is at all possible, try to arrange to meet your agent and spend some time getting to know them, before you sign an agency agreement with them. There are many sources on the internet where you can look at an agents’ track record to see how many books they have had published in the recent past and how well these books sold. Search the internet for other authors that your potential agent may have represented, and contact them if you so desire. The agent that you hire will determine in a large part, how successful of an author you will be. I cannot emphasize how important a decision this is. Once you do hire an agent, be patient, because the slow process of finding a publisher can be hard to deal with.

John once told me, “Leave your agent alone and keep writing.” That was sage advice. It is very hard to do, but you must. The easiest way to handle your frustration with the slow process is to bury yourself into another book or project. Even after you sign with a publisher, you still need to be patient. Hopefully, your advance will make that easier to do.

Publishers do not get in a hurry though, and the average book takes around eighteen months to from the time you sign your contract with them until your book is published. That can seem like a very long time, so don’t quit your day job. Just keep busy writing your next book and maybe by the time your first book is published, you will already be finished with your second book. If you are lucky, then maybe your dream of becoming a published author can come true. I know mine has.

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Mark Grisham, an aspiring author, and David Donaldson, CEO/President of Impact Missions, co-wrote Bedlam South. A portion of all book sales will be donated to Impact Missions, a faith-based ministry dedicated to providing care to abused children, hurting families and impoverished people. To learn more about the book and the charity, visit Bedlam South.

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