Going Pro

[Xathan]

I admit this thread is an ego boost and also written entirely when drunk off of celebrating that my first story is actually getting published - we go to press on Tuesday.

I've gotten a fair number of questions about this since I've returned and figured I should answer them, but wanted to put it in a separate thread. This is a guide to getting published, not necessarily as an RPG writer, but in some fashion.

1) Be a Professional.

Should be obvious but it's amazing how many writers hide behind "artistic blah blah" or "writer's block" to push things back. Publishers don't give a shit. You want to get published, don't make excuses, don't delay, don't fudge - write your best as quickly as possible and make sure you meat deadlines.

2) Be Good.

You don't have to be the best, but if your writing is crappy or the artwork is crappy, no one's going to touch you.

3) The rule of 10.

You have 10 to make a good impression and hook your reader. If it's a short thing, 10 words. Longer stories, ten sentences. Novels/Graphic Novels? 10 paragraphs/pages. Make sure you can hook them as quickly as possible, because your first reader is going to be an editor, who won't bother past those first 10 if he's not interested - and if he doesn't bother, no one else will ever get the chance to.

4) Network.

Make friends with people with even tangential influence in the industry. I've got a friend whose brother-in-law is publishing a board game and another friend who does art for the company that hired me. You need an in, and without that you're facing an uphill battle. If you don't have that...

5) Craigslist.

I know it seems silly, but dozens of people every day are looking for writers with talents and work ethic - display both, and you'rg going to find someone willing to hire you. The pay may be crap, but once you get that first published credit, your chances of going published again increase 4-8 hundred percent. And to make that even better...

6) Blog.

This isn't one I did but it's a good suggestion - if you have a blog with 10,000 regular readers, than publishers will view that as at least 10,000 books they're going to sell. Having an established blog/webcast/whatever that has some degree of popularity  will give you an in better than anything else on this list.

That's what I've got for now. Let me know if you have any further questions/comments/snide remarks, I welcome all.

[Steerpike]

Congratulations on getting published!  What's the story about?  Where did you you place it?

[Superfluous Crow]

Yes, congratulations must be in order Xathan. I wish you every kind of success! And I will echo the questions of Steerpike.

[Ninja D!]

Pretty solid advice there. I think you put a little more stock in the blog than most publishers would (or at least exaggerate a bit), though a blog can be a great sample of your work and show of strength of fanbase.

[Ninja D!]

Oh, and I forgot; Congrats and ditto on the questions. Also, remember that even if it does poorly just getting this far shows that you're pretty damn good and have made it further than most that have tried.

[Seraph]

Congratulations!

[LordVreeg]

Nice!!!  Glad you are back in time to share the good news!

[Xathan]

Thanks all for the congratulations! I'm so stoked - it's been something I've wanted since as long as I've been able to understand what it was. :P

For those that asked, it's a short horror comic being published in Red Moon Features. It's called an Old Man's Musings and with a title that descriptive, since it's only two pages, elaborating further would kind of defeat the "twist" at the end.

And Ninja D! - I probably did over-exaggerate the importance of the blog, but every publisher I've talked to about anything has always asked if I had one, so it's a useful tool.