Completing the first draft of your manuscript, whether for a novel, short story, non- fiction book or magazine article is a major achievement. Yet having accomplished this Herculean task, which may have taken years, you are still much closer to the start of the publishing process than you are to its end.

Your first draft is only the beginning. Now comes the re-writing, and yet more rewriting; then the synopsis, probably the hardest writing you will ever do; after that the introductory letters or emails and the weeks of research to find the right publisher.

Stepping out onto the path of being published is every bit as daunting as writing your book, short story or article.

Like a lot of things, getting published is partly talent and partly luck, though knowing the steps required in the process definitely helps refine your luck and if you put time, effort and hard work into the process, your goal of being published may become a reality.

So what is the process? The first thing any writer must do is produce a high quality product. Your work has to touch all the bases: be succinctly and cogently written and free from obvious errors, be grammatically correct and properly punctuated and laid out to industry standard.  If your manuscript isn’t all these things, submitting it to a publisher is a waste of time.

In this workshop John Harman takes you step-by-step through the process of getting published, including analysing the option of self-publishing. He will cover…

• Assessing your manuscript for story-line and/or narrative structure
• Proofing for grammar; punctuation and Industry Standard Layout
• Doing your own market research
• Finding an Agent
• Approaching a Publishing House directly
• The query letter: what must it say?
• Writing the Synopsis
• Considering the market for your work
• Devising a chapter summary
• Deciding whether to self-publish: what are the factors to consider?
• The basic steps of self-publishing

© John Harman 2011