Copyrights You must copyright your work before submitting it to a publisher. Wrong! Putting a copyright notice on your manuscript is the mark of an amateur. Professional writers know that Publishers will have the work copyrighted for them. Also, many publishers are offended when they see the copyright notice on your manuscript. It is as though you are saying you think they might try to steal your work. Besides, more than 90% of countries in the world are Berne Signatory Nations, which means that your work is considered copyrighted the minute you write it.

Perfection Publishers care mainly about grammar, punctuation, and spelling. More baloney! Publishers care more about the subject and quality of your writing than with spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors.

It takes time. The longer a publisher takes to answer, the more interested they are in my manuscript. Your submission could as easily be lost or sitting in a pile unread. Some publishers can take half a year or more to merely glance at your story—or more than a year to politely reject it.

The big secret. There is some secret formula to getting published. All you need is a great book. And a really, really, REALLY thick skin.

Agents To sell my work, I must get an agent. Though it has become harder to sell children’s books without an agent, you can still do it—and getting an agent may be as hard as getting a publisher. Agents are more useful and available once you’ve sold on your own.

Uh Uh: Put your ss# or proper copyright notice and the rights you wish to sell on the first page of your mss. Never give a publisher your ss# until you have a signed contract. A publisher doesn’t need your ss# until they have paid you and have to make their records show that the expense is legitimate. (In Canada, it is illegal for an employer to even ask for your social insurance number until after you are hired.)

Keep it Moving You should keep circulating your ms among editors until it is published. It is a good idea to keep your manuscript in circulation, however, if several editors have returned it, there could be a reason for it. Re-read the manuscript and try to determine if there is something that could use further work. If you don’t find any problems, then send it back out. Maybe you just haven’t found the right publisher yet.

Who you know. You should know or kowtow to the right people in order to get published. The only things that will help you get published are talent and hard work. You could be personal friends with two-dozen publishers, but that doesn’t mean that any of them publish your type of book, and they are not going to change their publishing routine just to accommodate you. Also, kissing up to publishers to get your book published will just convince them that you are desperate enough to make a fool of yourself, and that isn’t the type of person they would want their business connected with.

One at a time. Most publishers prefer that you only send your manuscript to one at a time. However, there are a few that will accept simultaneous submissions. The main problem with submitting to more than one publisher at a time is that you could run into big trouble if your manuscript is accepted by more than one of them. Turning down one publisher to accept another could mean never being published by the publisher you turned down.

Book editors don’t like multiple submissions. Regardless of official pronouncements, most editors no longer discriminate. They sympathize with the reasons for multiple submitting and have even come to expect it.

Rejections You should send the rejected ms out to another editor within 24 hours of getting the rejection. Don’t let rejections get you down. There are many reasons why your manuscript might have been rejected. Maybe the publisher doesn’t publish the type of book you’ve written, or maybe their publishing lineup is already set for the time being and they don’t want to tie up your book when another publisher might be able to publish it sooner. Get it back out as soon as possible, but again, re-read it first, just to make sure it’s as good as it can be.

Editors are heartless. This is what authors believe when they receive a rejection letter. However, editors need material that meets certain standards of quality and style, and that will fill specific niches. Should you do whatever the editor asks, or should you stubbornly resist any editor’s attempts to change your work? Okay, this is a tough one. The editor must approve your work or it will never get to the publisher. Whenever an editor suggests changes to your manuscript, you should consider each of the changes seriously. Most editors are only interested in helping you to improve your manuscript and get it ready to be published. However, editors are human. Occasionally, you will run into an editor who thinks your story should be written the way they would have written it. If you think they are suggesting changes that will completely change the meaning or content, then look elsewhere for a publisher.

Expert Advice If you follow the advice of experienced authors, you are certain to get published. No one can guarantee your work will be published. There are too many variables in the publishing business to guarantee anything. Each author, each publisher, and each book, are different. Publication depends on a large number of things coming together in just the right way and at just the right time.

Good writing means easy sales. If your writing is good, you will have no trouble selling your stories; if you are not selling your writing, it means your stories are no good. Sometimes this is true. A lot of writing gets rejected because it is poor. However, poor writing does sometimes get published, if the author and the editor have the time and patience to work on it until it is in publishable shape. On the other hand, there are many times when good writing doesn’t get published. Sometimes publishers don’t care about the quality of the writing as much as whether or not it will be a big seller.

My chances are better if I submit to small publishers. Not unless your book is specialized. Small publishers issue fewer books and must often be cautious in their selections. Large publishers can afford to take an occasional chance.

Once I’ve sold a book, my writing will support me. Few published writers are supported entirely by their writing. Most work in regular jobs and write in their spare time. Others supplement their writing with public appearances and teaching.

Once I’ve sold my first book, the same publisher will buy more. Maybe. Maybe not. Picture book texts especially are likely to be judged individually, unless you are wildly successful.

Once written, the word is final. Your work should be as perfect as possible before you submit it to a publisher. However, there is no reason why you can’t reread and make changes at a later date, especially if one publisher rejects it and you want to submit it to another.

Easy Sales Once you sell a book, or several short stories, you won’t have any trouble getting an agent, or selling more of your writing. Many authors have never had an agent, yet managed to sell their manuscripts to publishers on their own. Many authors with agents can’t get a book contract.

Publication is almost impossible. If this were true, libraries, bookstores, and supermarket book and magazine racks would be empty.

You should never use italics. Most publishers prefer that you not use italics because they are hard to see. Read the publisher’s guidelines and find out how they prefer that you indicate the use of things like italics, bold, underline, etc.

You're in control. Writers get full control over their next book, their covers, and their release dates. In reality, writers wait by the phone for editors to call to accept or reject that next story. Covers and release dates are handled by publishers.