EDITING, WRITING COMPETITIONS AND SUBMITTING TO PUBLISHERS
To be a writer takes more than talent. You will also need to persist, keep writing, keep trying to get your work published.
FOLLOW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
If you are submitting for a competition or to a publisher, make sure you read the submission guidelines first (usually available on the publisher/competition website)
General guideline to follow are:
- 2 spaces between each line
- Times or other easy to read font – 12 pt
- 3 cm margins all the way around
- Pages numbered with title of piece included as well
- Clean white paper (no tomato sauce or coke stains)
Once your work is ready to submit:
Read it out aloud to yourself; this will help you pick up some mistakes that you haven’t noticed. If spelling isn’t your strong point, make sure a good speller has looked over your work and helped you get rid of any mistakes.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Does the piece make sense?
- Is the piece attention grabbing?
- Does the piece have an original slant, idea or angle?
BUILD A PORTFOLIO
A portfolio is a folder of things that you have written and had published. Published work will add to your resume and help you get into writing courses and writing jobs.
To build up your published work, you might have to volunteer first; write for local newsletters. You could even volunteer to write ads or your community radio station. The more published work you have to show people, the better.
Most importantly, enjoy your writing and persist with it. Most writers don’t get published the first time they try, but many go on to make it their career.
My novel, Letters to Leonardo took more than ten years to write. In that time, I did more than 30 drafts and around 1,000,000 words. But when I held the published book in my hand for the first time, I knew that every hour I’d spent on it (around 1800) had been worth the effort.
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