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This week, I have one more recommendation for you, before you get any further. I know, it’s seeming like a lot of work you have to do before you can publish your book, but you know what, if you do all this, you’ll be far ahead of your competition. That’s what you want, in this field. You want to be ahead of the game.

So go ahead and put the time in. Get yourself ahead of the rest. And then get published.

But we’ll get there in a couple weeks. For now…

Step 6:

Meet some authors

Well, you’ve been researching them for a while, so you might as well reach out, don’t you think? A lot of the time, authors are more than happy to help point you in the right direction, or give you some tips on where to go from here, with your work. Most of us at least somewhat enjoy being in this field, and we definitely know what it’s like, trying to break into the publishing scene.

• Find someone in your genre

This is important. Authors who aren’t in your genre probably won’t have as much of an idea what to do in your genre. Let’s face it, every genre is a little bit different. Romance sells differently than science-fiction, for example. So, make sure the authors you reach out to have at least worked in your genre to some extent. If you can get a dialogue going with them, you might be able to get a lot of great information out of them, to get you started. They might even be able to get you in touch with their editor, who knows?

• Find someone mid-level

I don’t recommend going all the way to the top and expecting your chosen author to respond. When you’re a bestseller, you get messages from a million people a day. One new author isn’t going to stand out in the stream, and that’s okay. Reach out to some mid-level authors, authors who are known but aren’t insanely busy with events and book writing and their day job. Plus, mid-level authors are generally a little newer to the scene, and probably a little closer to where you are. They’ll generally have information that’s more what you’re looking for, and less “go find a publisher and get published.”

• Find someone who’s worked with one of your top five publishers

You know all that research you’ve been doing, into publishers? Contact some of their authors. Find out what it’s like to work with this publisher, how these people feel about being published through this company. This will tell you two things: how well this company works with their authors, and what you need to do in order to get into the company, should you want to. Do not trust reviews posted on the publisher's website. Obviously, they're only going to show you the good reviews on their website. So, go find them somewhere else.

There are millions of authors out there, in every single genre. And with the addition of Facebook and Twitter and a hundred other social media outlets, you’ll have an easier time getting someone’s attention—and that’s exactly what you need to do.

Get seen.

Get heard.

Get information.

One step closer to getting published.

[love]

{Rani Divine}