What advice would you give to an aspiring novelist?

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UHB

New member
How do I start to gain recognition? How should I go about contacting an agent? I've written many short stories, and I've even gone as far as writing a few novellas, but I've never submitted them for publishing simply because I don't know how to do it properly ( I don't want to sound stupid ).

Am I getting ahead of myself? Should I submit a few short stories to a couple of magazines before trying to contact an agent?

Just some advice on the process of seeking recognition would be nice since I don't even know where to begin.
 
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TheycallmeIshmael

New member
Having a few short stories published only helps. If you go to http://www.duotrope.com/index.aspx it will help you find a magazine that will accept your manuscript. It's a free search engine and it is the best thing to ever happen to aspiring authors.

As for the agents, as long as you follow their rules (what kind of format they want, what they expect your story to be about, and of course the query), then the only thing you have to worry about is them denying your manuscript- which will sucks (if it happens), but that's life and it doesn't mean you're a bad author.

Another thing, you have to remember that you have to be eighteen or older to sign a contract, so if you're under eighteen make sure you have guardian/parent permission.

What I've done is send my short stories out. It gets you use to rejection, some even give you criticism, it's easy money (if it gets accepted), and more to brag about when you write your query. Agents do want to know if you've sold stories, if you have, then that catches their eye and they think that you might be better than Jane Doe who hasn't sold anything. It also means that you have an idea of what the market is like.
 
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cathrl69

Member
If you mean an agent for you as a novelist, you are way ahead of yourself. You contact an agent when you have a completed, critiqued, rewritten, proofread and polished manuscript of your novel in your hand.

If you want to submit your short stories somewhere, that's up to you - but it's not necessary and it's unlikely to make any difference as to whether an agent takes you on to try to sell your novel.
 
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