Want your work published? Here is how

Every time I tell people I am an editor, quite a few of them ask me how they can get their work published. When they do, I ask them if they are writers – I assume such questions come from those who have not published before − and in most cases, they answer is in the affirmative. Then I ask what they have written and, usually, they say they are in the process of writing this and that, or plan to write.

For starters, therefore, none of the publishers is looking for people who are in the process of writing, or those who are planning to write. To be published, you must be a practicing writer; your work must be ready for evaluation. Publishers are always on the look out for writers who are better than the ones they have already engaged. If they are unable to get any, they end up using the ones they know, who, in most cases, are quite good.