 | U Don’t Have 2 Write Good To Get Published By Bonnie Boots If writing matters to you, deeply, and you believe publication is the ultimate reward for being good at it, you may be letting false beliefs hold you back. I’ve met countless competent writers who think that being published is something that only happens when you’re very, very good. They think the publishing world is a place where sophisticated editors sit around big, wooden tables, exchanging Oscar Wilde-type witticisms as they pour over piles of queries, searching for undiscovered genius. Writers that envision such a world may hesitate to approach it, fearing that they’ll be judged too harshly, that their work won’t measure up. Such writers remain unpublished, or are published infrequently, because they let false beliefs block their way, beliefs like “I’m not talented enough,” or “I don’t have enough experience/clips/connections.” If this sounds like you, then let me tell you a secret every professional writer knows. You don’t need to be the world's best writer to be published. You don’t need perfect grammar. You don’t need connections. You don’t need experience. And you absolutely do not need a mega-dose of talent. If you are at least a competent writer, all you really need is persistence. The writer that keeps writing, keeps sending out queries, keeps e-mailing and knocking on doors will, without question, be published. Period. Before you can believe this, you must first drop your romantic notions about publishers and editors. The truth is, magazine and newspaper publishing is a brusque, bottom line business where the price of a subscription doesn’t even cover the cost of paper. It’s advertising that pays the bills and piles up the profits. Print publications live or die by how many eyeballs they can deliver to advertisers. Within that world, writers can seem like little more than a necessary nuisance, churning out stuff to stop a wandering eye just long enough to see those ads. Today’s editor is not given the time to leisurely sift through slush piles searching for genius. Like everyone in the editorial office, the editor is doing twice the work in half the time. Her decisions are made fast and often in a furious effort to beat the clock. She wants material that will stop a reader’s eye and she doesn’t care who delivers it, as long as it fills her needs immediately. This fast pace means that quality sometimes suffers. It means that writers with far less talent than you are being published every day. And here’s why. They get published because they present themselves. They may be the first one to reach the editor with contacts or information when a story is hot. An editor that wants to cover a hot topic in a timely manner would rather have bad writing now then good writing later. Or they get published because they present themselves when a better writer didn’t deliver. With print deadlines looming, an editor who’s seen a good writer fall behind may be pressed to fill pages with whatever she can lay her hands on. It may not be the quality of work she’d like, but it’s work she can get. Frequently, poor writers get published simply because some publishers know that good writing is not very important to their target market. Browse through any big selection of books and periodicals, including trade magazines and special interest magazines, and you’re bound to see some writing that’s downright drivel. Yet there it is in print, proving to one and all that bad writing is no barrier to publication. As Grace Metalious, the author of “Peyton Place” said, “I’m a lousy writer: a helluva lot of people have got lousy taste.” Finally, poor writers frequently get published because good writers ignore some publications. Once, while working on a special interest magazine, I had the task of choosing between unsolicited writing that was merely bad, and writing so dreadful that reading it was like rubbing broken glass across my brain. I tried wooing good writers but they turned up their noses, saying there was no status in writing for the publication. So I printed poorly written articles, and after publication I didn’t send the authors a note saying, “Please cut off your fingers in case you are ever tempted to write again.” No, I sent them a check. Editors will send you checks, too, and you’ll finally see your name in print, if you just stop standing in your own way. Chances are, you’re probably a pretty competent writer or you wouldn’t be attracted to the writing life. So put aside any romantic notions about the publishing industry. Push away your feelings that you’re not ready. Pack away any fears that you’re not good enough. Put aside any inhibitions that keep you from querying any and every publication you aspire to. And admit that you are just as good or better than many writers in print today. Believe that if you are dogged, determined and persistent, persistent, persistent in asking for opportunities, you will be published! 
BONNIE BOOTS (www.BonnieBoots.com)is an award-winning writer and designer who says all writers should show off their talent by wearing their Write Side Out! Her wise and witty product line of gear that shows the world you're a writer is at www.writesideout.com Return to the Articles Page | |
