How Long Have You Been Pursuing Publishing?

I completed my first novel when I was 16. Now I'm 26 and I've written about 4 or 5, depending on how you count. I tell people that 2007 was the first year I ever purposefully set out to write a novel and make it good enough to sell, but the truth is I've been serious about this since the beginning. I just don't think I was as GOOD as I am now. Of course, I've always thought I wasn't as good as right now, and it's probably true. It's just a matter of when I'm good ENOUGH.

For fiction? About two years. But only recently have I begun to seriously search for an agent or publisher.

Hi. I wrote a novel in high school (1984), two in college. Looking back, none was ever publishable. I finished one since, had a respected agent for a few years, got dumped for not producing fast enough. Whatever. Wrote one since then, best one yet - no interest. A few partials. I really got sick of writing books and hitting walls. Now there's a realistic fantasy epic in my head!

In the meantime, I've had about 450 stories, poems and articles published since 1986. My heart is with the shorter works, even though there's not much hope of income there. (It doesn't look like great hope of income with novels either, just more work.) As time goes on, I find I'm more of a poet at the core, darn it all.

I'd say do what interests you, keep at it, and don't let anyone derail you.

After 20 or so rejections I had my first short story published in '92. Another 40-50 rejections of various stuff then I did doing my 'homework' and I realized I could be a better writer. My ideas were good, the presentation needed work so I improved and have several writig credits, (I'm just bad at marketing myself). Every attempt is serious, whether a short or a novel.

Since I was eighteen. Well over a decade, then. But the good thing is, I can see exactly why I haven't been successful. And I'm reluctant to submit the project I'm working on just now because a) it's not finished yet anyway and b) I feel that I've vastly improved in recent years...and rejection would mean facing up to the fact that no, you're still not good enough even though you think you are.

I started writing about four years ago, and sweet monkey was I bad. I'm improving, and I've written about six books, and working on seven now.

The more I write, the more I learn, the better my work gets. If I submit with the same persistence, I'm pretty hopeful that I'll get a novel published. I haven't set a time limit on it though.

I have completed scads of novels. I haven't really pursued publication at all. Once I procured an agent, but then dumped her like a hot potato. I currently have a novel in for consideration. It's been in for 74 days. That is, I suppose, how long I have been pursuing publication.

2007 was my first year trying to get published with short stories since I haven't finished a novel-length ms yet.

I sent my first query to a publisher when I was fourteen...2004.

For a novel? I sent my first query out last April.

I've been trying to be published as a short story writer since 1972.

Throughout the years, I've had ideas flitting around that were either half-purused or not at all. I decided in October of 2007 to be SERIOUS about finding a non-fiction book project to work on and, later that month, I signed a contract. The book will be out June 2008.

I started pursuing a non-fiction book project in 2006 and I got a contract last October. I started fiction last October when I finished my novel.

Started writing in 1987, mostly short stories. I think I racked up about 200 rejections before I sold the first one. Then 14 shorts followed. From 88 to 91 I wrote nine novels, of which three of those got picked up by Richard Curtiss Associates. In the mean time I was told to write non-fiction books for the money. So I tried that and sold two non-fiction books right out of the gate, and did make that money. But my heart was still in novels, and I had some really close calls, but no hits. I got really discouraged at the end of 1991 and gave up writing entirely, never to go back again.

I came back to writing in January of 2005. With a vengence. Wrote seven books, one of the them non-fiction, and the rest were in the SF and Fantasy genres. Found an agent to rep three of those books, and I sold three on my own to smaller presses.

So I guess my total time expenditure is somewhere around six years for getting my first novel published. The rest of it doesn't count. And right now the small press novels don't even count. None of it does. I want that major house, with major distribution for the novels. I still consider myself unpublished in the spec field, even with all the credits.

Tri

Three years from the time I started sending out agent queries (fall 2005) till anticipated publication date (fall 2008.) This is my first book.

In January 2005 I took a creative writing class (on a lark, to try out online classes) and ended up selling two of the pieces I wrote for it. So I thought, meh, maybe there's something to this writing thing. Since then I've sold several more short pieces, both fiction and non-fiction.

I don't expect to submit any novels until sometime in late 2009. We'll see how that works out.

Got my first (well-deserved) rejection letter for a short story in 1975.

Got my first (well-deserved) rejection letter for a novel in 1982.

After taking many years out from serious submissions for various reasons (small children, divorce, injury, BAD agent), I started working a little more seriously in 1996 and got small press published in 2000 with good reviews in RT. But it wasn't my goal of a NYC contract, FWIW.

Been SERIOUS about it since 2001 and delved into writerly study and discussion groups and am now starting the first novel aimed at publication in over a decade.

So, depending on how you count it up, it could be 34 years on May 20th (the date I wrote "I will be a published author when I grow up" in my diary at age 13) with lots of breaks for life or if I totalled up the time, it would probably be closer to 10-12 years.

I've been pursuing short story publication since 2004 and novel publication (for my first novel) for the past year. No luck yet.

My story is actually pretty typical for the publishing world I think. I started writing novels with the intention to publish in 2001. Agent in 2006 (after 5 novels) and contract in 2007. My first novel will hit the stands in 2009, eight years after I sat down and decided "I want to write novels for a living!"

It's not a living (not yet) but it's still the best thing since sliced bread. I was hoping fervently that mine would be one of those 'quick success' stories, since I know a girl that wrote her first novel, got an agent two days after querying, and sold it two days after that. Alas, not me.

I wear slow success like a badge of pride. I may not be the overnight sensation, but it taught me to be patient (ha).

I started writing in 2000. I've been trying to get a MS published ever since 2001, I believe. Finally, got a novel coming out in Novemeber!!!!

Since June with short stories. I've had a couple of flash fiction pieces published and one longer one coming up in the next few months, plus another out on submission.

Right now I'm working on a novel and I'm about 90 pages in.

Well, I remember sitting on the couch listening to my father read THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH to me and thinking, I want to do that someday! I must have been about 5 or 6. I turn 44 this month. So if we count from the seeds of ambition...it's been a long time. Like some of the others, I've worked more diligently at some points in my life than others. Quit altogether sometimes. Always came back to it. Made myself a promise a year ago to write every day. Went to a writing workshop in December and had an agent show interest in my current work. So let's hope she still likes it now that it's finished!

Let's see...I got my MA in 1995 and submitted 4 short stories to various lit mags--1 acceptance and 3 rejections. 10 years later, I started querying for my first novel and some short stories got published. I did nothing in 2006, and in September 2007 I started querying for my second novel. So, on the scary calculator--that would be almost 13 years of trying to get published. On the less scary calculator--I'll pretend it's only been 2 years that I've seriously been trying to get published.

Yup, feeling pretty depressed right about now...

I've been writing novel manuscripts since 1990. Currently working on Novel #17. It wasn't until I was about halfway through Novel #16, though, that I realized I knew nothing about submitting a manuscript, what an agent did... basically, yeah, the whole industry in general. For years I had fooled myself into thinking that I was writing with the immediate goal of publication, but I never really was. I was just writing for myself, and thoroughly enjoying the process.

But I'm glad I spent so many years apart from the whole pub industry hustle and bustle. I learned a lot about myself as a writer before I ever tried to put my work out there -- not to say that this is the best path for everyone, but for me it was good to have some time to get over my shyness and grow a thick skin. In mid-2006 I began reading Miss Snark's page and from there found AW. Since then I've been working on novel manuscripts with publication as a not-so-nebulous goal. I started using critique groups, and beta readers who weren't my husband. I attended a conference, joined the professional organization for my genre, and started keeping up with industry news like it was my second job.

In November of '07 I started submitting short stories and essays. I expect to be sending out my first query letters in September or October of this year.

Started to write in Aug. 2007. Sent out my first short story in Nov. 2007.
Hopeful.