Nathan Bransford, TVWriter™’s favorite publishing know-it-all, responds to a question we’ve all been asked…almost as much as we ask it ourselves. (Bet you’ve already guessed what it is.)
by Nathan Bransford
Nearly every author I work with asks me a variation of the same question.
“Is this any good?”
“Should I keep going?”
“Am I wasting my time?”
“Do I have any chance of getting published?”
I always want to be helpful, but these aren’t questions I can really answer.
Will my book become a bestseller? Probably not, but who knows.
Will it get published? Literally no one can give you a definitive answer to that before it goes through the submission process. There are books I thought were surefire bestsellers that busted and there were books I thought would never see the light of day that became blockbusters. Everyone I know in publishing has similar stories.
Should I keep going? Only you can answer that.
Is this going to matter?
Believe me, I understand the impulse behind these questions! I do. I’ve been there. After I pulled the plug on submissions for the first (unpublished) novel I wrote, I felt entirely crazy the whole time I was writing Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow.
I thought I was wasting my time. I thought I wasn’t good enough. I kept the whole thing a secret from my friends and family until I actually had an agent because I was scared of seeming like a failure if it didn’t “work out,” whatever that even means….
Read it all at nathanbransford.com
Need help with your book? Nathan is available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!
For my best advice, check out Nathan’s guide to writing a novel (now available in audio) and his guide to publishing a book.
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