How I Got Published
How I Got Published: Famous Authors Tell You in Their Own Words
by Duane Lindsay and Ray White
ISBN: 1-58297-510-8
$16.99, 352p
Online Exclusive Content
Get three appendices of resources that we couldn’t fit in the book! (Click on the links to download as Word files.)
Do You Have What It Takes to Get Published?
The one thing writers all ignore is the one thing they need most: Inspiration. And let’s face it, writers thrive on dreams. That’s what How I Got Published provides—compelling success stories of how many writer-heroes got published, stories that will help readers persevere until they succeed. Writing is a lonely occupation where rejection is the norm, and details of the early hardships established writers went through can reassure a writer that they can get to the finish line if they keep trying.
About the Authors
Duane Lindsay is a published songwriter, a singer and cracker-jack guitar player who has performed professionally—including the playing with the Rock Bottom Remainders.
Ray White is a Louis L’Amour type storyteller and an avid and eclectic reader. He’s an entertaining public speaker who has taught classes and seminars on everything from writing to solar system design to tracking wounded bears through willow thickets.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: WHY YOU SHOULD BUY THIS BOOK
Table of Contents
Why You Should Buy This Book (Everybody Loves a Good Story)
Barry Eisler
The Three J’s: Judo, Jazz, and Japan
C.J. Box
“Did You Know Your Agent Died?”
Donald Bain
Say No to Nothing—The Right Attitude
Christopher Moore
Practical Demonkeeping
Clive Cussler
I Decided to Take a More Devious Approach
Interview With Dave Barry
J.A. Jance
My Life in Writing
F. Paul Wilson
How I Got Started and How I Keep Going
Lee Goldberg
How Do I Become a TV Writer If I Don’t Have Any Contacts?
Ray White
The Secret to Getting Published
Gayle Lynds
I Didn’t Know Any Better
Greg Bear
Getting Started Getting Published
JA Konrath
There’s a Word for a Writer Who Never Gives Up … Published
John Gilstrap
Above Movies
David Brin
A Long, Lonely Road: Some Informal Advice to New Authors
John J. Gobbell
Write Two Novels
John Lescroart
Becoming a Published Author
Cassie Miles
Tough Cookies
David Morrell
The Mild-Mannered Professor With the Bloody-Minded Visions
Ray White
Writing the (Ugh) Synopsis
Kathi Kamen Goldmark
With a Little Help From My Friends
Kyle Mills
The Wall of Shame and Tom Clancy
Mario Acevedo
How Nymphos and Vampires Got Me Published
Patrick McManus
The Twelve-Letter Expletive Made My Novel Interactive
Raymond Benson
Bondage Paraphernalia
Gillian Roberts
Seven Ways to Avoid the Risk of Being Published
Steve Alten
Finding a Literary Agent
Stephen White
Just Put Your Butt in the Chair
Troy Cook
Plan of Attack
Duane Lindsay
A Gripping Title and a Short, Catchy Tag Line
M.J. Rose Interview
Bucking the Cross-Genre Issue
Hallie Ephron
Five Rules
K.J.A. Wishnia
Don’t Try This at Home
Keith Raffel
Dayenu
Jack Bludis
Send the Damn Thing Out
Stephen Coonts
Photographed in President Reagan’s Office
Simon Levack
Write a Bit of a Novel
Steve Hockensmith
The Write Stuff
Sue Ann Jaffarian
“No One Wants to Read This Crap!”
Duane Lindsay
Getting to Know Literary Agents and Editors
Thomas Perry
The Most Powerful Force Is Luck
Brian Freeman
People Who Need People
Carl Brookins
Writing Lies for Fun and Glory, But Very Little Money (So Far)
Hilari Bell
The Poster Child for Persistence
Jeremiah Healy
Never Give Up
Ken Kuhlken
On Agents
Mark Arsenault
Romeo and Juliet With Needle Marks
Michael Siverling
Everything I Knew Was Wrong
Duane Lindsay
The Best Query Letter Ever
P.D. Cacek
In Search of … a Publisher
Robin Hathaway
Who Done It?
Sandra Balzo
A Snowball’s Chance
Shane Gericke
Fear? We Don’t Need No Stinking Fear!
ZoË Sharp
Writing in the Cracks of the Day Job
A.J. Hartley
Holding Back the Years
Charles Benoit
Your Goal Is Not to Be Published
Christine Goff
Being Orphaned
Ann Parker
Life Is Not a Four-Letter Word
Ray White
Fish Where the Fish Are Biting
Darrell James
A Guy Can Dream, Can’t He?
Marian Keyes
How I Started
Jess Lourey
My Scabby Ego
Jonathan Santlofer
The Fiery Road to Publication
Kathy Brandt
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Laura Bradford
Little, But Mighty
Michael A. Black
A Sixth-Grade Education
Kristine Smith
Confessions of a Late Bloomer
Karen Rose Smith
Two Books in One Week
Jerry B. Jenkins
The Bob Richards Story
Ray White & Duane Lindsay
A Killer Nonfiction Proposal
Interview With Stuart Woods
Louise Penny
Things I Wished I Knew
L.L. Bartlett
Critiquing and the Green-Eyed Monster
Marilyn Meredith
Despite Lazy Agents, Crooked and Dead Publishers, Perseverance Paid Off
Martha Powers
When I Couldn’t Get an Agent
Michelle Gagnon
Are You Sure You Don’t Want to Be a Lawyer?
Rita Lakin
Talk About Naive
Robert S. Levinson
F. Scott Fitzgerald Had It Wrong
Susan Oleksiw
The Rule of Twelve
Grant Blackwood
Love It or Leave It
Ray White
Join a Critique Group
Chris Knopf
When Writers Write About Writing
Kate Pepper
If the Shoe Fits
David J. Walker
Don’t Go Through That Door
Dianne Emley
Act Two
Joyce & Jim Lavene
How to Market a Five-Hundred-Pound Gorilla
Julia Pomeroy
Look Away From the Review 299
Chris Grabenstein
When to Read Rejection Letters? After You’ve Been Accepted Somewhere Else
Cathy Pickens
The Path?
Jeff Shelby
When Expectations Are Gone
Victoria Houston
The Three Major Life Mistakes I’ve Made That Force Me to Write These Mysteries
Ray White & duane Lindsay
The Ten Steps to Getting Published
Aimee and David Thurlo
Tenacity Over All
T.A. Ridgell
A Bathroom Attack
Anthony Bidulka
Accountants Can Do It (So Can You)
M. Diane Vogt
The Lucky Writer’s Path
Nathan Walpow
If It Doesn’t Sell, Write One Better
Simon Wood
I Want It Now, If Not Sooner
Susan Slater
More With Less—Lessons Learned By a Beginner
William Kent Krueger
Sunrise at the Broiler
Jeanne Munn Bracken
Someday We’ll Laugh About That
Jenny Siler
My Mother, My Secret Weapon
Ray White
Semper Persistence