<p>My friend asked me, and I’m curious now.</p>
<p>1.) Write it. For an average novel, you can go 80,000 or so words. This should take a few months, at least.</p>
<p>2.) Edit. Edit. Edit. Editing mode is totally different than writing mode, so do it all at the end. Edit on the computer, print and write on it, type the edits, get others to read, revise, proof read, make story alterations. Several weeks minimum.</p>
<p>3.) Send queries to literary agents. Publishers in the US don’t take unrepresented submissions, so you need a literary agent. Never pay for one; the honest ones will take a percentage at the end. Charging up front is a sign of a scam. There are a lot of intricacies in the query process, guidelines will be on agent webpages. You can generally find agents by genre.</p>
<p>4.) Your agent will take care of the rest; namely, finding you a publisher and negotiating a contract. Chances are, if a reputable agent took your book, then it’s of good enough quality to be published. You will get an advance (depending on projected sales) anywhere from several thousand dollars (new writers) to tens of thousands (established writers with good reputations) to even hundreds of thousands of dollars (NYT best selling authors). You will also be payed royalties on each book that is sold. Once the royalties exceed your advance, the difference is paid to you over time.</p>
<p>I’m a published author in kidlit, and have a few things to add to that.</p>
<p>Months and weeks is an EXTREMELY optimistic schedule, especially for an 80k word novel. Three years is a more reasonable expectation, and the first project is usually stillborn, at which point you start the clock on the next one and hope novel number two is viable. Once you’ve got four or five novels under your belt you may be able to write one in months and weeks.</p>
<p>Just because an agent agrees to rep you doesn’t mean at all that your manuscript will sell. Many publishers actually do take unagented submissions – I got a three-book deal with Simon & Schuster without an agent – but you’re better off with an agent if you can get one. Landing an agent can be more difficult than selling to an editor, and sometimes the best way to get an agent is to have an offer on the table. You’ve got to do a lot of homework at this stage to find out what different editors and agents like and are looking for. Just don’t start burning bridges by showing your work before it’s ready.</p>
<p>There are vanity publishers a.k.a. self-publishing, in which you basically pay a printer to print books and then sell them yourself. Although some people have had success following that path, the self-publishing industry is a minefield of scammy operators and is best avoided except by a rare few who have chosen that route for a specific reason and know what they’re doing.</p>
<p>Good luck. Writing is more satisfying than a part-time job at Wal-Mart, and is almost as lucrative.</p>
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<p>Who are you to judge the quality of work based on the length and amount of time I put into it?</p>
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Sweeping generalities about the average. Nothing more.</p>
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<p>One word, man: NaNoWriMo.</p>
<p>Granted, NaNo novels usually turn out to be steaming piles of turd, and some (e.g the ones I’ve written) can’t really be saved no matter how much time one puts into editing them.</p>
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<p>Who are you to judge the quality of his judgment of the quality of your work based on the length and amount of time you put into it?</p>
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<p>I’d say that was a generalized analysis of standard deviation, if anything. If he wanted to make a judgmental statement of the quality of a written work based on its length, he would’ve said something along the lines of: “Write at least 80,000 words. Anything less reveals work that is of poor quality.”</p>
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First, I said “at least,” implying that it was a minimum for the average writer. Second, I don’t see how someone’s first novel would necessarily take them three years, unless it was a large, heavily researched, in-depth historical fiction novel. Of course, it can take three years, but if writing is a daily activity, I don’t foresee it having to take that long. Of course, one must write a lot of junk before producing something passable, but that doesn’t mean it also has to take years.</p>
<p>Three years may be the best time frame for a certain writer, and that’s perfectly fine; indeed, it is still covered by my “at least” statement. However, I don’t believe that it is representative of the average, given daily or at least frequent writing without equally frequent multi-day breaks or restarts. To say otherwise certainly isn’t unrealistically optimistic.</p>
<p>
[Max</a> Barry | Fifteen Ways to Write a Novel](<a href=“http://maxbarry.com/2010/11/29/news.html]Max”>Max Barry | Fifteen Ways to Write a Novel)</p>
<p>It’s interesting how one seemingly minor missing word can have a huge effect on the tone of the sentence.</p>
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Which word are talking about?</p>
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<p>The you said earlier.</p>
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<p>I didn’t judge the quality of your work.</p>
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<p>If you don’t mind, I’d like to pass that little gem on to my writing friends. They’ll appreciate your insight. :)</p>
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I said necessarily. It is not necessary for the average writer to spend three years writing their first novel. Or do you disagree?</p>
<p>It’s not necessary, but it’s waaaaay more likely that they’ll spend three years than three months.</p>
<p>You’re making overly optimistic statements and hedging them with “at least” or “not necessarily.” All I’m trying to do is paint a realistic picture here. The process is never the same for any two people, but three years is realistic. It’s also realistic that the first manuscript is usually dead on arrival. Writing is a marathon, not a sprint, and if you know this going into it you’re less likely to become discouraged.</p>
<p>Yes, writing is a daily task, but that doesn’t mean you’re productive every day. Hell, you could write 5 pages one day, only to delete everything the next. Progress is not always forward, which is why 3 years is a more accurate estimate.</p>
<p>Writers also sometimes work on more than one thing at a time (albeit on a more minor scale than whatever they’re focusing on).</p>
<p>A real writer feels like they are being pulled to write.</p>
<p>If i don’t write every day, I get sick. It’s part fo who I am, and that is the same with most writers.</p>
<p>SO writing, IMO, is the easy part. If you are a writer the metaphors, themes, ideas etc should all just flow through you.</p>
<p>Then you can edit. I love to edit. It’s the time when you sit down with your baby and say I’m going to get you all dressed up, nice and semi-perfect. This is when you notice the silly mistakes. You should print it out and read it out loud. I spent a day doing that for a manuscript that was over 300 pages long. It was crazy, but fun.
The whole editing process should take a few months. Step away from your work as long as you can, then go back to it in a few months so that you have a fresh perspective on your work.</p>
<p>and READ, READ, READ. Great writers read other great writers works. We study them, write all over their books, think about why they did what they did.
Try to create a book that does not have the life of a magazine. Aim to create a book that will one day live with the great books of the world.</p>
<p>This thread is too legit to quit. Writing novels is so fun, i just love the rush you get when you’re creating worlds. Feels better than anything.</p>