Neil Gaiman

The one who wrote Coraline, and co-wrote the book of Good Omens and made the TV show, also the Sandman comics writer and co-creator who made the TV show of that. Is still alive and just as inexplicably still on Tumblr.

Archive You can ask things here. Sometimes I answer. It is possible that I have already answered your question.

June 26th, 2022 at 1:44AM

aquaheartgirl asked:

Hi Neil,

I hope you’re well! I really enjoy your work (though I confess I haven’t read quite enough of it yet to really justify that claim. Trying to fix that, though)!

I was wondering if you have any advice for getting attention as an aspiring author. I’ve almost finished writing my first book (young adult fantasy) and I’m afraid of being rejected. Besides making the story as polished as I can, how can I increase my chances of getting published? Should I try to get a lot of beta readers? Should I be making a website and/or blog (tumblr side blog maybe?) dedicated to my writing, or would that come after I get published? Would it help if I get on other social media sites, since tumblr is really the only one I have? Is there anything else I might not be thinking of that you would suggest?

Thank you so much!

The most important thing you can do is finish the book and start writing the next one. Most first novels aren’t publishable. You’re learning your craft and you’re at the start of learning your craft. Hope that yours is one of the good ones, expect that it’s one of the ones that are your first step on the road to being a published author. But if it is good, and the publisher has any doubts about whether to take you on as an author, the fact that you’ve already got most of the next book written might be the thing that sways them into accepting your book and you.

So yes, you can and probably should do all the things you suggest, but the biggest step on the way to becoming published is to write the next book.