How to Get Published
The questions I was asked, and the answers I gave, at a recent editor and agent panel
Hello
This post is coming to you at the tail end of a month of in person events where I have been promoting the paperback version of my nature-landscape memoir, The Ghost Lake, and my latest poetry collection, Blackbird Singing at Dusk. In between the in person events I’ve been mentoring poets and non fiction writers, running write-alongs (the next one is today!) and trying, and failing, to cram in work on the new writing project.
It’s been a very #authorlife month. Next week I can turn my face back to working on the funding bid for
‘s digital platform and working on a new structure for Notes from the Margin, which I’ll tell you about in another post. I may even (shocked gasp) get time to WRITE.On Tuesday I was in beautiful York to take part in York St John university’s annual agent and editor event. I was wearing several hats for the day, bringing along my experience as: author and poet, editor of Spelt magazine and also as private mentor and facilitator. The other people taking part had slightly more defined roles. Two agents, an editor-publisher who was also a writer of fiction, and an editor who was also a non fiction writer. I was waving the flag for the poets.
The day was structured in two parts. In the early afternoon we had one to one mini mentoring sessions with students, and then in the evening the panel discussion itself.
The day was called ‘How to Get Published’ - a catch all title encompassing writing craft, submissions, the journey through trad. publishing, self publishing etc but sorry, spoiler alert, it is very much a question with no one magic answer that will get your work onto the shelves of a bookshop.
This is the third or fourth time I have done this event, it’s genuinely one of my favourite events in the diary, this year made even more exciting as my niece is studying music at St John and I got to wave to her a I passed her on the stairs.
The Mentoring Sessions
I worked with three mentees on the day. I’d been provided with bios and synopses and extracts from their works in progress beforehand, so I was prepared for the twenty minute session. One of my mentees was a PhD student, the other two were undertaking MAs. Here are the sort of questions and subjects that came up during the sessions.
Getting poetry published - where do you start?
This one from a poet with a bunch of poems written who had had success with in house publishing and magazines associated with the university itself. The quick answer - time to jump from the mother ship and try non university associated magazines and journals.
There’s no getting around it. If you wish to get a collection published, and all of the poets I spoke to that day were aiming for this (most poets I work with are), then you are going to have to try and get your poems published in magazines and journals, and it does not hurt to have some competition placings too, to present to a potential publisher, in order to prove that your work has value to an audience.
In 2025 we are a very long way away from the idea of poets getting published simply because their work is outstanding, and patrons buying poets houses and paying for their lavish lifestyles, and literary parties to launch chapbooks. We are in an age of fierce competition within the poetry world, which actually strikes me as a bit odd as poetry is such a niche genre.
Going off on a slight tangent - I do feel sometimes that people are in love with the idea of being a poet without fully understanding that poetry, although it has its differences to other genres, (MONEY) is still something that is a part of the publishing industry and necessitates striving and sacrifice to become established. When I was just starting out I used to dream about how cool it would be to introduce myself as a poet. But the reality is them saying a what? followed by Is that a real thing? in reply.
Anyway…. back on track.
Do you need to pay to have a publisher look at your work?
It makes me so angry to see those sharky fake ass publishers paying to be at the top of a list on google promising riches and fame for your work, if you will just pay a fee for them taking you on. They prey on inexperienced writers who don’t know any different and I have seen people paying between £20 and £1500 to get into a massive book of work that only people who are in it can buy. Do your research. Look for experiences with the publisher you are thinking about submitting their work to. Look for their books, look for their online presence, the comments around it.
There are so many good, decent, ethical publishers out there. Yes, there is competition, yes, it will certainly involve rejection, but if you are not getting rejected I am not sure you are doing it right. Rejection, in the literary world, is very much how a writer grows.
Do not pay for a publisher to look at your work.
Is there a place for academic writing in traditional publishing?
This was an interesting one from someone who had worked as an academic, but whose passion was a non fiction project that he wanted to reach a wider audience. I’m going to do another post on this topic in the future - how so often working class and rural histories are confined to the archives of academia as sources of research, papers that the people whose history and culture are being researched will never see.
He was struggling to find a way to translate an extended research paper into a non fiction book that a trad publisher might be interested in.
What I noticed from the bio and synopsis was that the writer’s voice was missing some what. Though his voice was present in the extract, with some witty observations and little bits about why he wanted to bring these stories to a wider audience, he had set himself up as curator, editor rather than writer. A very typical academic stance of observation. One way to try and turn that ship towards a more trad published model is to bring in your own story. The journey you have taken then becomes the structure on which you hang the observations, a backbone that moves the project forward, keeps an emotional connection to the reader and allows for more tangents to the main body.
Easier said than done, but I’ll be keeping my eyes open for further news on this project because it was fascinating.
Then came a couple of hours break in which I managed to get lucky and have this room, this view all to myself to work on my new writing project.
In the evening about a hundred people came along to the discussion and it was a lively and interesting hour and a bit. Here are some of the topics raised:
How do you find an editor for your book?
In my own experience, the people I mentor and whose work I edit tend to have made a connection before - through courses and workshops I’ve run, through Notes from the Margin, sometimes through my website or having read my books. The main thing is to find someone you can work with well, because it will be a relationship of vulnerability. You offer your heart up and they put a red line through it and a comment next to it saying be aware of cliché.
Some editors will offer a few sample pages of edited work so you can see if their style works for you. But my main point here is to do a bit of research and don’t just go with the cheapest. The editor should be experienced, have testimonials (note to self, put some testimonials on the website) be able to prove their track record.
How should a cover letter be written?
This question comes up regularly. Treat your cover letter as if you were applying for a job, which you are, you are applying to be a writer at the agent or editor you are writing to. The publishing world can look very relaxed and friendly - it is, in many ways - but it is also a place of business and by taking your cover letter seriously, you are taking yourself and your work seriously.
Is the publishing industry like a village where everyone knows each other?
This question made the panel laugh. Because it sort of is like that, but more like a large town or small city. People do know each other, and that’s why agents and editors have fun alongside the obvious stress of book fairs.
I think the question was really - my book was rejected by agent A, B and C, is this because they all know each other and have warned each other about it. No, is the answer. This is just the way things are, you will be rejected lots and lots of times for myriad reasons, not necessarily because your book is bad.
I was asked if the poetry world was like a village, but I feel it is more like a campsite. Or even a set of tents under a railway bridge. JOKING.
The thing about poetry is that it is both a business and an artwork and so very very often a community movement. Poetry, compared to other genres in publishing is very low paid (ZERO MONEY mostly) and hard work, but I will make the point I made at the panel, art is valuable in terms of the creative experience, this very human need to explore and deliver ideas through literature. Poetry’s value goes way beyond the commercial aspect, and that shouldn’t be forgotten.
The topic of conversation between the panel was very much AI, the disparity between ordinary users and creatives. The fact that audible will be using AI to narrate their books and also this AI created car crash of an article listing books that don’t exist which has enraged the writing world.
Don’t forget tonight is the tea time write-along for paid subscribers. Read about it here:
Tea Time Write-Along 22nd May 2025
This post is for my paid subscribers. Below the paywall you’ll find the zoom for tomorrow’s Tea-Time Write-Along