Even though writing the novel is just the beginning, I still feel that it is an incredible achievement every time one is completed, somewhere around the world - whether it is published or not. Before you get bogged down on all the mistakes you made in your book, take a moment to celebrate what it means to finish a novel.

 1. You did it. You didn’t think you could when you looked at the blank screen and thought about all the action you had to get through, all the characters you had to kill, and all the mysteries you had to spill. But now, months – sometimes years later – you’ve completed a novel, and the size is such that it alone impresses any onlookers. They don’t even have to read it to know that you are an author (a.k.a: windbag).

 2. A change of scenery. Instead of writing madly, you get to look back on all you’ve done, and start tearing it apart for editing. Editing is actually quite nice in one sense. While writing the book, you’ve become aware of particular faults that you can’t stop to fix, otherwise you run out of gas. Now that you’ve finished, you get to start making everything perfect.

 3. You get to bomb family and friends. If this is your thirteenth, some of them are a bit sick of this procedure by now. But there are always a few loyals, and it’s fantastic to see them reading avidly (or at least putting on a good act).

 4. Your writing style has improved. No matter how many novels you have written, with each subsequent one, your writing style improves, whether you aim for this or not. The sentences become less clunky; the characters are more vivid; the action scenes and death scenes more convincing and emotive; and there are some mistakes you will never make again.

 5. The big picture. You get to look back and actually see what you’ve written. While writing it, you’ve come to regard it merely as a ‘big something’. Now that it’s out, you will impose structure on it and appreciate the structure you already managed to give it. You get to understand the journey you have just taken.

6. You get to move on. Sometimes while writing a novel, you become heartily sick of following a set of characters through the mountains, or dealing with pirates. After finishing, you can start something entirely new, or you can even move onto a new stage: submissions. Having something to tempt –  or to try to tempt – a literary agent with is exciting.

7. The possibility of a sequel. Do you like it? Can’t bear to part with old characters? You now have the chance to enlarge the story and add even more drama. Often sequels are simply bigger and better.

8. Character. And I’m not really talking about your characters’ personalities. Completing a novel takes some dedication, and in no small way, it will change you. You will develop a healthy diligence, and you'll become tough.

9. Respect. The people who once thought you were insane either now believe it, or have gained some kind of reverence for you, even if they won’t touch your work.

10. You’ve done bigger. Even though it’s a completely different kettle of fish, you will never look at a four thousand word essay with the same fear as you once did. Those who complain about writing a poem, a ten minute speech, or 2000 words of research seem laughable. You are set up well for your next big achievement.

Once you start sending out your query letters and your book, you have to get pretty good at dealing with rejection. The majority of responses you get from a literary agency or publisher will be rejections of one sort or another. Perhaps the most common rejections are “I’m sorry, we don’t do this kind of thing” or “I’m afraid we don’t have space for anymore clients”. And you’re thinking:

“What? They didn’t like it?”

And you want to jump off a cliff or put your book through the shredder. I read an Andre Dubus story in which the discontented husband kept shredding his books with ceremony. He at last hit the jackpot and got a literary agent. However – and this happens more often than most people realise – the literary agent was the only person who really liked the book, and after a couple of years, the writer shredded this book as well.

 In today’s day and age, there’s simply no need to get that discouraged, no matter how hard it might be. The world’s a pretty big place. Someone out there is going to like your book. And if it’s not a publisher, it’ll be an audience. A middleman just might not be right for your novel.

 There’s always a way to make your goal happen.

 We live in an age when the internet makes possible what would have been impossible years ago. I was reading William Golding recently. He wrote a short story called “Envoy Extraordinaire”, which was set in ancient Rome. A Greek was telling the Roman emperor that he could invent a way of mass printing, so that noblemen did not need to have scribes make a tiny quantity of copies for other noblemen to read. Everyone could read the author’s work. The emperor immediately saw the advantage of this for the writer. But a moment later, he was horrified and told the Greek it was a terrible idea – why, anyone could get published! The classics would become vulgar or be swallowed up in the vast output of the common man.

 We live in that age, and it’s both an advantage and disadvantage. Yes, anyone can share their work – with a worldwide audience, even! But the world is drowning in literary information. So we’ve got to be smart. But there’s simply no cause to give up, because so much is possible.

 If you’re struggling with rejections, there are a couple of things you can do.

-          If you are attempting to get a literary agent, you can try going straight to small publishers instead. They are more receptive to unsolicited manuscripts.

-          You can keep trying for a literary agent, but just cast your net wider. You don’t have to go for stuff in your own country. You can go worldwide. That’s how it works. Depending on how much time you want to devote to it, there’s every chance you could get yourself a literary agent from somewhere in the world.

-          Quantity is key. I know a lot of people who just try one literary agent, or one publisher. That is not the way to go. Sure, research the places you’re sending it to, and do each pitch thoroughly. But give yourself a bit of time, and try a good twenty, twenty-five, thirty agents or publishers at once. And then chase them up. My rule of thumb is never ask for turnaround time up front. Wait a month and a half and then send an e-mail quoting your previous subject line and date, and inquire about turnaround time then. Often that produces a result.

-          If you’re searching for a publisher, or you’ve been with a literary agent for a long while, and they’ve been trying very hard, you could always self publish. Build yourself up an audience online first. If you’ve got a literary agent, I would stick with them for as long as they’ll have you. I’d just build up a following through a blog and social media. So if your agency dumps you in the end, because your work isn’t working for them, you’ve got a ready made audience for self-publishing. If you self-publish an e-book, it’s easy for worldwide access and a very small gamble for you.

-          Don’t just pull out straight away and self publish on Amazon. Make sure you have an internet following. If you don’t, there’s no point. Anyone can shove information out there. But no one knows who you are, and no one cares. That’s brutal, but that’s the truth. Show that you care about the online community. Promote other people’s work, get in touch with other authors in your subject area, and get in touch with readers in your subject area. Be human and be a friend. If people care about who you are, they’ll read what you write. This is good advertising, and this is good socialising. You don’t have to be obnoxious; but also, your work doesn’t have to drown in the sea of books out there.

In summary, don’t let rejection get to you. It’s part of a writer’s job, and it just happens. But nobody gets started if they turn away at the first rejection. Keep looking for ways to make your work work. Rejection is not the end; it is just the beginning. Every rejection helps you shape your path to success. Don’t let the industry whip you.

The day comes when at last you have the courage to send out e-mails or letters to literary agents. I started doing this when I was about thirteen. I had such an ego on me that I thought no one could fail to take on the work of a child prodigy. I wrote terrible e-mails to these poor agents, and I later imagined them to be very rude, because I never received a response. Now I understand why. What they read must have seemed like spam from a sentimental crackpot.

Dear Agency in New Zealand,

 

I am terribly anxious to get published …

 

If you know anything about writing to an agency, you won’t start an e-mail this way. You will be perfectly professional. You make sure you have the name of the person most appropriate for the work you are submitting, and you will write to hook, getting onto your plot summary as soon as possible – but taking care to provide all the important details. These include your intended audience, the size of your book, your previous writing history, and so on.

Once you have sent something to one agent, you will subsequently find yourself glued to your laptop, almost hyperventilating every time you receive an e-mail. When the rejection comes back, you go into a tailspin for what seems like five years before trying again. The very best thing is to case your net wide. It doesn’t matter how many rejections you get. You are aiming for one acceptance, and every agent that rejects you brings you one closer to your goal.

In the summer of 2011, I e-mailed virtually every New Zealand literary agent whose details I could locate. There were a couple who were interested, but most e-mailed back promptly to tell me they weren’t interested in my kind of work or they were currently full.

I discovered Anna-Soler Pont online, and visited the website of the agency she leads: Pontas International Literary and Film. The moment the link loaded I knew I’d made a mistake. It was a worldwide agency, and it sold translation and film rights. Such an agency would never consider me. The mouse was hovering above the ‘x’ button before I reconsidered.

I had nothing to lose, really.

It turned out that Anna Soler-Pont took me on, and as a result, I now have a publishing company that I'm working with.

I guess the moral of this story – which is in a very different vein to the earlier story I wrote – is that you simply must never give up. You never know what the future holds, what God is planning for you.

I must encourage all aspiring writers to a take a leaf out of a Dutch woman’s book: if the door of opportunity isn’t open, kick it open. Success, in many cases, ultimately depends on how many attempts you make.