If you're a new writer, getting your first book or article published can seem overwhelmingly difficult.
Crof," he once told, "all you need to be a writer is ego and energy." He was right, but the energy isn't just for cranking out text—it's for cranking out still more text, learning from your own work, and pushing it until finally some editor is desperate enough to take a chance on you.
I know it seems hard to believe, but all you need to do is write, write, and write some more, and energetically MARKET what you write.
Publishing is a business.
All publishers, from the mega-corps to the humblest online journal, stay in business by giving their readers what they want.
Therefore, if you want to be published, don't focus on publishers, focus on READERS.
Know the genre you're aiming for if you're writing a novel. (See our fiction genre workshop on Pro Write.)
Know the demographics of any magazine where you're aiming to sell your work.
Keep writing, and keep marketing, and you WILL get published.