Will I Get Published? Traps That Lie in Wait for Writers

For some years now I have tried to get my work published. I have regularly got returns from publishers saying when they are polite and caring at least - my work is good but .....-

That 'but' makes all the difference. It seems any traditional publisher is only interested in books that will be gigantic blockbusters - nothing else. They won't take the slightest chance. Do they feel in such competition with each other or with the Internet?

It makes it so hard for struggling writers like me and I fear so many on this PoetrySoup website. Glancing through this website I sense there is a great deal of talent - I am truly amazed by it! Perhaps some of the poets here are world-famous but I suspect a lot are like me -talented but simply unlucky.

I was fascinated to read recently that J.K Rowling was refused by some publishers and only got published by some executive who actually knew her. So who you know is as important in publishing as in any other profession. Forget talent - just know the right people.

On this website, it is so great that talent - plain and free is displayed.

I would like to warn about hybrid publishers who make their writers pay large amounts of the publishing price. They say they go halves but I wonder if they really do. Anyway the fact that you pay so much means that they don't have the same impetus to promote your book. They have their money. Why should they give you any more help?

But most dangerous and terrible of all are vanity publishers who praise your work to the skies and make you pay through the nose. They often disguise themselves as caring for you. You don't pay for anything - they say - you just pay for the journal they will put your work in. And of course the journal happens to have some excessive price.

Will I ever get a decent publisher who recognizes talents and is not only interested in best sellers?

Well at least it is great to feel our writing can rest on this website and be appreciated by others for free. But it would be nice to get greater exposure and more recognition and even - dare I say it? - a bit of cash.  At present, I am writing a novel about the traps that are lying in wait for us writers but the problem is - will I get it published!