The Real Secret To Getting Published

Filed under Proactive Writer.

People will tell you the secret to getting published is persistence, heck I have even said this myself on more than one occasion. The problem is that we are all wrong. The secret to getting published is NOT persistence – it is belief.

It is a long established fact that people get from life what they believe they deserve. If you believe you deserve to be published, if you have faith that this will come true, then, some way or other you will be published.

The secret is knowing what you want and making it a burning desire.

The confusion in approach comes from the fact that once you know you want to be published, and have faith that it will happen, it takes persistence to make it a reality.

However, persistence alone is not the answer, it is just a symptom of your unwavering belief that you will see your book in print.

If you believe that you will be published, and I mean truly believe, than each hour of each day your sub-conscious will painstakingly direct your actions towards your goal. Your sub-conscious is stupid and trusting. It believes what you tell it is true. If you convince your sub-conscious that one day you will be published. It will work away in the background to make it happen.

But (and this is a big but), if you do not really belief. If you just hope, but feel deep down that it will never happen. If you have the smallest doubt, then your sub-conscious will know. It will then guide you away from a goal it sees as impossible. It will believe you should never be published. So when you get that first rejection letter, it will feel the pain and then start the process of slowly re-directing your efforts to avoid future rejection and pain. Your sub-conscious will slowly move you away from your dream; it will provide you with the excuses you need to not write and submit your work. You will not feel the pain of rejection ever again and at the end of the day, what you believed to be true deep down will become reality and you will fail to get published.

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  • http://shatteredprose.blogspot.com/ Indigo

    What an interesting concept. I’ve always thought, believing in myself was half the game plan. If you have no faith in your writing – you won’t expect anyone else to either. Thanks for this. (Hugs)Indigo

  • http://paranormalpointofview.blogspot.com Lisa Gail Green

    This is a tricky proposition! There are so many ups and downs, I wonder if it still works when your belief falters every now and again.. Still, deep down, you’re right. It’s true of everything, not just writing. If you don’t believe you can do something, you never will.

  • http://westpierwords.blogspot.com/ DOT

    It’s a tricky one because the moment you question your self-belief, you are, de facto, questioning your self-belief. The solution is to be arrogant enough to believe it will happen; that sooner or later you will be published.

    It necessarily requires a degree of arrogance because, if you haven’t been published before, there is nothing there to sustain your confidence other than fragile sef-belief.

    I tweeted a link to this old Guardian article recently, which is very pertinent and may help the waverers – http://tiny.cc/3jj1q

  • http://twitter.com/DonnaFaz Donna Fasano

    Excellent commentary! I’ve been a published author for over 20 yrs. I always thought my success was because I could tell a good story, but I realize now that I always had lots of faith that my work would be read and appreciated by others. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ZNJL78

    • garysmailes

      Faith is essential in getting published. What I am suggesting here is by no way suggesting that talent and hard work don’t play a part. What I am saying is that anything is possible is you truly have faith.

  • http://twitter.com/LoudWomen Mo Foster

    I have been published and I think that it involved quite a lot of luck and let us not forget hard work and talent. I have also known people far more talented than me who have never been published and some have wanted it very badly. So perhaps you are right. Thanks anyway.

    • garysmailes

      I am not saying getting published is easy. I am saying that if you have complete faith that your dreams will come true, then your sub-conscious will deliver the answers to the problems you face. This may involve hard work, and talent, but getting published is not beyond any writer. There is no different between an unpublished writer and the best selling author, beyond the fact that the best selling writer dared to have faith that they would become a best seller.

  • http://shatteredprose.blogspot.com/ Indigo

    What an interesting concept. I've always thought, believing in myself was half the game plan. If you have no faith in your writing – you won't expect anyone else to either. Thanks for this. (Hugs)Indigo

  • http://paranormalpointofview.blogspot.com Lisa Gail Green

    This is a tricky proposition! There are so many ups and downs, I wonder if it still works when your belief falters every now and again.. Still, deep down, you're right. It's true of everything, not just writing. If you don't believe you can do something, you never will.

  • http://westpierwords.blogspot.com/ DOT

    It's a tricky one because the moment you question your self-belief, you are, de facto, questioning your self-belief. The solution is to be arrogant enough to believe it will happen; that sooner or later you will be published.

    It necessarily requires a degree of arrogance because, if you haven't been published before, there is nothing there to sustain your confidence other than fragile sef-belief.

    I tweeted a link to this old Guardian article recently, which is very pertinent and may help the waverers – http://tiny.cc/3jj1q

  • http://twitter.com/DonnaFaz Donna Fasano

    Excellent commentary! I've been a published author for over 20 yrs. I always thought my success was because I could tell a good story, but I realize now that I always had lots of faith that my work would be read and appreciated by others. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ZNJL78

  • http://twitter.com/LoudWomen Mo Foster

    I have been published and I think that it involved quite a lot of luck and let us not forget hard work and talent. I have also known people far more talented than me who have never been published and some have wanted it very badly. So perhaps you are right. Thanks anyway.

  • garysmailes

    Faith is essential in getting published. What I am suggesting here is by no way suggesting that talent and hard work don't play a part. What I am saying is that anything is possible is you truly have faith.

  • garysmailes

    I am not saying getting published is easy. I am saying that if you have complete faith that your dreams will come true, then your sub-conscious will deliver the answers to the problems you face. This may involve hard work, and talent, but getting published is not beyond any writer. There is no different between an unpublished writer and the best selling author, beyond the fact that the best selling writer dared to have faith that they would become a best seller.

  • http://alison-morton.com/blog/ Alison

    Encouraging post! Perhaps persistance is a manifestaion of self-belief.
    I printed up the first chapter of my book in booklet form on my laser printer and was overwhelmed by the positive feeling of seeing my work as if it were a real book. Major ego boost! I will be published…

    Those sly little self-doubts do crawl in rom time totime, but I swat them without mercy….

    • garysmailes

      Self-doubts are part of the process of writing, you are indeed correct that, the way to deal with them is to swat them away.

  • http://alison-morton.com/blog/ Alison

    Encouraging post! Perhaps persistance is a manifestaion of self-belief.
    I printed up the first chapter of my book in booklet form on my laser printer and was overwhelmed by the positive feeling of seeing my work as if it were a real book. Major ego boost! I will be published…

    Those sly little self-doubts do crawl in rom time totime, but I swat them without mercy….

  • garysmailes

    Self-doubts are part of the process of writing, you are indeed correct that, the way to deal with them is to swat them away.

  • http://twitter.com/thatgalkiki Christine Macdonald

    Belief. Spot on. Thank you!!! :)

    Christine
    @thatgalkiki

  • Judy

    There is a lot of truth to this, not only for publishing but for just about anything else that you wish to manifest in your life.

  • http://twitter.com/PostimeProphit Hern Quin

    Copy editing is a cool idea, but not for 700K words. I hope that when I find good literary agents, they believe my books deserve to be published.

  • http://twitter.com/thatgalkiki Christine Macdonald

    Belief. Spot on. Thank you!!! :)

    Christine
    @thatgalkiki

  • Judy

    There is a lot of truth to this, not only for publishing but for just about anything else that you wish to manifest in your life.

  • http://twitter.com/PostimeProphit Hern Quin

    Copy editing is a cool idea, but not for 700K words. I hope that when I find good literary agents, they believe my books deserve to be published.