5 Ways Unpublished Writers Can Make Themselves More Attractive to Publishers

I’ve been treasure hunting in the slush pile at Rebelight Publishing Inc. for just over two years. One of our mandates is to publish new authors, so part of my hunt includes searching for manuscripts from unpublished writers. Of our thirteen signed authors, five are new to publishing. In other words,

over 38 per cent our stable of authors are publishing their first novel with Rebelight. Besides having a well-written, riveting, out-of-the-box story, here are five tips for showing publishers you’re ready to take the next step in your writing career.

1. Research query letter writing before you start querying. Query writing is tough, but there are resources galore online. Telling me that you don’t know how to write one because you’re new to this only makes me think you’re unwilling to put in the hard work needed to learn a new skill. And there are tons of new skills to learn when you publish your first book.
2. Show me you’re serious about your writing. Maybe you haven’t achieved publication yet. It’s understandable in this publishing climate. If you don’t have publishing credits to boast in your query letter, then tell me what you have been doing to hone your craft. Have you been mentored by a professional writer? Are you a part of a writers’ group? Have you taken courses and sought out critique of your work? This tells me you’re willing to take risks and go the extra mile for your writing career.
3. Do your research. Know how the publishing business works. Again, information is available
   
   online. You may be a novice, but you need not be ignorant. We want to know that any new author we bring on-board understands the business and just how tough it is, so they’re prepared for the next steps in their writing career.
4. Be professional. Your query letter, synopsis, and all correspondences should reveal professionalism. Not that you can’t be friendly, but never should the friendliness undermine your professionalism. We are interested in working with professional writers who can go the distance.
5. Conduct yourself with integrity. We publish books for young people and, like it or not, young people will seek you out online. We want our readers to be able to connect with our authors. We do check potential authors’ social media outlets to ensure the author is someone we want to work with and is someone we're proud to associate with
   Rebelight. Be aware of what you’re making public and the effect it may have on your career.