Get published A first-time writer's guide to publishing

It has never been easy for new authors to find a publisher but in the last few years it has become significantly harder. In 2008, the average author earned less than £7000 per annum. According to The Times approximately 200,000 books were available for sale in the UK in 2007. Of that total, 190,000 titles sold fewer than 3,500 copies. The top 5% of titles by sales volume accounted for over 60% of total book sales. No wonder publishers are careful about signing new writers. But there is good news in amongst all the doom and gloom. Right now, it has never been easier to be published. Everyone who posts something on Facebook is in effect a published author. And some blogs are read by tens of thousands of people daily, many more than might pick up a physical book by the same author. Then there's self-publishing, vanity publishing, print on demand and so on. But how do you find your way round this minefield? Get published has been written by publishing insiders to help new authors understand the way publishers think and set about publishing if they can't get a commercial publisher interested.