Markets for writers can be roughly divided into two groups – Literary and Popular. Examples of these two marketing groups can then be found nationally (radio NZ etc), internationally (BBC etc), on-line (Spoiled Ink Magazine etc) and through various writing competitions (Katherine Mansfield BNZ award etc).

When your manuscript is ready to be sent out to a publisher it is important that you send your manuscript to the right market. For example it would be unwise to enter your 60,000 word literary novel into a short story competition or to submit a non-fiction work on boat building to Mills & Boon, a publisher of romantic fiction.

Once you have researched and decided to target a particular publisher with which to submit your manuscript, be aware of publishers’ pet peeves before sending your manuscript away. Follow the publisher’s guidelines on submissions and check your spelling, punctuation and grammar. Make sure you have given your work a sense of closure and check that you have not overwritten scenes and used too many clichés. In other words make sure that the work you are submitting is the very best work you could produce.

Once you have sent your manuscript away, be patient. The publishing business is a slow one and it can take quite some time before editors will get back to you regarding your work. If you find that your work is rejected, do not take it personally. Take a deep breath, read over your work again and either make some changes before resubmitting it or, if you believe the work is strong enough, resubmit it to another editor or publisher.

Remember that getting your work published is not easy however you can help your chances of doing so. Make sure you are familiar with what publishing houses produce. Stay abreast of what is going on in the publishing world by mixing with other writers, and by joining a writing group or a national writing body such as the New Zealand Society of Authors. Try and raise your profile as a writer by getting some of your work into print and consider using a smaller publishing house, one that may be more prepared to take on a first-time author, than one of the larger publishers who already have a well stocked stable of established authors.