Getting Published in 32 Easy Steps by Kieran Fanning

Elizabeth Rose Murray recently spoke to Kieran Fanning about how he wrote The Black Lotus, but what she didn’t cover was his path to publication, so here it is, in 32 easy steps! Over to Kieran…

1. My publishing history started with a puzzle/adventure book some fifteen years ago. I had a few rejections, but by and large, I found a publisher relatively easy. Too easy. Four books later, the publisher decided to axe the fiction side of their business, so I was cut loose, and left adrift on the literary ocean.
2. Picture books were something I’d always wanted to do, so I wrote one. I mean, how hard can they be to write? Stupid me. The rejection letters kept me in fire-lighting material for a whole year.
3. So I wrote another picture book. More rejections. And when I say more, I mean, a lot more.
4. Repeat step 3 until you get fed up.
5. Now continue.
6. So I wrote a chapter book for 5-8 year olds. I mean, how hard can they be to write? You know how this goes, don’t you? Stupid me. Rejection, rejection, rejection.
7. Repeat step 6 a few times, then continue.
8. I wallowed.
9. I revisited steps 2-8 for fun. It wasn’t.
10. I wallowed some more.
11. I spent over a year writing a novel. I felt proud. Then I read over it and suddenly didn’t feel so proud anymore. It was terrible. I dug a hole in the garden and buried it. Now a tree with bitter fruit grows there.
12. I wallowed. Really this step should be numbered 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16.
13. Then I realised what I was doing wrong. I was trying to be a published writer. But I needed to become a writer first. Just a writer. Nothing else. So I wrote another novel. I took my time. I read lots of writing advice. I read books, loads of books. (You wouldn’t believe how important this is.) I did so much research I felt like a PhD student. I cut my teeth on this novel. I bled. I healed. I finished.
14. Now STOP! This is the part where I kept getting rejections, remember? Turns out it’s the part where most aspiring writers go wrong. What you must do here is nothing. Ok, make sure to eat and drink and sleep and wash yourself and do other things which take your fancy. READ. But do nothing with your book. Put it away. For at least 6 months.
15. I pretended to find the manuscript by accident. ‘Oh look, an unpublished novel,’ I said. ‘This looks interesting…’ I read as a stranger, not as the guy who wrote it (Well, I tried. It’s not easy pretending to be a stranger to yourself). But disconnecting myself from the story allowed me to see what was right with it, and what was wrong with it. I wrote it again.
16. I attended a writing course, and learned about ‘voice.’ I wrote it again.
17. I had my manuscript professionally critiqued. I wrote it again.
18. I attended a ‘Date with an Agent’ event and got some good advice. The agent said she’d like to see the book when it was finished. I returned to my story and applied her advice.
19. This should be the step where I submit to the interested agent, but I wasn’t ready to be rejected yet. Not on this novel. Because it was getting good, better than anything I’d written. So I joined a writing website and had my book critiqued by a group of aspiring writers. I listened to what they said, and re-wrote my novel. Again.
20. I submitted the manuscript to the interested agent. She liked it, but didn’t like the middle. I rewrote the middle and submitted again.
21. Though the agent was very complimentary and asked to see the next thing I wrote. But I wasn’t ready to give up on this one yet.
22. I started submitting to agents in small batches. I got some rejections but lots of encouragement too. Some asked me to try writing something else.
23. Eventually, I got offers of representation from two agents. I chose one, Sallyanne Sweeney at Mulcahy Associates. I wrote a rejection letter of my own!
24. Sallyanne worked with me on the text. I wrote it again.
25. We submitted. We got lots of rejections, but it seemed to be a close call on numerous occasions. (The editorial team of one major publisher loved the book but it was rejected by the sales department!) The editor for another major publisher really liked it but asked me to polish the text.
26. With the help of my critique buddies I polished the text. In the meantime, the editor bought another manuscript for the gap he was trying to fill with mine. Another rejection.
27. I reworked the novel again and submitted to more publishers. Lots more rejections, but also two offers! We accepted one (apparently, you’re not allowed to accept two).
28. End of story, you might say? Manuscript lives happily ever after, you might say? Afraid not. More like start of story. Again. Publisher liked the first half of my book but wanted a new second half. I wrote it again.
29. Edit book.
30. Repeat step 29 many times.
31. Keep going.
32. Book published. Easy!

Warning: I’ve had a lot of luck along the way so my publishing journey has been relatively easy. Yours may take much longer. The trick is to follow the instructions of step 31 very carefully. If you do, you’ll reach your final step, whether that be 32, 52 or 92.

(c) Kieran Fanning

About The Black Lotus

Ghost, Cormac and Kate are not like other kids.

Ghost can turn invisible, Cormac can run up walls and Kate can talk to animals – all abilities which make them perfect recruits for the Black Lotus, a training school for ninjas. But when the Moon Sword – a source of unimaginable power – is stolen by samurai, the three are forced to put their new skills to the test in sixteenth-century Japan …

The Black Lotus is in bookshops now or pick up your copy online here!