For those who don’t know, I’m a writer who is currently enjoying life on submission, which is when your agent sends your MS out to editors and they write back to tell you they loved it, you’re an amazing writer, your dialogue is terrific, but they won’t be making an offer (true story). It’s a lot of fun.
A couple of weeks ago, I came across something that annoyed me so much, I decided to pitch an article to The Bookseller – the UK publishing industry’s trade magazine. It was accepted:
Is Publishing In Danger of Becoming Pay To Play?
As you might guess from the title, I’m complaining about the numerous things writers can pay for to try and get their foot in the door of an already privileged industry. There are two issues at play: the first, charging writers to learn how to submit; the second, allowing people with the cash to get a closer read than is granted to those submitting a cold query.
I can’t do anything about the second, but to help tackle the first, I’m working on a series of blog posts that will teach you everything you could learn from a hundred quid How To Get Published Course. I know exactly what it takes to get picked up with no connections, qualifications, or professional feedback, because I did it.
There aren’t any secrets here. It’s writing a good book, pitching it well, and being lucky. But, if I’m going to give out about people charging for this stuff, I might as well put my fingers where my mouth is.
The master page is linked in the navigation bar at the top of the page, but for now, know that it’s in progress, and if YOU (yes, you!) are working on a novel and have questions about submitting in the UK (or the US, they aren’t that different), you are always very welcome to reach out.
Theo Malings 
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