Wattpad 101: Your guide to the world of Wattpad

How to Become a Published Author

I feel like a bit of an idiot writing this chapter. After all, I have yet to take my own advice and have yet to "start" my career as a writer. I "think" I understand what you need to do to be a successful writer, but that is clearly an opinion that lacks the experience of actually having attempted it. Never the less, after scouring the internet and coming up with my own personal "plan to success", I figured I'll share it with you. Even though I've yet to follow my own plan, perhaps someone else will put it to the test and move towards success. So here are the steps towards becoming a published writer.

Finish a Manuscript

Someone once told me that the difference between a writer and a person who has a hobby of writing is whether they've actually completed a manuscript or not. That is absolutely the first step you must do to become a writer, and it's a step I'm betting 90% of Wattpadders have yet to accomplish.

Writing a Manuscript sounds hard. I mean, creating a 20,000 word plus novel takes months. Editing that novel takes even longer. Making sure the novel is any good takes even longer than that. By saying "finish a manuscript", I'm already setting a bar so far in the future that you can't even see it... unless you take my advice from the chapter "how to start your first story."

In that chapter, I mention something that should seriously change the way you write. Start small. Do NOT write a novel to start. Don't even write a novelette. Make your first publishable manuscript a <10,000 word short story. If you have this idea screaming in your head and you want to make it a reality, then chop it down into a 10,000 word or less story. Cut out the riffraff, and create a slim-lined story which focuses on one aspect of your writing. Maybe create memorable characters, maybe pack it full of action, maybe something else.

That story, even after being published, can be rewritten and expanded into a larger novel. There is absolutely no reason you can't turn a short story into a long one. The Simpsons started out as a clip in a variety hour show and now look at it. There is nothing wrong with expanding an idea you already started into a new medium.

The point is, you can write a 10,000 word story in less than a month, and you can edit, refine, and repair that story to your heart's content. Heck, you can even rewrite the story if you find it necessary. Get a finished manuscript; that's the goal. Once you have that manuscript that you're happy with, now's the time to get it published.

Publish In a Writing Journal

Once you have one or two completed manuscripts, your next goal is getting published. Some of you might twist your brows in confusion. "I thought we need to find an agent!", you might say. However, I'm not talking about getting a publisher and publishing a novel. I'm not talking books. I'm talking journals.

Do you know how scientists write up their experiments in a peer review journal? Well, English Majors do the same thing with short stories. A lot of famous novels started out as short stories submitted to writing journals. So what am I talking about? What are these mysterious writing journals?

Things like the New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Threepenny Review, Zoetrope, One Story, Antioch Review, AGNI, Barrelhouse, Cincinatti Review, The First Line, The Georgia Review, Boulevard Magazine, Camera Obscura, Crazy Horse, Story, Vestal Review, Flash Fiction Online, Black Warrior Review, The Sun Magazine, Virginia Quarterly, Ploughshares, Shimmer, Daily Science Fiction... to name a few.

Find one that fits the criteria of the stories you want to publish. If you write fantasy, find a fantasy journal. If you write romance, find a romance journal. Each one has their own criteria, word limits, and cost money to submit. The cost is only from $10-$30 for most, so if you feel your manuscript is publishable, submit it out to a journal or two.