Because I’m a writer (and have published/edited a few books), people often ask me for writing advice. There’s an e-book I’m putting together as a result of two years of blogging for the UK based Writers and Artists’ Yearbook. But for those who can’t wait, here is a list of the basics.

Unclear Motives
Do you want to record your family history for posterity or make your living selling your work? Many people are not being honest with themselves as to the real reason they are interested in being published. This deserves a lot of pondering before you even think about the market as it will determine a range of choices including commercial versus self-publishing.

Bad Approach
This includes everything from getting the person’s name wrong that you are corresponding with or even worse, not even knowing whom you are addressing. This can also include misspellings or bad grammar in the query letter, or sending an electronic submission when they only accept paper, in short failing to follow directions.

Unfinished Material
You’re a first time author with a concept but no pages; this makes you very risky for an already embattled industry that needs assurances about how many copies may sell. Take the time to polish and refine your work for your agent, editor, and readers’ sakes.

Fuzzy Process
If you’ve never published a book, then perhaps the people in the machine who make the magic happen may be relatively unknown. Publishing a book is a relatively intensive process with dozens, if not more, people involved. Each of them is an essential part and each of them needs to believe in the story you’re telling.

Short Sightedness
Most publishers want an author, not just a writer; that is to say, they’d like to know what the next book is that you’ll be working on while your first one is on the shelves. This pipeline system is necessary for a process that can take up to a year or longer to get a book out to the market.

Recently someone wrote to me asking me if I thought he would harm his changes for publishing if he moved overseas. I found this question slightly strange since most of the publishing process happens remotely – a book I wrote on Hip Hop dance, for example, was done entirely over email. So it didn’t matter where in the world I was, just that I was writing, and hard at it in the final days to get the manuscript in.

And that is the best advice I can give. If you want to be a writer, take the first step. WRITE. Publishing, book tours, fame, fortune, those all come after.