If you have made the decision to peruse a career as a writer you have chosen grand profession. When you look at the statistics, the percentage of professional novelists is small compared to other vocations, we are rare breed.

But when you look at how many unpublished or published writers for that matter trying to make a living compared to the amount of publishing houses out there in each country you will see that publishers get inundated on a weekly basis. So much so, that even if you are very good it is still near impossible to get in the game.

One of the best ways to get in the game is not just through an agent. Most agents will only look at you if you have a publishing history or if you have been referred by an already published author. No, the best way to get in the game is by being prolific, because above all it’s a numbers game. Can the publisher sell enough? Can the publisher by taking you on, make more money in the future? Not only that, but if you have ten different books with thirty different publishers you are pushing the numbers again. There is also the domino affect, one published novel gets the rest published too. So the greatest road to success lies in having more out under consideration than your competitor and don’t put all your eggs in the one basket.

Don’t think writing a book in under a week is an impossible task, some of the greatest works in history have been written in under a week. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein was written over a long weekend as was Brahm Stoker’s Dracula, actually they both wrote them for a competition to see who could write the best horror novels in the fastest time. Nor am I advising you on something I haven’t attempted myself, my own novella (21000 wds), Day of Rest, was written in three days.