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Writing...Entry 3- Day 3

click to enlargeMonte Burch is one of the nation's leading writers. He works in many different genres and is both a book publisher as well as a magazine writer. Monte is one of the most widely-read and prolific freelance writers in the nation.

QUESTION: How do you break into magazines?

ANSWER: Breaking into magazines and book publishing are both very simple. Have something that you're interested in, and buy a Writer's Market. Then you can find the subject that you want to write about.

QUESTION: How do you break into the book market?

ANSWER: You can break into the book market in the same way. There's more of a demand for books now than ever before. I started at the smallest publishing house on the list when I looked into publishing my first book. I was rejected almost 50 times before I presented it to the biggest publisher, which decided to take my book.

QUESTION: So the biggest publisher was the one who took your book after you were rejected 50 times by smaller publishing agencies?

ANSWER: Correct.

QUESTION: Why didn't you quit?

ANSWER: I felt like my book was a good book and that there was a market for it. I had studied the market and knew people needed my book. I just had to find someone to do it. I'd always wanted to be a book author.

QUESTION: How many books did that book sell?

ANSWER: It sold about 175,000 copies. My total book sales now are well over 1 million.

QUESTION: So, if you had quit after 49 rejection slips, you would have never made it in the book market, right?

ANSWER: I would have never made it.

QUESTION: What kind of rejection did you experience in the magazine market?

ANSWER: It was very similar to the book market. I would read features in magazines and think, "I can write that." But I got one rejection after another. A editor at "Outdoor Life," Vin Sparano, was kind enough to let me know that I couldn't start at the top. I had to start at the bottom. He told me to send him queries on local events happening in my region of the country, and that he would read them and see how I could write. "If you can write, I'll buy your stories," he said. That's the key to writing for newspapers and magazines--start with a column in your local newspaper, and then continue to look for markets and ways to improve your writing.

Check back each day this week for more from Monte Burch...