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Hi, Pseudonym,

Thanks for posting. Next time send your real name, in case I have to write you a fan letter!

This is what I did, although I don’t know how much help it’ll be. The manuscript was typed, double-spaced, pages numbered,  one side of the page only. I’d been the class monitor for the Scholastic Book Club, so I had their Canadian address. I sent them the book, and several weeks later, I got a letter asking me to contact them to discuss the possibility of publishing it. I wrote it when I was 12, and I was 13 by this time, and 14 by the time the book came out.

It was just plain luck that the ms. got to the right reader — someone who was intrigued by it and by my letter, which told a bit about the story and a bit about me. I don’t know if that could ever happen again. Many publishers will not even read a ms. that doesn’t come through a literary agent. So getting them to read it is the key, and I really don’t know how that’s done in this day and age — don’t forget my story is 40+ years old! But I don’t think being a kid has anything to do with it. If they read your book, and if they like it, you’re golden!

My advice to you is to get a book on Writers’ Markets from the library. It lists all the publishers, including contact persons and what kind of book they’re looking for. They also list literary agents in case you decide to go that way.

Good luck. And don’t be discouraged. Keep writing — even a procrastinator gets finished once in a while!

                                                                                                          —–Gordon Korman—–