AUTHORS ADVISE YOUNG WRITERS

Dreaming of being an author is the first step, but it takes more to make it a reality.

It took Constance Hiser 13 manuscripts and rejections from 10 publishing houses before the Webb City author got her first check as an author.

Sandy Asher experienced 17 rejections before she could say she was a professional writer.

Wade Hudson likened his chances of breaking into the publishing business to an aspiring musician who struggles to hook up with the right band while working a different job.

"The chances of success are not that good as far as selling something right away," said Hudson, who now owns his own publishing company.

He said would-be writers have to be "persistent."

Hiser, Asher and Hudson were in Cape Girardeau Thursday to participate in the Children and Young Adult Literature Festival, which concludes today at the University Center.

Asher, who writes short stories for young adults and produces adult plays such as "A Woman Called Truth," likes William Faulkner's theory.

"Faulkner said you sit down at your typewriter and write your novel and 10 years later it gets published," she said. "The thing that kept coming back to me when I was getting rejected is that I couldn't imagine doing anything else but writing."

Once a manuscript is finished, a writer must find a publishing company to buy it. But which publishing company?

"I would suggest making sure that you know your market and focus on publishing companies who specialize in a certain type of book," Hiser said.

"If you are writing for children 8 to 11 years of age, you need to find publishers who are looking for that," she said. "If you do picture books, find the publisher who specializes in that."

Hudson said he pays attention to what is popular before he decides how many copies to print.

"It's a very risky business," he said. "My most successful book has been the Afro-Bets 'Book of Black Heroes,' which sold 180,000 copies. But those kinds of sales are few and far between."

Asher is the only one who has an agent.

Sometimes agents have so many clients they don't get your material to enough people, Asher said, adding: "You've got to be careful."

Hiser dropped her agent and vows never to pick one up before she is confident her work is being properly represented.

Hiser had exactly that experience. Her agent hadn't been sending her material to any publishers, leaving her with a feeling her work wasn't good enough.

"My last agent nearly killed my career," she said.

Once writers find the right publisher, a query letter is usually required.

The letter should describe the project and how it would work in a particular market. A synopsis of the book is also helpful in getting a publisher interested.

Hiser said she was so naive she didn't know what a query letter was.

But, she added, "I just kept knocking on doors and telling publishers I had what they wanted and eventually it worked."

And, she said the most talented writers aren't always the ones who get published.

"It's the ones who refuse to let rejections stand in the way of becoming a success," she said.