Education · 1 of 5

The path

There is no ladder here. There is a body of work and the people who have read it.

1. 1

   High school

   Now

   Read constantly and write badly on purpose. Submit to the school magazine and to teen literary journals. Finishing things is the skill.

2. 2

   Get published somewhere small

   Any time from 16

   Literary magazines, local papers, online outlets. Most pay little or nothing, and they build the record an agent will read.

3. 3

   A degree, or paid writing work

   0 to 4 years

   English, journalism or anything that makes you read hard books. Many working authors instead take a job that pays them to write, in marketing, journalism or technical writing.

4. 4

   Finish a manuscript

   1 to 5 years

   The real gate. A complete, revised novel or nonfiction proposal is what you query agents with. Most people never get here.

5. 5

   Agent, then publisher

   Months to years

   Query literary agents. An agent sells the book to a publisher and takes a percentage. Or skip both and self-publish.