ARE THERE BASIC RULES ABOUT GETTING PUBLISHED?
Keep reading and keep writing. It’s no good writing in an area of your genre which has not sold well for some years, if being published is your goal. You are not writing in a vacuum. Before a publisher gets your book to eager readers, it has to be taken on by the book trade, and the publisher’s sales department have to persuade W H Smiths, Ottakar’s, Waterstone’s and the rest that you, as a new writer, are worth stocking. This is not easy. It’s infinitely less so if your work is so outré as to require a written explanation. Put it this way: both China Miéville and George R R Martin write fantasy. They are very different writers, but they are both interesting and accessible. Keep your own muse, but don’t be wilfully obtuse. You won’t get published if you do.
