You can find more information about Haywood at www.haywoodsmith.net.
In Haywood's own words, here's some advice from a bestselling author:
- Learn the craft of writing. Grammar is the backbone of our language. Only
after you learn what's correct can you break the rules and get away with
it.
- Learn the business and technical end of publishing,
either traditionally or self-publishing. Join groups that give you access to
multi-published authors.
- If somebody claims to be an agent, then asks for
money to "fix" your book, they're lying. Lots of people use paid editors , but
book doctors posing as agents take advantage of lots of naive writers.
- Don't ever send a manuscript to an agent, a
published author, or an editor until it's been polished till it shines. Bad
spelling, grammar, or structure turn on my critical editor, so I can't see the
story for the
mistakes. You only have one chance to be the great new thing. Don't blow it by
submitting before your work is ready.
- Never give up. Every rejection is another step
closer to publication. That doesn't men you shouldn't rewrite. Use any
criticism to address that element of your book, then decide whether or not to apply
it.
- Also, in the state of Georgia, when a friend says you can use some of her true stories in a book, print out an adequate legal release and have him or her sign and date it. I didn't, and my publisher and I ended up getting sued for $1,300,000--over a million dollars! The paper printed all the accusations, and none of the rebuttals. But God and I knew she'd given me verbal permission, so my conscience was clear. In the end, the jury awarded her $50,000 LESS than she'd been offered by our insurers at the beginning, and NO legal fees. So even though we lost on a technicality, we won.
