On Getting Published

There's an awful lot about it on the internet and the one consistent thing about it is that none seems to agree with any other so I was pleased to find this on Tansy Rayner Roberts blog where she links to Justine Larbelestier and Diana Peterfreund's blogs where they make it clear that everyone is different whether they be author, publisher or agent and so every experience of the process is different. Given I know writers who have obtained an agent by casually chatting to someone at a book stall at a convention, been published because they went to dinner with a group they had just met (also at a convention as it happens), by relentless querying of publishers or agents or by subbing once, it's clear that getting that first contact comes in many different ways. Some people work their way up by short story publications, some by competitions and others by writing a book that touches a particular editor or agent. They are all different. Why then would you assume that the actual publishing process of companies with different business models and different staff would be identical? But apparently people do. These links are very informative if only to shake those preconceptions.