To all writers here..

One of your questions was "how long did it take to finish your work?" I can tell you that I spent a couple of years on one novel. I am now working on my second novel, in its fifth revision. I'm stalled because editing is boring and it is slowing down my process. I asked a published author how many drafts he did of his novels before he published and he said minimum 4, maximum 9. It takes a lot of work. You have to make it the best it can possibly be. After that, if you are looking at fiction, your best bet is to submit to an agent. Publishers to do accept unsolicited manuscripts. They have enough to read that are submitted by agents. That's what the agent is for. Once the agent accepts it, who knows how long it will take for him/her to sell it to a publisher? And then how long it will take to get published and out on the market? And then you will have to do publicity in order to sell the book. That is where an agent comes in very handy. They do all the leg work. You just show up for the book signings, interviews, etc. I have not taken a writing class (except creative writing in grade 10) but I have joined a writing group online as well as one in my town that meets once a week. I have learned a great deal since joining these groups and know that my first novel is going to need a major overhaul after I finish the one I am working on now. I have also attended seminars and workshops by published authors, and sat in on a one-on-one critiquing session of my work with an award winning author. As for poems, a publisher/editor/agent requires at least 100 poems in order to choose a number of poems to publish in a book. I don't have 100 poems yet. Poetry books are not big sellers though. They are probably better to be self-published. Check out the Writer's Digest website, as well as go to your local library and research agents, publishers, speciality magazines, etc. in Writer's Market. Do searches online, learn all that you can. When it comes to writing the story, write it. Don't stop and edit part way through. Get the story written and then go back and edit. Let the pen take you and make the necessary changes after. Good luck!

Try to write something and once it's finished shoe it to family and friends but don't let them know you wrote it to be able to get a honest opinion but remember if you want honest you must be ready for bad as well as good. The time it takes can be different from person to person it all depends on your opinions, thoughts, ideas, techniques..... You can publish your work in lulu.com they let you publish books, cd's, etc... But be sure to get someone to check your grammar if possible as the better the quality the more chances it will have of selling. There's a lot of options on lulu that are paid but you can make it free if you don't order the book or any special additions. You put the price and they take commission off of the book. But remember it isn't that easy to sell books some people go years without selling a single thing!

I have published more than 10 poems at poetry.com and I'm publishing books at lulu.com I am a translator of the Word of God from Greek to English. I have already published GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS (Greek-English), THE WILL New Testament (Greek to English), ELEMENTS of SALVATION, The Right Way, GOD, ORIGIN, TRANSFER into PERFECTION, GREEK-ENGLISH (Grammar & Vocabulary), WORDS in THE WILL New Testament, and others shown at http://www.lulu.com/arseniajoaquin I have not spent even a single cent in publishing these. There are no set up fees. Authors are not even required to buy even a single copy of their books. In fact I have not seen any copy of any of my books as I have no money and I don't even have any credit card.Lulu does not interfer with the content. Write anything you want too. Choose the size there, book cover, you're free to set your royalty, etc. Copyright is automatically included there. Just keep on writing and you will develop skills. Be patient to read and re-write. May God bless you.

I have not ever tries it but I do wish you the best of luck on getting something published. sometimes writing can be fun when your head is full of ideals to write about. so good luck and hope to be reading some of your books soon.