Lots of people write. An astounding number of people write. Very few of us can actually live on the proceeds of our writing. To most of us, that doesn't matter. We do it because we love it, because, quit honestly, we can't not do it. That doesn't mean, though, that we don't want to get paid.

There's nothing wrong with getting paid to write. There's nothing wrong with trying to make money off one's writing. Now, I don't imagine that I'll ever be able to quit my day job and live by writing. One of my favourite authors, Glen Cook, always held a day job. No, I don't imagine I'll be living it up in the Caribbean on what I make writing, but a few extra bucks isn't too bad.

The question then becomes, how do you make those few extra bucks. Well, that really depends on what you write. Now, as for genres, I only know about science fiction and fantasy, so that's to what I'll refer. Now some of us write short stories and some of us write novels and some of us do both.

Novels are pretty much the hardest things to sell. There are a fair number of genre publishers, like Tor and Baen, which accept unsolicited submissions. The problem is, that leaves you in the slush, and luck plays as much a part in surviving the slush as skill does. You happen to get an editor or a reader on a bad day, and unless you've got an amazing work of art, it's unlikely they'll take notice. Three days straight of reading the slush, and they won't be too interested in reading yours. The creatures from the slush pile can be really horrid, and it must be really tiring to try to get through it.

Now, e-publishers are different. They don't need to be as picky as print publishers because they don't have the same overhead. They don't have to print anything. They have no inventory or distribution network. As such, they can take a chance on works with which print publishers wouldn't bother. Now, some e-publishers will literally accept anything. What does it matter to them? Other e-publishers have actual editors, and actually reject some of the works submitted.

The problem with e-publishers is that they have yet to attain the general public's trust and respect. They might offer higher royalties, but the value they add to a work is so minimal, they should probably pay even more. If a writer is willing to invest their own money, and that writer believes he or she can properly market the novel, they might as well turn to a self-publishing firm. Some people also call these operations vanity presses, but a self-publishing firm and a vanity press are different. A vanity press tries to trick authors into believing it is a real publisher, whereas a self-publishing firm is up front. Remember, the money flows to the author. If you are paying money for any reason, you are self-publishing, and if your publisher is telling you otherwise, they are a vanity press.

Self-publishing can work, but it is better utilized for people wishing to publish, for example, cook books or personal memoirs which they intend to distribute among family and friends. My aunt published a cook book through a self-publisher and sold all 1000 copies. The profit went to a local hospital, so that helped sales. Because of the small market for poetry, collections of poems are often also self-published. Everyone self-publishing wants to mention self-publishing success stories, but there are very few of those, especially considering the success stories of those who went the conventional route.

So, your best bet is an agent, not only for those publishers who only accept agented fiction, but even for those that accept unsolicited submissions. You might think that agents are useless middlemen, but they perform as important a purpose as publishers. Just as publishers act as a filter for us, the readers--and although some of the stuff that gets published may seem sub par, you really wouldn't want to read most of the stuff that didn't make the cut--agents are the filters for publishers. This is one reason why some publishers have closed to unsolicited submissions. Why bother wading through the slush when someone else will do it for you?

And therein lies the problem. Agents also get many, many submissions. Agents also have a slush pile that they have to wade through. One doesn't need an agent. You can send your novels into publishers who accept unsolicited submissions and you might get a contract. If you have an agent, though, not only do you leap over one major hurdle--the slush pile--you also gain the opinion of an individual who has inside knowledge of the publishing industry. An agent can help you to polish your work, help you to find what needs to be changed and what should be kept.

The problem is, what agents are trustworthy? And to whom should you send your work? Well, might I suggest a subscription to Locus? Even the purchase of a few copies will clue you in to who has sold what to which publishers through which agent. A few months can lead to a list of possible agents. A little research with a guide to agents will clue you in to who is accepting submissions and how to submit. There are also resources--like Preditors and Editors--that can help you navigate the murky maze of possible agents.

Marketing your work is not easy, and one has to become inured to rejection. Of course, Robert Heinlein sold the first story ever wrote and he claimed to never rewrite his stories. You may nab an agent on your first try, or Tor might snatch up the first sword and sorcery tale you complete. For most of us, though, it is a long, hard road. There are a lot of potholes that one needs to drive around, and there's no point in getting on the road if one doesn't know one's destination.