8. Eggs in one basket

Writing, particularly popular fiction, is a massively competitive arena. Even if you're good, wading through everyone else and getting yourself noticed is no easy feat. You have a choice as an author to write the book of your heart and focus all your attention and efforts onto it and persevere and persevere until, finally, it lands on the right desk.

Or you can be prolific and churn out a number of manuscripts so that, at any one time, you have several projects on the go (one in development, one you're writing/editing and one or more 'out there' in submission). This spreads your bets and increases your chances of success. The trade off is that it dilutes your focus and may lead to some difficult decisions.

But the surest way to give yourself away as a newbie is to write to a publisher or an agent and say "You're it for me. This is meant to be." By all means offer a particular publisher/agent first refusal if its a house you really, really want to get in on. But you better have a backup plan when that refusal comes in.

Because 999 times out of 1000 they will refuse. That's just the biz.

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