[getting published] it’s not what you write – it’s who you know

Phil Edwards' comment on getting published:

People often don't realise that getting an individual piece of work accepted has very little to do with the quality of said piece of work. (I know I had no idea that this was the case when I first started pitching stuff - come to that, if somebody had told me it was the case I would have been outraged and refused to believe it.)

Having sat on both sides of the desk I'd say that what really matters to a commissioning editor is having a network of reliable contacts. To accept a piece of work is, potentially, to add a new person to that network - which is risky. Most of the time editors don't take that risk; 99% of the time, probably.

So, from a writer's point of view, what you're trying to do is not to sell your writing (that comes later) but to plug into a network - which means it's all about who you know, who can do you favours and who you can impress into doing you favours. For complete outsiders, the last one is probably the best way in - although I imagine the universal availability of self-publishing will make it harder to stand out.

Once you have impressed somebody with your writing skills, erudition and RELIABILITY - and in brute practical terms the first two are fairly dispensable [1]; you can write like William Leith or Johann Hari as long as you're RELIABLE - you're made, of course [2]. Until you fall out with someone important, your contacts move on or their publications close, of course. Fun life, freelancing.