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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38033
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38033
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

From OP in comments:

> I turn 19 in a month. I've been writing fiction since I was about 8 or 9. I love it. I'm not in it for the money, I just want people to read my stories. I wouldn't care if I lost more money than I make ...

In that case, The advice of Faythe85 is good. I'd say your next step is to start learning to write a query letter that will find you a literary agent. Those are the keywords to search for; how to write a query letter, and how to find a literary agent. Here is one site: [Agent Query.](https://www.agentquery.com/default.aspx) Here is another useful one, [Manuscript Wish List](http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/find-agentseditors/search) where literary agents tell you basically what they'd like people to send them (and implicitly by the types of things they represent, what not to send them); so you can narrow your target to those that like the kind of story you write. e.g. if your book has explicit sex scenes and the agent doesn't list something suggesting she represents that kind of work, don't send it to her (most agents are women, btw).

At 19, I presume you are Internet savvy enough to find the resources you need.

By far the best way to get people to read your stories is actually to MAKE money, by selling them. That is how most people read stories, they buy them. The typical self publisher sells about $100, mostly to friends and family. tens of copies. The typical published book sells about 3000 copies, hundreds of times as much, and will earn you $1 or $2 per copy and paves your path to publish your next story.

If your goal is only to be read, you can spend that money on self-promotion, your agent or publisher will be happy to help you devise a self-funded tour of book stores and perhaps even ads to promote your book; they make money from those (but don't run any ads without their input, they don't want you to sabotage their own sales effort. Your contract with them may prohibit that).

If you have been writing diligently for ten years, you should be good enough to at least get answers to queries. But writing queries is an art in itself, keeping them short while generating interest is difficult and both are necessary. And don't sign any contracts without them being reviewed by a real lawyer, and ditch anybody fast that starts out by pressuring you to sign; there are some toothy sharks in these waters.

But your next step, **_after you finish a novel,_** if you think your writing is comparable to professionals that are selling big, will be to start querying and shopping your novel. You can start learning the tricks of query letters and start applying them to writing drafts of your own query letter, and looking for likely agents, now.

Original score: 1