William Faulkner’s first novel, Soldier’s Pay barely sold when it was released in 1926. Neither did Saul Bellow’s in 1944, Kurt Vonnegut’s in 1952, Cormac McCarthy’s in 1965, or David Foster Wallace’s in 1987. All of these books garnered tepid reviews and bare-minimum sales. Ever since Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1828 debut sold so poorly that the author burned the remaining copies out of embarrassment, flopped first novels have been an American tradition.

Publishers have typically taken the long view, expending great effort and bushels of money to keep struggling authors writing away for years, banking on the hope of eventual literary success. It is to this dedication that we owe America’s status as one of the great literary pillars of the world. Now, that dedication is faltering, and with it, the future of the great American novel. But it’s not too late to save the novel.

The Five Steps to Becoming a Published Author

Step One: Get Published

It may sound like this should be the last step to getting your novel published, but the truth is, it’s almost impossible to get a novel noticed if you’re not a published writer. This means you’ll need to spend many hours away from your masterpiece perfecting short stories and sending them out to countless literary magazines. The most important part of this step is getting one of those literary magazines to accept your story. Then, getting a few more to take notice and publish your work. Once you get a few smaller pieces of fiction published, you can start building your bio sheet. This is sort of like a resume for a novelist.

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