I started she lit originally to tell my story of balancing a full-time career while birthing a creative writing career. Throughout the 10 years of participating in the writing community, mostly in Los Angeles, I’ve been given a lot of advice on how to succeed as a published author.

Yet I still made a lot of wrong moves because not all advice worked for me as it was rooted in spending gobs of money. The top problem with trying to enter the industry without a fine arts degree or other background knowledge is the amount of money you’re told to invest in order to get a tip-top manuscript approved by a literary agent then a publisher.

I do believe you have to spend money to get it right, but where should you spend that money? That’s what I’ll explore in the Invest In Yourself series to share the other ways to jump-start your career that may save you a pretty penny and help you reclaim your writing time.

As I prepare a manuscript for querying in 2020, I’ll share ways that worked better for me and helped reduce the likelihood of money and time wasted.

Again, this is what I learned on my journey, so it won’t be one-size-fits-all, but it may be helpful to you. Also, if you have had financial flubs trying to get into the publishing industry, then please share them below in the comments or at shewrites@shelit.com.