Break Into Writing - Part II

Here's part II of that very interesting survey of how 246 authors "broke in".
Fantasy author Jim C. Hines has surveyed professionally published novelists to learn how writers broke in, and to use actual data to confirm or bust some of the myths about making it as a novelist. I'll post some excerpts here and the link below.

• The average number of years the authors had been writing before they made their first professional sale was 11.6 years, with the median being ten years.
  
• The average number of books written before selling one to a major publisher was between three and four, and the median was two.
  
• 140 authors made their first professional novel sale with no prior connections to agent(s) or publisher(s).
  

Here's the link: www.jimchines.com.
Apparently, it takes many years to master the craft of writing. I think we all knew that!
And, since a hundred-odd folks did have prior connections with agents/editors, clearly connections don't hurt.

Send your story in to Electric Spec and make a connection with us. :)