Writing professionally is lovely in some ways, and in others it is a continual process of getting stiffed. There is no way of guarding yourself against getting stiffed, and I would love to be able to come up with every single possible scenario in which you might be, but there is always the possibility for more inventiveness in this area. I can definitely give advice based on situations I have seen or experienced; for example, never trust a publisher who tries to dissuade you from getting an agent, think very carefully if you’re offered a lump publication sum with no return on sales, and if you’ve been working editorially with an agent and they suddenly suggest you hire a freelance development editor (it just so happens their wife runs such a service), again, think very carefully about whether or not you want to work with this person. I would also advise against novel-writing competitions, although that’s more of a personal thing, and I would probably counsel against paying anything for either agent-querying advice or how to get your manuscript into a saleable condition. It is a grimly amusing perversion of the labour relation that you can probably make a decent living running workshops and making content advising people how to make money off their writing, while you in the main cannot, but there we are and here we are. A lot of it is alchemy, and anyone who tells you they can sell you some fail-safe rules for either getting representation or getting published will also have a fine (floor plans only) bridge they can sell.
So you can’t stop yourself from getting stiffed; what you can do is show solidarity with other writers by learning your hard lessons and passing them on, and also learning not to take it personally. It’s not about you, it’s about industries that are run according to the principles of consumer capitalism but have to pretend that they are run according to the principles of social and cultural enrichment. The industry is absolutely packed to the gills with people who love literature and take it hugely seriously, and would love to carefully nurture careers, but bills are bills (K. Marx, Das Kapital).
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