Now to get Published - Writers Forum

S-wo · 05-13-2008, 04:41 PM

Hi I haven't been here for a while mostly because I no longer have home internet access. Now that I have finished my book I've been trying to get it published and I've spoken to a whole lot of people, so I want to ask you all now. I heard about self publishing and that it would probably cost me $5000 for that and to get published by a third party not that many authors can get great deals like they did in the past. I contacted a couple of famous authors with no reply yet and the self publishing route I think would be least possible for me at the current moment especially being an unemployed student. I saw things on the web like Author House that's suppose to help, but I don't know who is entirely trustworthy. I'm on the way to getting my book copyrighted as well by the gov, but I heard the process could take up to 6 months! I hope that someone here will be able to give me some useful information.

Non Serviam · 05-13-2008, 05:23 PM

Don't go to Author House. Don't bother copyrighting your book. You need to sell it to a literary agent.

Select reputable literary agents from this site and send them your manuscript in the correct format with a covering letter.

Mike C · 05-14-2008, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by S-wo

...not that many authors can get great deals like they did in the past.

Crap. New authors get signed every day, the traditional way. Authorhouse is a really bad way to go.

lin · 05-14-2008, 01:02 AM

Literary agents don't buy books.

DON'T ship your manuscript off to agents like that. Jesus Christ!

DON'T use that P&E site to locate an agent...you'll go out of your mind, and so will they.

Identify books like yours, find out who agented them, send them QUERY LETTERS.

THIS is a much, much better way to locate agents...a search engine that accepts keywords, etc.

You don't need five grand to self-publish. You can get your book on amazon for dirt cheap using lulu.com

There are lots of small presses around these days.

Don't go to fucking authorhouse.

Don't worry about copyrighting. If you have a really incredibly unique, high concept idea you are worried about somebody nabbing and you just can't get past it, register the book with WGA...do it online for like twenty bucks. But you don't really need to do it.

It can take years to get published, even if you score right away.

Make a systematic search of agents and publishers. Go to Duotrope and look for publishers for your type of book...many smaller presses don't require agents.

If you get sick of that, or if maybe you feel inside that your book might be cool but doesn't really have the star quality to tempt big publishers, exhaust all the little POD presses before you decide to publish it yourself on lulu or some such.

Unless you have written something with a very powerful niche that you can locate easily to market, printing up books to sell yourself is not a very good idea.

MAN I'm shocked at the level of some of this advice here. Whoa.

Good luck with your book.

Raging_Hopeful · 05-14-2008, 01:04 AM

Quote:

the self publishing route I think would be least possible for me at the current moment especially being an unemployed student.

If you self-publish I'll hurt you.

Seriously though. So many writers get suckered into the "sell your own book" thing and they end up with an empty wallet and a thousand copies of a book that no one wants to buy. Literary Agents sell books. That's their job. It takes hard work and perseverence (oh, and a marketable story) to become published. But that's life. Don't let those bastards take your money!

lin · 05-14-2008, 01:45 AM

No need to spend thousands of dollars. As I already mentioned.
Agents not only don't buy books, they don't sell them. They broker manuscripts to publishers.
I don't think you have much of an idea about the current state of self-publishing.

One thing you can do is waltz into lulu.com and publish a book for free that will be available on amazon and other e-stores.

There are pluses, minuses, different flavors, etc. Those who are interested learn and discuss them. But nothing said about it in this thread shows any familiarity with it AT ALL.

Some of the commments about agents here are shockingly ignorant.

By the way, it can easily cost a lot more to trot a book around to agents and such for a year or so than to just publish it on lulu with some trimmings for like a hundred bucks or the basic ration for free.

Figure out how much to xerox a 300 page manuscript at like 7 cents a page. Now ad three or four bucks postage. Now multiply that by the number of agents on the P&E page. You could hit a couple of thousand bucks without even trying.

Self-publishing, especially fiction, is not a route to riches. But it's only a ripoff if you're a dumbshit.
It's one little tool of the trade that a writer should be aware of and understand.

flashgordon · 05-15-2008, 03:10 PM

I think Lin has given you solid advice. Figure out what you want to do and then do your research. Also, don't listen to people that say you have to do it one way. There are a multitude of methods to get published, all have their pluses and minuses.

lin · 05-15-2008, 03:43 PM

Flashie is a major guy to listen to on this subject. He's been self-published, published others, moderates a self-publshing board and has a lot of information on his site of interest to those promoting their own books.

S-wo · 05-15-2008, 06:38 PM

All right thank you for the advice. I heard from another author that lulu might not be a good idea since it's online and I've already got a whole lot of people riled up around my city that I've written a book and I think more people are more comfortable purchasing in store than online. I'll continue to contact existing authors and take your advice into consideration.

lin · 05-15-2008, 06:57 PM

You're really not going to hear back from "existing authors". There isn't much they can tell you.

I hope all your "riled up" people stay that way for the two or so years it's going to take you to get a book published by conventional press...IF you score right away.

Here's the thing. You asked about self-publishing and obviously no nothing about it. Many who have advised you here don't know anything either.

Try FINDING OUT. Instead of wasing time pestering authors, sit down on google and start finding out about this stuff so you can make an informed decision instead of just whatever sounds good from the next person you talk to.

Raging_Hopeful · 05-15-2008, 10:51 PM

Hmmm... okay, so I'll eat my words on this one. You're right, I wasn't aware of these alternative options but there are still a lot of "self-publishing scams" out there so you should still be careful. Again, if you can talk to people who have made it work, so be it.

Sorry lin and flash. Guess I learned something new today!

cpickett · 05-16-2008, 11:21 AM

Hi,
Those who've noted there are a variety of options are correct. None of them are inherently good or bad. To summarily reject one option or another, without seriously analyzing your project and your skills then weighing pros and cons all around, may cause you to leave a viable option on the table.

You can ask others what route they chose, or what resources they used, but what worked for them, may or may not be right for you. Publishing is not one size fits all, contrary to what many people believe.

Also, yes there are scams out there and some people doing business poorly, so that is a time to pay close attention to the advice you get. Just make sure it's based on more than one experience or reliable source.

Hope that helps.

Xx Kane xX · 05-16-2008, 11:22 AM

Only thing I've heard, if it helps you, is to stay away from Publish America.

Welshman · 05-16-2008, 11:45 AM

Absolutely DON'T send your book to an agent!! Send a query letter. You can guarantee if you send the book it will not be opened.

An investment would be to look through a publisher's catalogue and find out which publishers already have authors like you in their stable. Once you have isolated this start researching - find the name of someone you can talk to by phone/ email/ post.

A little patient digging will help you go a long long way!

Hearts on fire press · 06-21-2008, 11:54 AM

Hi,
I know that I am new here, but I just wanted to say that I have to agree that self publishing isn't the way to go. My mom paid a self publisher(which I won't name) $600 one year ago and all she has made off of her book is $5.00 in a year. So that isn't the best way to go. It is hard to get published if it is your first book. What I did for my romance novel was went with an e-pbulisher. There are good and bad with this idea too. There requirements are not as long as a print publisher. Response time is quicker because you can email things back and forth instead of mailing. The downfall is that your book is in electronic form instead of print. I have just started my own e-publishing business. If this is something that you are interested in check out my website. www.heartsonfirepress.com and if your not interested in e-publishing you can join our writers critique group for free and maybe get some information from some other people there on how to get your book published.
I hope this helped,
Melissa