Publishing (Are you published?)

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   DogSiDaedposted 15 years ago

   Hi, obviously I am nowhere near becoming published for anything, I lack the skills, content and direction. But I figured it might be worth getting a heads up. If anyone knows anything about publishing or has been published and has some advice, then it's much appreciated, as always

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      AEvansposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I am being published right now my sugeestion is give it all you've got and believe in yourself. You do not lack the skills content or direction just believe.

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         DogSiDaedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Ahh fantastic! Go you! May I ask what exactly is being published?

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            AEvansposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            A romance , 1 book on the recession giving others hope and one is a tribute to my mother and includes all mom's who are so near and dear to our heart.

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               Crazdwriterposted 15 years agoin reply to this

               AEVANS you better tell us when those books come out so we can all snatch them up and go "we know the author we know the author!"

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      cosetteposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      i have written tons of technical material for several companies, including a computer publishing house, although i have no byline. i am not a published author, which is different than a published writer. my advice to you is:
      
      a) obtain a good editor. one you can trust and who is well skilled in grammar, publishing protocols and manuscript formatting
      
      b) get a book from amazon or your bookstore on literary agents and publishing companies.
      
      if you want to self-publish, i know amazon has a way to do that, but it costs money. i have no idea how much, but at least they would list your book on their site.
      
      good luck.

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   ryankettposted 15 years ago

   I have nothing with an ISBN, so I am not a published author, but I have had numerous articles in magazines.... so I am a published print journalist..... I have a publisher friend who is interested in 2 of my ideas... they are being worked on.

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   prettydarkhorseposted 15 years ago

   I have published article, in journals, research articles mostly in population related researches

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   h.a.borcichposted 15 years ago

   I have had a few articles published through the years. Most of it was for very little money, but I was given 5-10 copies of the books or magazines each time in addition to the pocket change.
   
     The Writers Digest (in print or online) has info for submitting pieces for publishing. It has the details of who is looking for what and how they want it submitted. Even pay rates and publishing details are available. Great resource.
   
     Good luck and hope that helps, Holly

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   The land of Aliceposted 15 years ago

   Hi, I am an inexperienced writer also. I am currently compilling a collection of my short stories, poetry and surrealist plays. I, ofcourse, dream of having all of these little peices published one day. However, i have no idea who i should contact to start the ball rolling? any advice?

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   pgrundyposted 15 years ago

   I have had short stories, essays, and poetry published in 'little literary magazines'. It isn't that hard to break into these because they usually only pay in copies, although you'll be competing with lots of academic-types.
   
   Once you get a few paper publications, you can start to up your ante and pitch some ideas for articles that actually result in money. Lita Sorensen here at HP has done this successfully, and has written a great hub about how to do it:
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Real-Life-101-P … or-Writers
   
   CJ Stone and Bard of Ely here at HP have successfully published books and articles.
   
   One thing I would warn you about though: You won't get rich. I mean, paper publication pays more than the net, but it still doesn't really pay well (in most cases). Still, it does build up your cred to have some paper publications under your belt.
   
   Writer's Market has a website now that you can join and search for places to query or send your completed work. They also list agents.
   
   Publishing is pretty tough right now. But people are still getting their stuff out there.

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      DogSiDaedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Well poetry publication is what I'm looking for, I was wondering if I could ask what magazines you started with initially? And how would I go about getting some work into them?

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         Leta Sposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Why not start here:
         
         http://www.newpages.com/literary-magazines/

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   pgrundyposted 15 years ago

   Here's a couple more resources:
   
   http://www.writersmarket.com/
   
   http://www.pw.org/
   
   I have a friend who teaches freshman composition who writes poetry. She sends out groups of five or six poems to a dozen places at a time. Many of them tell you not to do that, but she does it anyway and has been published all over the place.

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   Bovine Currencyposted 15 years ago

   I was recently published for the first time in a small UK poetry magazine.  Nothing big, no payment but it was pleasant to be accepted, particularly as it was my first time submitting anything

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   robert.lipscombeposted 15 years ago

   Hi folks, when my The Salamander Tree was published in the nineties it was a different world of course not least with respect to publishing. In those days you could get a large advance even as an unknown if your book hit the spot. These days you won't get a look in if you are not a celebrity, not already with an established readership, or your book is not considered the next big thing.
   No problem!
   The future is with self-publishing, print on demand and virtual novels. My advice is, keep writing, keep writing better and your time will very likely come. It may not be the bigtime, but maybe there isn't going to be any more bigtime in the book world. But it will be show time, and there will be rapturous applause, though probably the audiences are going to be smaller, more dedicated, more specialised.
   Good luck and good wishes to all.
   If anybody is interested I could do a blog on my experiences with the British publishing industry. I know them all.
   RL

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      Rudohposted 15 years agoin reply to this

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      seasoningposted 15 years agoin reply to this

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    wychicposted 15 years ago

    I have not yet had a book published, but I've been working on one about becoming a successful freelancer as a single stay-at-home mom. I want to get more of the manuscript done before I send it in to any publishers, but the most valuable activity I've found so far is to actually talk to people in publishing. Through internet searches and names given to me by clients, I have been able to contact people who publish in areas of self-development, self-help, entrepreneurship, and so on that have been very helpful in giving me tips. They've been able to suggest ways of finding a good, searchable title, subject matter that will likely sell well and isn't very well-covered in the industry, and so on.
    
    My suggestion is to try to narrow down what you want to do as much as possible, then find people who deal with publishing books in that specific category. Be prepared to go to some two-bit publishers who few people have heard of for the first book, it's still better than self-publishing, and every rejection letter or bit of constructive criticism is a way to improve. Just bear in mind that it's an extremely competitive market and don't take any negative feedback personally, they're just helping you produce something that will actually sell.

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    Rudohposted 15 years ago

    Hallo good people!
    Iam down here in South Africa,hoping to have a book out there. I have just finished my script its fiction around African culture.After reading the response one of the hubbers got from Whitmore Iam ready for regret emails.
    
    Please help with the names of other publishing houses out there?
    Advise me on copy write protection too. Does mailing own script protect the author enough?Is it safe to email my script to any publisher I find on line.
    
    Is anyone self published out there? What are some of the selling tips do you have after forcing friends and family to buy.
    
    Please help Rudoh

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       wychicposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       I only know the copyright rules in the US, so I don't know how this might change country-to-country, but here as long as you have something with a confirmed earlier date of creation (i.e. the creation date of an electronic file, a hard copy of the manuscript sealed inside a certified mail envelope and mailed to yourself for the postmark)then you have a case against copyright infringement. However, if you're just sending it to random publishers on the internet that may or may not be legitimate there could be a problem, because if someone uses your book without permission you first have to catch them using it, find the people in the real world, and then be able to afford an attorney to drag them into court over it.

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    Crazdwriterposted 15 years ago

    And the only publishing I have had done was poetry.com publishing a few of my poems..back when I wrote poems lol but that is all. Still working to get my stories published into books. *fingers crossed*

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    Rudohposted 15 years ago

    Halo
    
    My script is ready to go out. If I self publish , what other selling tips do you have after all family members have bought!!! Big stores here in South africa will not take small orders, they will need 2000 min for their big shops. I agree that self publishing is the way to go but help me find ideas to ensure that this novel will be able to raise fund to fund the next one!

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       Bovine Currencyposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Try booksurge, it is an amazon company.

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    DogSiDaedposted 15 years ago

    Thanks for the help everyone!

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    Hauntyposted 15 years ago

    I have 11 articles published online and I can have them appear in print any time I want.

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       Janettaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       LOL a wise cracker

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    PoetwoPoemposted 15 years ago

    Hi, My name is Rudy Lopez, known as Poet without a Poem, and I just had my first book published April of this year. It is titled Positive Romance. It is stirring, uplifting collection of short stories dealing with the issues of love with encouraging and compromising attitudes. I am vertually an unknown writer so it will take some time for my book to kick in. I'm doing the marketing through the internet and it is available on any major online book store. It was on display in Frankfurt, Germany on October of this year and is being pick up by a major International publisher. I'm waiting for a contract as I write this. I am a little man with big dreams so I'm hoping for the best with this book because if it makes it, I have numerous other books that I have already written. Please wish me blessings.

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    BobLloydposted 15 years ago

    I self-published a book http://www.leavingthelandofwoo.com using Lightning Source as the print on demand company.  It's ideal for small print run books providing you can prepare all the materials required, which in my case was two pdf files, one for the cover and one for the text.  You have to meet their exacting formatting requirements.
    
    It does mean that you then have to do the promotional work yourself because as far as LS is concerned, you are the publisher.  But they do automatically list you on Amazon and you can sign contracts to cover both the US and Europe.  As long as you do the publicity and get the response, it's a relatively painless way to get out in print.

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