Publish Central! Forum New Members, let us know if yo..

Hello Everyone,

As a new member here I would like to wish everyone the best of luck in your publishing dream. I've been writing for over forty years, and except for a few small literary magazines over the years, haven't yet managed to crack the big boys, and I doubt that I ever will. But first of all I should explain that I live in Australia, and that is a much smaller market place than you have in the States. You have 300 million people - we have 20 million. That restricts us for a start. There are very few large publishers that operate in this country, and those that do are extremely conservative in what they're prepared to publish. They're always on the lookout for names, people in the news, it doesn't seem to matter what field they become famous in. Once that name is in the papers, then you become publishable. Here, sporting personalities are used to publish all sorts of things that are totally outside their fields, such as cricketers publishing recipe books. I find it soul destroying to watch people who have no real interest in writing being taken up just because their name is recognisable.

So on to other forms of publishing. I have written eight novels, and self-published them all. I used to send them away, then sit back and wait for, usually, six months, before receiving any word about them at all. Then it was usually a curt rejection slip with no indication why the book was rejected, and no advice about what they would consider to be publishable. In some cases I noticed that the manuscripts had not even been opened. They had sat in their 'slush' pile for six months, and then been returned just on the basis of reducing the size of the slush pile. The same problem with agents. When I did find an agent who was interested, they had no luck placing my work, and finally passed it on to a vanity publisher (in England) who expected me to fork out 10,000 pounds for them to handle it, with no guarantees, no action for at least a year, no print run, no definite shop placement, and all subsidiary rights to accrue to them just in case they happened upon a winner. There are so many scams out there that you're better off handling it on your own. I note that a few members here have published with publishamerica. I did consider that course until I Googled them, and came upon a number of reviews that cited them for scamming, not paying royalties, not placing books in shops, holding the copyrights for seven years etc. Anyone considering that course should read the contract very carefully indeed.

I have published my books with Lulu, and the only problem with them is that there is nothing to specifically direct people to your 'shopfront'. I think that people either stumble across it by mistake, or are directed there by you. One way to do this is to add the URL at the bottom of your hotmail or yahoo mail accounts that are sent with every email you send. Lulu is certainly scrupulous with the money side of things, and pay directly into your paypal account once a month, whenever there have been any sales. But sales are few and far between.

I have published my books here in Australia via a POD printer, and the quality is first rate. Unfortunately, for a 250 page novel you're looking at a cost per book of about $14 (Australian), which leaves insufficient mark-up for traditional bookshops and Newsagencies unless you can get people to pay about $25 for them. So I just sell them privately for $18-$20, and that's difficult enough in itself. There's certainly no money in it.

I have published over a dozen books of poetry in small run editions, printed offset, (I was a printer during my working life), but the problem there is, once again, distribution. Unless you're prepared to drive all around the country placing your books on a returnable basis - at which time you're already into the red for travel costs - then you won't be able to get them out to the public. You can always advertise, but that's an expensive business as well, so unless you're going to sell thousands, you're going to be out of pocket.

I note that one member here cites Poetry.com and a $10,000 prize. That was one of the biggest scams going, the company went broke and was sold to Lulu. They are running it on slightly different lines, but I don't think there's much happening there, either. So, I hate to be a party-pooper, but all you folks out there have got your work cut out for you to print and market your books. Even if you market them yourself in small numbers however, get them into the libraries, because that's the only way anyone will sit up and take notice.

One word of advice. I note that in a lot of the comments here, there are numerous spelling mistakes and typo's. If you want to maintain credibility as a writer, you're going to have to spellcheck your work, especially your letters of enquiry to publishers and agents. If they see that in your everyday writing, they're going to expect the worst in your 'professional' writing.

David Lewis Paget

I've never been published, but I want to be within the next two years. I love writing books. I do poems also, but books have always been the love of my life.

I can spend 6 months on one story before it's completed then I move on to something else. I've been writing for 9 yeras now and I don't plan on stopping.

I love your post. It contains a lot of good info for those of us just starting out and I'll be sure to watch my spelling on here.

Hi all!

My name is 'Siva and i'm from Belgium.

I'm awaiting my 4th publication with Masque Publishing February 10th.

The first time i've been published was with poetry international. Second one was in TuT (the ugly tree) and after that my first publication with Masque.

I chose the international magazines, which have no reward for publishing, or give a copy of the magazine for free. The main reason for this is because i'm Belgian. I don't write Belgian poems, I always write in English. That however is very inconvenient when living in Belgium :)

I'm really glad that i'm being accepted in UK magazines, and hope of gaining some recognition this way. If I shouldn't, it's not a big deal, I'm proud enough of being Belgian and making it as far as a UK magazine.

And I hope that my publication with Masque wasn't the last one :p

I'm in the works of writing a whole series, and I've yet to be published. But then again, I'm much too

young to be published (unless they've started publishing young teenagers). Although I have no experience whatsoever

inside the professional writing world, it is my opinion that to be even a little successful

(as in publishing for money) you need a great agent and an even better editor. You also may want to

consider writing in a well known and liked genre. If you're publishing for your own enjoyment or

satisfaction, I'm not sure...

Hello everyone, and thanks for the invite!  I am currently unpublished, but that is

probably my own fault.  To tell you the truth I'm afraid that my work just isn't good

enough yet.  As my bio says, I'm a recovering perfectionist and I'm terrified of sending

something to the perfect agent or publisher and being rejected simply because I hadn't

done enough editing.  But I'm trying to work through my fear and at least get a few of

my short stories published.  Hopefully that will go well, I'll let you all know!  Good

luck to everyone!

Yes, I have a book.

HYBRID

ISBN 978-0-9820856-0-8

available from:  www.deadbeatpress.com

Hi Group! I've e-published my first fantasy romance novel: Guardians of the Gate by ami blackwelder. It reached the scribd hotlist and has had over 250 downloads and over 1,500 views in its first month!

Enter a World of Elfin Romance!

Download it at www.ireadiwrite.com, www.bookandboard.com, www.amazonkindle.com, www.mobipocket.com

VIEW it for FREE at: www.scribd.com, www.authonomy.com, www.urbis.com, and www.lulu.com

ORDER PRINTS at: www.lulu.com

THANKS!!

Hi writers! I've been doing more memoir, blogging, and reviews than creative writing this past year.

However, my muse has returned and my fingers are burning, my brain is brimming, and the pages are filling

up easily with short stories and poetry. I'd love to be published but really had no idea how to go about it

until I started reading Poets & Writers Magazine, SheWrites.com, and this group has been enormously

informative.

I would love to have my writing read and welcome any feedback.

Here is my blog: www.giltfree.blogspot.com

and here is my www.examiner.com page:

and I will add my writing to the group page for review.

Thanks so much :)

Rachel