Imelda
05-17-2007, 09:20 PM
First thing: I don't know everything. All that I learnt about publishing came off the web (reputable websites) and the Writer's And Artist's Yearbook.
Second thing: this is not complete. I shall add and edit as I find things.
Onto the topic at hand!
Publishing!
First off some warnings: NEVER PAY A PUBLISHER TO PUBLISH YOUR WORK. Real publishers, the ones who make the books you see in WH Smith, and Waterstones, and Barnes and Noble DO NOT charge the writer. They PAY the writer. Or why would people make a career out of it? Generally speaking, publishers who charge any kind of money are a scam. A more articulate article is here (http://www.authorsmarket.net/).
A famous scammer is Poetry.com.
They send you an email saying you are a "semifinalist" and that your poetry might be published. Exciting! Sounds great, right? Then you get another email -- and probably junk IRL mail for about a year -- about a fifty-dollar anthology and how its gilded and leatherbound and how your work is going to be published in it. You must pay for this anthology; you get no payment. Really: they only "publish" your work in the anthology if you pay them - because if you don't fork over the cash, how are you going to know they haven't "published" your stuff?
Besides the fact that any legit contest or publisher would pay you - not the other way around - you can send in all but the most nonsensical tripe to poetry.com and you will be supposedly honored.
Here's (http://www.prose-n-poetry.com/display_work/304) an interesting link from someone who tested Poetry.com to see if they would accept literally anything. The answer was a resounding 'YES!'.
Another famous scammer is PublishAmerica (http://www.publishamerica.com/). This is been the subject of much debate, as they claim to be perfectly legitimate. However, many authors denounce them and I certainly wouldn't recommend using them.
A plot to prove PublishAmerica will accept any old tripe. (http://www.sfwa.org/members/TravisTea/backstory.htm)
What Absolute Write has to say about PA (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10211)
Whatever you do, check out who it is you're sending your manuscript to. Ask knowledgeable people around the web and you probably won't get ripped off. :)
The Path To 'Published'
Before I get into it I'll say: you need a brave heart and a strong mind to embark on the road to publishment. I myself have tried it, and will be trying it again in the near future. It's heart breaking. It's not easy. Very few make it. BUT people do, so take heart. My only advice is that you think hard about your work before submitting it anywhere. Get it critiqued. Get it edited. Finish it. Make it the best it can be, and then you give your work the best chance possible--the chance it deserves. *Quits being cheesy*
Step One: Perfect your work. It's very important. The publishing world is a serious business, and no matter your age, you want to impress. Get critiques and improve it, read it over and over until you're sick of it to check for spelling and grammatical errors. Then you can format your manuscript.
Step Two: Format your manuscript. Whoever you're going to send your work to, it needs to be formatted to industry standards. The basic thing is to change all the text to 12 point, clear font (Times New Roman and Courier are common), double line spacing, with at least 3cm margins all the way around, and LEFT oriented text.
There are rules about where you put your name and title and page numbers and such. It's summed up pretty well here (http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html).
Step Three: Think again. Is your story really ready?
Step Four: It really is ready? Ok, I'll let you move on to step four. Step four is the hardest. Research. Ideally you should research everything you possibly can about publishing, but that's what this guide is for, so ... it's not compulsory. What you do need to research is publishers or agents. At which point we will take a little deviation from our journey and ask:
Publishers, Literary Agents, What's It All About?
Publishers, fairly obviously, publish books. They take the manuscript, edit it some more, print it, market it, and get it into those shops. You can submit to them directly, but increasingly they refuse to accept unsolicited submissions--they will only work with the authors they have. They will, however, look at stuff submitted via an agent. Most of the major publishers (at least in the UK) will only accept stuff from agents.
So, what are agents?
Agents have been described as an extra filtering step to stop some of the rubbish reaching the publishers. But they do much more than that!
Publishing is a complex business. As I'll talk about later, publishers specialise in genres and such, and individual editors within those companies specialise further. As a writer, it's tough to get to know who likes what and is more likely to accept it. Agents make it their business to know. The good ones will look at a manuscript's genre, style, and content and immediately cross off a whole list of people who would never accept it--making the search for publishdom much shorter.
Secondly, when your manuscript is accepted by a publisher, contracts and stuff come into the equation. This is where the money and rights are dealt with--never sign a publisher's contract without it being seen by either an agent, or a lawyer who specialises in publishing!. Legit publishers are unlikely to rip you off, but agents can work to get the writer a bigger cut of money, or better rights. Why? Because agents get paid out of the money you make (10-15% is normal)--it's in their interest to get you a good deal!
An agent will take you on and deal with you throughout your writing career. They won't be your best friend, but they'll get to know you and your work well.
I'm sure they do other stuff, but that's all that springs to mind right now ...
So step four is thinking about which is best for you: targeting publishers, or targeting agents. If you think you can handle negotiations (professionally) then by all means try publishers. Some people prefer to stay out of that, and let an agent handle it. Some people also think that getting an agent is easier than getting a publisher--not true. Agents work to the same standards as publishers--what's well-written? What's marketable?--they don't go around accepting inferior manuscripts.
Miss Snark's blog (http://misssnark.blogspot.com/) (now closed for posting, but still online) is a great resources on agents and lends an insight into their world (and especially what annoys them). There are plenty of other agents blogging out there--it's good to check them out!
Back to our regular schedule!
Step Five: More research. You've decided whether you're trying for a publisher or agent. Now you have to decide which publisher or agent. They both specialise. Some publishers print only fiction--others only non-fiction. Some print romance, sci-fi, thrillers, mainstream, fantasy, and crime novels--others are so specialised they only print cookery books. You don't want to send your historical fiction to either of those, and you wouldn't want to send your thriller novel to the latter. It'd look pretty stupid. There are lists of what publishers/agents will accept, and people flout them every day--it's not good for your reputation. Editors and agents work closely together (some agencies share office space!) and if make a prat of yourselves, your name might well get unfavourably passed on somewhere. That's another reason why you want your best work to go out and make a good impression. Don't alienate anyone in the publishing industry--it might backfire on you.
I can't help you with this search, but I can give you some useful links.
Books to check out:
The Writer's And Artist's Yearbook (UK) Website: http://www.writersandartists.co.uk/ -- The website has agent listings, but the book also contains a listing of publishers, as well as articles on publishing, information on grants, writer's organisation, etc. Very useful--it's probably in your local library for reference.
Writers' Market (US)
The Writer's Handbook (UK)
Websites (note, these are US-based unless otherwise specified):
AgentQuery (http://www.agentquery.com/)
Bloomsbury's UK Agent listings (http://www.bloomsbury.com/writersarea/AgentsUK.asp)
Bloomsbury's US Agent listings (http://www.bloomsbury.com/writersarea/AgentsUS.asp)
Query Tracker (http://www.querytracker.net/) (US and UK --UK listings are mainly those found on Bloomsbury's website)
Writer's And Artist's Yearbook (http://www.writersandartists.co.uk/default.asp?sec=4) (UK)
The Association Of Author's Representatives
(http://www.aar-online.org/mc/page.do)--The AAR set certain rules that literary agents should abide by. If an agency is part of them, they're legit.
Unfortunately, some agencies like to rip off writers. Writers keen to have their work published are susceptible to all kinds of scams. Luckily, there are some people who look out for things like that.
Writers Beware Worst Agencies List (http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/thumbs-down-agency/) <-It's not advisable to submit to anyone on there!
The Writers Beware Index (http://www.sfwa.org/beware/) contains plenty of valuable information!
In progress below here!
General Resources:
Bloomsbury's Guide For Writers (http://www.bloomsbury.com/WritersArea/Get_Published.asp) -- Contains a huge amount of information covering each step of the process to getting a publisher. I recommend this as a good first step on the way to learning about the publishing industry.
Stuff that will be coming later:
'Traditional Publishers'
These are the folks that published the books you see when you walk in WH Smith, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble, and most other bookshops, large and small. They buy a book and pay the author an advance. The amount can range from small amounts to millions of dollars/pounds. Don't expect vast sums of cash on your first publication! They will produce the book (a process that takes around a year), market it, and once the book goes on sale, the author will receive a specific percentage of the profits (royalties).
Vanity Presses
Vanity presses do not pay the author anything. They charge the author a fee to turn their manuscript into a book, and sometimes they go further and charge for marketing and such.
Self publishing:
POD:
For an interesting overview of how a book makes it from that paper manuscript into a book, check this out: linky (http://www.bloomsbury.com/writersarea/publishing.asp).
Second thing: this is not complete. I shall add and edit as I find things.
Onto the topic at hand!
Publishing!
First off some warnings: NEVER PAY A PUBLISHER TO PUBLISH YOUR WORK. Real publishers, the ones who make the books you see in WH Smith, and Waterstones, and Barnes and Noble DO NOT charge the writer. They PAY the writer. Or why would people make a career out of it? Generally speaking, publishers who charge any kind of money are a scam. A more articulate article is here (http://www.authorsmarket.net/).
A famous scammer is Poetry.com.
They send you an email saying you are a "semifinalist" and that your poetry might be published. Exciting! Sounds great, right? Then you get another email -- and probably junk IRL mail for about a year -- about a fifty-dollar anthology and how its gilded and leatherbound and how your work is going to be published in it. You must pay for this anthology; you get no payment. Really: they only "publish" your work in the anthology if you pay them - because if you don't fork over the cash, how are you going to know they haven't "published" your stuff?
Besides the fact that any legit contest or publisher would pay you - not the other way around - you can send in all but the most nonsensical tripe to poetry.com and you will be supposedly honored.
Here's (http://www.prose-n-poetry.com/display_work/304) an interesting link from someone who tested Poetry.com to see if they would accept literally anything. The answer was a resounding 'YES!'.
Another famous scammer is PublishAmerica (http://www.publishamerica.com/). This is been the subject of much debate, as they claim to be perfectly legitimate. However, many authors denounce them and I certainly wouldn't recommend using them.
A plot to prove PublishAmerica will accept any old tripe. (http://www.sfwa.org/members/TravisTea/backstory.htm)
What Absolute Write has to say about PA (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10211)
Whatever you do, check out who it is you're sending your manuscript to. Ask knowledgeable people around the web and you probably won't get ripped off. :)
The Path To 'Published'
Before I get into it I'll say: you need a brave heart and a strong mind to embark on the road to publishment. I myself have tried it, and will be trying it again in the near future. It's heart breaking. It's not easy. Very few make it. BUT people do, so take heart. My only advice is that you think hard about your work before submitting it anywhere. Get it critiqued. Get it edited. Finish it. Make it the best it can be, and then you give your work the best chance possible--the chance it deserves. *Quits being cheesy*
Step One: Perfect your work. It's very important. The publishing world is a serious business, and no matter your age, you want to impress. Get critiques and improve it, read it over and over until you're sick of it to check for spelling and grammatical errors. Then you can format your manuscript.
Step Two: Format your manuscript. Whoever you're going to send your work to, it needs to be formatted to industry standards. The basic thing is to change all the text to 12 point, clear font (Times New Roman and Courier are common), double line spacing, with at least 3cm margins all the way around, and LEFT oriented text.
There are rules about where you put your name and title and page numbers and such. It's summed up pretty well here (http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html).
Step Three: Think again. Is your story really ready?
Step Four: It really is ready? Ok, I'll let you move on to step four. Step four is the hardest. Research. Ideally you should research everything you possibly can about publishing, but that's what this guide is for, so ... it's not compulsory. What you do need to research is publishers or agents. At which point we will take a little deviation from our journey and ask:
Publishers, Literary Agents, What's It All About?
Publishers, fairly obviously, publish books. They take the manuscript, edit it some more, print it, market it, and get it into those shops. You can submit to them directly, but increasingly they refuse to accept unsolicited submissions--they will only work with the authors they have. They will, however, look at stuff submitted via an agent. Most of the major publishers (at least in the UK) will only accept stuff from agents.
So, what are agents?
Agents have been described as an extra filtering step to stop some of the rubbish reaching the publishers. But they do much more than that!
Publishing is a complex business. As I'll talk about later, publishers specialise in genres and such, and individual editors within those companies specialise further. As a writer, it's tough to get to know who likes what and is more likely to accept it. Agents make it their business to know. The good ones will look at a manuscript's genre, style, and content and immediately cross off a whole list of people who would never accept it--making the search for publishdom much shorter.
Secondly, when your manuscript is accepted by a publisher, contracts and stuff come into the equation. This is where the money and rights are dealt with--never sign a publisher's contract without it being seen by either an agent, or a lawyer who specialises in publishing!. Legit publishers are unlikely to rip you off, but agents can work to get the writer a bigger cut of money, or better rights. Why? Because agents get paid out of the money you make (10-15% is normal)--it's in their interest to get you a good deal!
An agent will take you on and deal with you throughout your writing career. They won't be your best friend, but they'll get to know you and your work well.
I'm sure they do other stuff, but that's all that springs to mind right now ...
So step four is thinking about which is best for you: targeting publishers, or targeting agents. If you think you can handle negotiations (professionally) then by all means try publishers. Some people prefer to stay out of that, and let an agent handle it. Some people also think that getting an agent is easier than getting a publisher--not true. Agents work to the same standards as publishers--what's well-written? What's marketable?--they don't go around accepting inferior manuscripts.
Miss Snark's blog (http://misssnark.blogspot.com/) (now closed for posting, but still online) is a great resources on agents and lends an insight into their world (and especially what annoys them). There are plenty of other agents blogging out there--it's good to check them out!
Back to our regular schedule!
Step Five: More research. You've decided whether you're trying for a publisher or agent. Now you have to decide which publisher or agent. They both specialise. Some publishers print only fiction--others only non-fiction. Some print romance, sci-fi, thrillers, mainstream, fantasy, and crime novels--others are so specialised they only print cookery books. You don't want to send your historical fiction to either of those, and you wouldn't want to send your thriller novel to the latter. It'd look pretty stupid. There are lists of what publishers/agents will accept, and people flout them every day--it's not good for your reputation. Editors and agents work closely together (some agencies share office space!) and if make a prat of yourselves, your name might well get unfavourably passed on somewhere. That's another reason why you want your best work to go out and make a good impression. Don't alienate anyone in the publishing industry--it might backfire on you.
I can't help you with this search, but I can give you some useful links.
Books to check out:
The Writer's And Artist's Yearbook (UK) Website: http://www.writersandartists.co.uk/ -- The website has agent listings, but the book also contains a listing of publishers, as well as articles on publishing, information on grants, writer's organisation, etc. Very useful--it's probably in your local library for reference.
Writers' Market (US)
The Writer's Handbook (UK)
Websites (note, these are US-based unless otherwise specified):
AgentQuery (http://www.agentquery.com/)
Bloomsbury's UK Agent listings (http://www.bloomsbury.com/writersarea/AgentsUK.asp)
Bloomsbury's US Agent listings (http://www.bloomsbury.com/writersarea/AgentsUS.asp)
Query Tracker (http://www.querytracker.net/) (US and UK --UK listings are mainly those found on Bloomsbury's website)
Writer's And Artist's Yearbook (http://www.writersandartists.co.uk/default.asp?sec=4) (UK)
The Association Of Author's Representatives
(http://www.aar-online.org/mc/page.do)--The AAR set certain rules that literary agents should abide by. If an agency is part of them, they're legit.
Unfortunately, some agencies like to rip off writers. Writers keen to have their work published are susceptible to all kinds of scams. Luckily, there are some people who look out for things like that.
Writers Beware Worst Agencies List (http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/thumbs-down-agency/) <-It's not advisable to submit to anyone on there!
The Writers Beware Index (http://www.sfwa.org/beware/) contains plenty of valuable information!
In progress below here!
General Resources:
Bloomsbury's Guide For Writers (http://www.bloomsbury.com/WritersArea/Get_Published.asp) -- Contains a huge amount of information covering each step of the process to getting a publisher. I recommend this as a good first step on the way to learning about the publishing industry.
Stuff that will be coming later:
'Traditional Publishers'
These are the folks that published the books you see when you walk in WH Smith, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble, and most other bookshops, large and small. They buy a book and pay the author an advance. The amount can range from small amounts to millions of dollars/pounds. Don't expect vast sums of cash on your first publication! They will produce the book (a process that takes around a year), market it, and once the book goes on sale, the author will receive a specific percentage of the profits (royalties).
Vanity Presses
Vanity presses do not pay the author anything. They charge the author a fee to turn their manuscript into a book, and sometimes they go further and charge for marketing and such.
Self publishing:
POD:
For an interesting overview of how a book makes it from that paper manuscript into a book, check this out: linky (http://www.bloomsbury.com/writersarea/publishing.asp).