Publishing

Started by Nolafus March 18th, 2014 7:15 PM
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  • 3 replies

Nolafus

Aspiring something

Age 27
Male
Lost in thought... again
Seen March 3rd, 2018
Posted March 11th, 2017
5,722 posts
10.9 Years
I know we have a thread about becoming a professional writer, but this is a little different.

Do you ever want to get published? Do you want your short story floating around in some magazine somewhere, or your novel on the shelves of book stores across the country? Have you ever tried to get published before?

And another question I'm not sure what the answer is to:
How does one get published, or submit their writing?
PairPC sister
Age 36
Seen 17 Hours Ago
Posted 2 Days Ago
How does one get published, or submit their writing?
Isn't that the question of the day!

It's been quite a while since I've read something on how to get published. Looking back on what I read, the information is rather out-dated. The two authors that wrote how-to books that I've read were best sellers long before the Internet was popular, so things have changed. I dug around a little though, since I have a friend who's getting into the publishing business, and found a few pieces of advice for you.

Know who's getting your manuscript. You'll want to make sure that you're sending your short story or novel off to the correct magazine or agent. Someone interested in publishing romance stories won't care at all about your science fiction story. There are a few ways to look up who publishes what genre. Writer's Market and Literary Marketplace are two things to look into for finding out that information.

Write a good query letter. This introduces your story and yourself to an agent, so they can tell at a glance who you are and what you're all about. Definitely look up guides on how to write a good query letter.

There's more to it than that. Depending on the genre you're writing in, you might be better writing short stories first before trying to publish a novel. Or you're better writing a novel first because there isn't a good market for short stories. You have to know when to get an agent and how so you don't lose your rights.

That's the basic starting blocks on how to get published. Let me know if you want more than that, or links to websites for more information.

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Nolafus

Aspiring something

Age 27
Male
Lost in thought... again
Seen March 3rd, 2018
Posted March 11th, 2017
5,722 posts
10.9 Years
Now there's some good information!

I'm still quite a ways off from actually submitting stories, but that's a great place to start off from, thanks Astinus!

To answer the questions, I think it would be great to be published some day. To just know that your writing is out there and that people are enjoying it would be great.
PairPC sister

moon

they/them
Online now
Posted 2 Days Ago
37,443 posts
15.5 Years
Yeeeah. I've never seriously thought about it since it's been a while since I seriously wrote something properly in Swedish. And I'd never try to get something published in English, I'd be ruining things for myself since I don't believe I could do as well in this language as in my native one.

But it would sure be a powerful feeling to see your own book on a shelf in a bookstore, or to see someone read it or talk about it. I don't even care if I'd earn decent money from it or not. It would be rather epic anyways.
paired with Ivysaur