Where To Start: Getting Published, Where do I go first?

[Siobhan Blues]

For the past few years I have spent endless delightful hours researching different topics in the Bible, finding out exactly what it has to say about the issues we face in our lives today. It has been exhilarating to find so much there about so many relevent topics, and I've recorded what I found both in journals & notebooks and online as an addition to my art web page.

My son suggested that I might try to get some of this published, and that is a fun thought to be able to share what I've discovered... but I have no idea where to start. I've seen faith-based magazines who might like to publish parts of the material as articles, and there are publishing houses who might form them into a book...
Do any of you have suggestions as to where I should begin looking for a publisher??

[Elspeth]

I have two books to suggest.

Writer's Guide to book Editors Publishers and Literary Agents. By Jeff Herman. Wonderful book and has a section on Religious Publishers

Another book is Writer's Market This has publishers too, but also extensive listings of magazines and what they buy.

Start with these two. They will give you more information than you will know what to do with.

BTW - I'd buy your book!

[Raven]

I would also suggest trying to get published in any magazine periodical, newsletter etc.... just to build your resume... it will definitely help you with an agency/publisher.

I was going to suggest the books that Elspeth mentioned but she beat me to the keyboard

[Haldur]

Something that a couple of close writer friends of mine have done is self-publish their work. There are some dangers in doing this, but copyrighting your work starts at writing it down! Same thing applies with publishing. You could look for some local bookstores or shops in your area that would put your work on display or sell copies to your friends. The Writer's Market is a great place to start if you're really really reaching for the stars but often times there are publishers that want to rip you off. Then, you're back at square one.
As a writer myself, I've seen this happen with one of my friends. She just self-published her work, made some copies, sold them to friends, family, and church members and enjoys success in writing religious works of poetry. She is not signed with a big-time publisher, but if these big-timers see you've started something on your own (and been successful with it, of course) they will take notice.
Keep us all updated on your quest!

[Elspeth]

Also, once you narrow down some magazines, agents, editors or publishing houses you are interested in check them out on the web. Most all have webpages.

Another interesting place to check out is called Preditors and Editors
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/peala.htm
Kinda like a better business bureau for the publishing industry.

[Siobhan Blues]

What generous advice you've all offered here - thank you so very much - I really do appreciate it. What a supportive, generous group you are!!

I think I remember having copies of a Artist's Market for visual artists many years ago when I was first starting out as a visual artist; it had massive amounts of suggestions for contacts. I'd not thought of them having a Writer's Market book too.

I will let you know how it goes!

[urian]

I know this is an old thread but I thought I'd offer my two cents.

Publishing in the information age means so many things. There is tradition publishing(IE random house and such) Vanity publishing(self publishing) POD publishing(print on demand/ vanity), being published in a mag(for free and getting paid), and getting published on an online e-zine(also could be for free or free money.)

I have found it easiest to pick up the magazines I enjoy reading and see if they are accepting submission. If they are, I look for their guidelines(word max, type set, subject matter, etc)
Its the same thing with on line e-zines. I found it was easier to find e-zines that accepted submissions more so that traditional mags simply because there are so many of them and depending on the mag they may or may not pay but any exposure is good exposure when your building your resume.

Then there is vanity publishing vs. POD publishing. The bigest difference in these two is that POD(print on demand) is typically much cheaper than vanity(its called that because you have to pay for the publishing). A good example is my first book. I was looking at a company(Dorrance Publishing) to self publish my work. It was going to cost more than 10,000 USD to publish it. On top of that there was a minimum that I would have to store myself.
POD on the other hand( I use Xlibris) cost me anywhere from 500 to 1200 USD. The ordering was done electronically so the books weren't made until the order was placed.(ie order 1 make 1. order 12 make 12) and they are high quality books. Plus Xlibris registered the book on all the major web sites(amazon,BAMM, barnes and noble) and the books in print listing and they included an ISBN number(usually costs about 150 USD to get)so that brick and mortor stoes could get it too(waldenbooks near here has a fewof mine). POD books are never out of print and many older authors are using POD publishers to republish some of their older works.
The down side to this kind of publishing is that you have to do a lot of the hyping of the book yourself. The leg work, advertising and what have you. The upside is that a lot of famous authors(king, stoker,poe) and others started like this and many authors get contracts for books deals after thay have self published.


Now , traditional publishing is a hard thing to break into. Its almost a catch 22 in that most publishers wont talk to you unless you have an agent but most agents wont talk to you unless you already have a book deal on the table. My suggestion here is to find the publishers in the fields that you want to write, visit their sites and read whether they are accepting anything then CAREFULLY read the submission guidelines involved. If you decide to email one of them you will need to write a letter of inquiry. This is a very formal letter that will include everything from name of the book to how many words, how many pages, etc. There is also a very strict was to type this out. I found a great example on ASK.COM and I just filled in the blanks for what I needed.


THE BIGGEST THING TO WATCH WITH ANY OF THESE (ESPECIALLY POD AND WEB PUBLISHING) IS FIRST PRINT RIGHTS, WHO HAS THE RIGHTS TO THE BOOK AFTER THE CONTRACT IS SIGNED(some companies own the rights and you are out in the cold, some own it for a year or longer, some don't own the book rights but own all other rights like movies and such and some let you retain all rights). GET A LAWYER TO READ ANYTHING YOU ARE SENT BEFORE YOU SIGN IT. SAME GOES FOR AGENTS.

Some agents take a percentage off your advance(typical), some take a fee from you up front. some take a fee off your advance but its outrageous. do your research on agents before you agree to anything as well.



There are also writer's communities out there where you can publish work and get feedback. Most of those copyright your work.(your work is copyrighted the moment the pen hits the paper but formal ones are nice too). The problem with some of these is that you may find ones with nothing but teeny boppers or hacks or other number of ne'er do wells. research these as well.


I know I have forgotten something...but thats all I could think of right now


here is a link to the POD company I used and may use againxlibris


and here is a link to a list (compiled by piers anthony) of other publsihers.

Others

I hope I've helped

[Aaediwen]

Hey Urian, how does Xlibris work? I've been getting a lot of mail from them, and am thinking about doing another collection. Wanting to do something expanding on Mysteries, containing it and some new material written since it was published. When I do it though, I'd like to go through a publishing house instead of doing it all myself. I don't care about killer sales, but I'd like to get something out there where it can get beyond friends and family. Seeing as how friens and family are the only ones who have purchased a copy of Mysteries of the Mind.

Can I trust Xlibris not to try to nab rights?

[urian]

Xlibris is one of the most honest POD publishers I have run across in 5 years of looking and publishing.
You retain all rights (book, movire, software, etc[and there has been a few books made int movies from there..rather optioned]}
They have 3 packages available and all 3 contain the following.

*Book Formats: trade paperback and e-book (Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader)
*ISBN Numbers and UPC barcode
*Registration with: Amazon.com, Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Ingram, Books in Print, and more than 200 online stores
*Electronic galleys
*Paperback royalties: 25% of cover price (direct sales), 10% (Distributor/Reseller sales)
*Author discounts of 40% on trade paperbacks
*A public Author Web Page
*A public Book Web Page
*Control over your book excerpt viewable in Xlibris' Online bookstore
*Online Book Sales Reporting
*Custom book URL registration
*You can purchase Add-Ons to add corrections, images, and more


the price of the book is on a sliding scale as well. So, the more pages the higher the price. The minum word count, though, is 30,000. for us looooooooong winded people thats not a problem

here' slinks to the services.
basic

professional

custom

comparison chart between the 3

chart

and a link to the FAQ

FAQ



they also offer copyediting and marketing services.
Their site is a bit confusing(still confuses me after 3 years) so I will try to answer any questions yo may have.

I have tried them, been satisfied, and I believe in their product and service.

anyway..there ya go,my friend

[Aaediwen]

Thanks for the info Looks like it may be a while before I'm ready to try them.

[urian]

Glad I could be of help, Aaediwen.

[ErikDeckers]

A couple of other things to know about publishing. I'll do these at random.

1) It helps to have a website. Buy your own name as a domain name (www.ErikDeckers.com). That way it's easy to remember and promote. You can get one at GoDaddy.com for pretty dang cheap. They also do web hosting.

2) You'll have to start writing for free to get some clips. Your best bet is to publish on webzines and newsletters. As you start getting some writing credibility, you can list these as your publishing history which will get editors to take a serious look at you.

3) Try to specialize; become an expert. While you can cover more ground by writing different topics for different magazines, you're more likely to be to start earning higher payments if you are an expert in that field. That is, rather than just specializing in "personal finance," maybe you could specialize in "personal finance for new professionals." Rather than specializing in "web design," you could focus on "web design for blind computer users."

4) Make sure you follow all submission requirements TO THE LETTER. Editors do not like -- scratch that, they absolutely HATE IT when writers submit things that don't belong in their magazine (an article about cars in a horse magazine, for example), or they don't follow the instructions in the writers guidelines. The fastest way to get rejected is to break those rules. This is probably the most important rule here. You can break the other ones, but this one is nearly carved in stone!!!

5) Don't take rejection personally. It's not a reflection on you, it's a reflection on whether your submission met the needs of that publication at that time. That, and the fact that the editor is a big smelly jerk who probably gets enjoyment from rejecting great writers like you and me. ;-)

6) Be sure to promote yourself. You're not just a writer, you're a marketer now. If you want to get people to read your stuff, give them a reason to. Put some clips on your website and then promote it heavily. Make sure there are plenty of reasons for people to visit you. Read a book like Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson. Make it an important part of your writing library.

7) Join a writers group, even if it's an online one. They're a great place for support. Try to find a group that fits your niche. Maybe not so specialized like I described in #3, but at least in the same general field (i.e. business or web designers)

Those are the only things I can think of at the moment. Good luck.