| Holy Worlds Christian Forum https://archive.holyworlds.org/ |
|
| Self Publishing Advice, Please and Thank You. https://archive.holyworlds.org/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2883 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | Bethany Faith [ April 17th, 2011, 1:02 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Self Publishing Advice, Please and Thank You. |
Haha, hang on here as I try to place my incoherent thoughts into understandable and clear words. Okay, so I'm getting close to finishing up revising the first book I've ever written with an actual intention to publish. (A.K.A I only have five chapters left...) Me and my mom have been talking and we decided that we really want to get this book published. When I started being a writer I decided I wasn't going to do the traditional publishing (I quiver at the thought of sending a manuscript to a bunch of companies then having them edit it multiple times and...just...yeah, does not work for me. All right...so discuss away, rant to me about publishing por fabor. Bethany Faith |
|
| Author: | Elly [ April 17th, 2011, 7:06 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Self Publishing Advice, Please and Thank You. |
Yay Beth'y! You're amazing. 1) First... what is the genre? It needs to appeal to people. 2) What self-publishing company are you using? 3) These are some quotes from the ywpnanonovel site- You made it! November is over and you're probably ready to plunge into edits to make your book shine. Instead, do the opposite—put it away for a few weeks and let it rest. You'll come back with a fresh pair of eyes and your NaNo-novel will appreciate it. – Jessica Burkhart Congratulations! You are awesome! Next up, editing, which can be as fun, and as challenging, as writing. What I do? Set that first draft aside. Work on another—read—hang out with friends—let it sit. When you come back to it after a rest, you have a better chance of seeing the way a READER will, rather than how the WRITER does. – Sherwood Smith "Good writing is rewriting." That is to say, nothing you ever write will be perfect right out of the barrel—and you will save yourself a lot of grief by learning to take constructive criticism in the spirit in which it was intended. The best thing you can do with a just-finished piece of writing is to put it away for a while until you've forgotten about the details and can read it with a fresh pair of eyes—and then, if you need to, ask questions. And listen to the answers. – Alma Alexander After finishing the first draft, look in the mirror and congratulate yourself. Then leave your novel alone for a few weeks. Really. Go eat ice cream, jump rope, build a fort, forget that you're a novelist for a while. When you return, approach your manuscript as though someone else wrote it. Sit in your favorite chair and start reading, highlighting those parts that make you laugh, cry, squeal in delight and surprise. Make notes in the margins on places (characters, setting, dialog) where you wish you could feel, hear, see MORE. Or just star these areas for when you're ready to get back in there and really rearrange on the page. Yes, good writing means rewriting. – Karen Benke I give myself permission to write badly. Extremely badly. Horrifically, in fact. Whatever is inside me just comes out, and it's not pretty. Kind of like throwing up, to be crass. But it’s a first draft—it’s supposed to be bad! And all my first drafts are ugly, shriveled, embarrassing little things. A first draft is slapping down words on a page that I’ll be able to look at later and start to see where the story might emerge. It’s putting in my hands the clay that I'll later mold into a story worth calling a book. – Shannon Hale I cut 15,000 words between the first and final drafts of my upcoming novel, BUMPED. When revisions were finished, I didn't regret any of those edits. Not a page, not a paragraph, not a word. The lesson? Bigger isn't always better. – Megan McCafferty Go through your manuscript and look at different areas to correct. Here are some areas to focus on—one at a time: • Are your characters consistent? Do they always look the same, talk the same way, and act within character? • Are there good transitions from one scene to another? • Do you leave each chapter with a cliff-hanger? • Have you used active verbs? • Have you over-used adverbs? • Do you start a new paragraph each time a new character speaks? – Carol Baldwin There is a lot of work that goes into a book, even after the first draft is written. It's amazing to see how much better the story gets with each step, and the reason for that is the writer is able to look at it with the same eyes as a reader would. So... get to revising! Good luck! – D.J. MacHale Beware Publishing Scams and Sneaky People (Adapted from Amber the Librarian's page on the YWP site) NaNoWriMo is all about encouraging people do things they would have thought were impossible. People have sold their NaNo-novels (after letting their inner editor out to check spelling and clean up consistency errors). Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable that people would want to sell their NaNo-novels. But be careful. The world of publishing is, for the most part, made up of honest editors who want to give writers money for being brilliant (because then the editor gets to make money off the brilliant books), and agents, who want to earn their fifteen percent by convincing the editors that their clients’ books are indeed brilliant. However (and it’s a big 'however'), some people want to cut out the whole selling books part and make money off the writer. They can do this in various unethical ways, and like most forms of fraud, these literary hucksters are getting more sophisticated all the time. Always look over any contract you’re thinking of signing and if you don't have a lawyer, give it to a friend to look at as well. It's up to you to protect yourself, too, by learning all you can. Be especially leery of: * Anyone who wants to charge you money up front, especially a reading fee. * Anyone who requires you to pay them, or someone they specify, to edit your manuscript before they will publish your book. * Anyone who wants you to buy something before they will publish your book. * Anyone who offers you a "co-publishing" contract. * Anyone who contacts you first, offering to publish your work. Resources: The most important site to look at is Writer Beware, a free service provided by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Preditors and Editors is a fairly extensive list of reputable people to send your work to, and of scams. Most (though not necessarily all) reputable agents will be listed with the Association of Author’s Representatives . You can find lots of reputable copy-editors through the Editorial Freelancers Association , the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (UK), and the Editors Association of Canada. Just in case you’re also a poet, check here for info on some common poetry publishing scams. These things do happen. Read three stories at Writing World and of course get more links there. --from a moderator on ywpnano |
|
| Author: | Bethany Faith [ April 17th, 2011, 7:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Self Publishing Advice, Please and Thank You. |
Thank you, Elly! To answer your questions, its genre is Fantasy. As for what publishing company I'm planning on using...not sure. I have one in mind, but I'm always opened for suggestions. Either way, I will end up doing extensive research on whatever company I go with. Bethany Faith |
|
| Author: | Timotheus [ April 17th, 2011, 9:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Self Publishing Advice, Please and Thank You. |
Good post Elly. There's a lot of good advice there. I'll get you some links when I'm at home, but Westbow is a self-publishing press under Thomas Nelson, which does Christian Fantasy. With the stepping down of Neil of Erk, I've taken on the Media Head, which includes being the go to guy for publishing advice. While this doesn't mean I know everything, I have studied this a great deal over the years. As a result though, I have a lot to say for advice. I may need to work up a post that has links. Finish your manuscript and I'll get back to you on this. Do you have a mic? I could call you on your phone from gmail too. There's so much to say, that it would be easier to say it than to type it. You might want to think about getting a short story published first. It's helpful for your marketing to not only be able to say you are a published writer, but also to show them some of your work. You could even write a story from the world of your story as a teaser. |
|
| Author: | Bethany Faith [ April 18th, 2011, 6:01 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Self Publishing Advice, Please and Thank You. |
I didn't know Holy Worlds had a Media council member. Cool! Thanks! My iPad has a mic, but I don't have skype or Gmail or buzz or Googledocs...okay, well you get the point. I don't have any social networking sites outside HW. |
|
| Author: | Rachel Newhouse [ April 19th, 2011, 5:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Self Publishing Advice, Please and Thank You. |
Tim, sir, if I may suggest - even though it will take longer, if you write up your advice and post it here (or in another thread), more people can benefit from it. I am planning on self-publishing my sci-fi novella, so I'd be interested in your knowledge as well. As for me, I'm planning on self-publishing my sci-fi novella as an ebook with Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon. I've read their FAQs and am liking what I'm seeing. Way to go, Bethy! |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|