Current Events > Do you think I should actually get published?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Since I started writing, I've written 15 books. 12 novels, and 3 short story collections. I've never made any move to get them published at all. Do you think I should?

I mean, I'd love to be a professional writer. The only thing that stops me is some kind of strange fear in the my mind. I guess I don't want to start sending out letters and making phone calls. I'd have to get an agent. Is this strange?

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you could self publish on amazon or something.

and yes it is strange.
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last I knew you always got rejected

Oh, I thought you had already published some books. That explains why you didn't answer when I had questions a while back about the publishing process. That or I'm on ignore, idk.

I say go for it, if it's a dream of yours it won't happen by just writing them and tossing them in storage. Everyone starts somewhere, and publishing them is the next step towards success.
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smoliske posted...

last I knew you always got rejected

I've never been rejected. I've never tried.

But I can't imagine I would EVER do a self-publishing, it's just strikes me as a very bad attitude. I would do a traditional publishing. But trying to get published still looks scary, I guess.

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There's websites about publishers and which departments certain ones (like penguin since it's massive) you should send a manuscript to. Sending a sci fi medieval manuscript to a harlequin novel company is bad form. Sending it to the international division of penguin will get it rejected and could get them to add you to a do not accept list if you made a habit of it. Sending out and printing manuscripts adds up in cost really fast. There's also plenty of resources you can send transcripts to and have actual published writers make edits, or tell you which one to go with and whatnot.

I have a friend who is a ghost writer, she writes about several hundred thousand words a month for her various projects.
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Sunhawk posted...

it's just strikes me as a very bad attitude.

why?
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should you? idk, we don't know the nature or the quality of your works.

should you try? I think so, if you're serious about others experiencing what you've written.
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Kombucha posted...

Sunhawk posted...

it's just strikes me as a very bad attitude.

why?

He thinks it's giving up. Which he is already doing by not trying to send any of his stuff to a professional publishing house.
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Hey, you've been paying attention. Good. And it IS giving up. Self-publishing it like paying a girl to go on dates with you...and a lot of millennial writers seem fine with this. Sad.
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If Chuck Tingle can earn money by pblishing books, why not?
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Post a link to one of your short stories and we can then judge.
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Sunhawk posted...

like paying a girl to go on dates with you...

you speak from experience

smoliske posted...

Sunhawk posted...

like paying a girl to go on dates with you...

you speak from experience

Damn.

And at least self published people have the opion of pursuing an official publisher in the future.
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Of course you should.

gunplagirl posted...

smoliske posted...

Sunhawk posted...

like paying a girl to go on dates with you...

you speak from experience

Damn.

And at least self published people have the opion of pursuing an official publisher in the future.

What makes you think a proper publisher would take someone who is self-published seriously? I don't think that's the case.

Cocytus posted...

Of course you should.

Cocytus, you can be quite supportive sometimes.

Of course, that doesn't mean it's neccessarily going to happen. It looks difficult to do it.

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The way I see it, the worst that can happen is a rejection letter. So what. Go for it.
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Who would have thought having a book published by a professional publishing house was difficult?
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Asherlee10 posted...

How are you a professional writer if you never get published?

I'm not a professional writer, Asherlee. Why did you think I was?

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are any of your characters inspired by Pinky?
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Asherlee10 posted...

Sunhawk posted...

Asherlee10 posted...

How are you a professional writer if you never get published?

I'm not a professional writer, Asherlee. Why did you think I was?

Is this not how you make a living?

The majority of my jobs in my life have been retail. I've worked 4 shop jobs and 1 supermarket job. I'm currently unemployed.

What do you do?

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You work in tech? You, and most other people on CE.

What is so fascinating about a career in IT, or something similar? Is it just the good money? If it is, better to just become a doctor, or start your own company.

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Oh wow, I remember that. That is lulz, for some reason. Of course, running a business isn't for everyone. Are you actually qualified as a botanist, or something similar?
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If you want to publish them, you should publish them, but I don't see why our opinions should matter.
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Why even ask, everyone knows you won't
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Sunhawk posted...

gunplagirl posted...

smoliske posted...

Sunhawk posted...

like paying a girl to go on dates with you...

you speak from experience

Damn.

And at least self published people have the opion of pursuing an official publisher in the future.

What makes you think a proper publisher would take someone who is self-published seriously? I don't think that's the case.

Cocytus posted...

Of course you should.

Cocytus, you can be quite supportive sometimes.

Of course, that doesn't mean it's neccessarily going to happen. It looks difficult to do it.

I would probably know because I have about a dozen published friends. One of which is a ghost writer. Several others have been published multiple times and two were published by different publishing companies. If we count journalistic publications I also have 3 contributors to websites, one of which works for the company run by that kid from home alone, another who contributes to the Washington post, etc. And I've had 5 poems published, 3 in quarterly journals, 1 in a college newspaper and another in an anthology of queer artists.

The stigma only will happen if they read what you submitted, want to make you some big up and coming author, find out you self published before and

A) it was total crap
Or
B) it was good and they want to secure the rights to it

I suppose a few companies do discriminate but those are typically ones that publish all those "history of X war/ period/ country" books that college professors use (and usually because they were a contributor or person who wrote a review for it, making it so they do get some money for every X copies sold).

Basically, unless you hit it big, it's not an issue. And if it IS a concern, you can always self publish under a pen name, so long as you make sure it's through a company that actually allows you to retain the intellectual rights to the book itself.
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