Prairie Dawg, SASS #50329 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Hi folks: Thought I would ask this here since this forum is a great source of information......I know that some folks on this forum are writers...............and we have representation from a wide variety of occupations...... My son has written a book and is asking how to go about finding a publisher. Any advice is gladly accepted. Thanks in advance. --Dawg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Hi folks: Thought I would ask this here since this forum is a great source of information......I know that some folks on this forum are writers...............and we have representation from a wide variety of occupations...... My son has written a book and is asking how to go about finding a publisher. Any advice is gladly accepted. Thanks in advance. --Dawg What kind of a book is it? The answer to that question will greatly influence the answer. I can only offer information for Science Fiction/Fantasy. Other types of fiction will likely have similar, but at the same time, differnet, methods. 1. Write the book. This may seem like a flip answer, but it's not. Before you try to sell a book to any publisher, or try to find an agent to represent it, it must be 100% complete. By that, I mean everything from "Once upon a time" to "The End" and EVERYTHING in between, must be written, edited, rewritten, and made completely ready for publication, with no if's and's or butt's about it. If it's not ready to go, nobody will wanna look at it. 2. At the moment, there are exactly TWO publishers of Science Fiction/Fantasy that will even consider reading a manuscript that comes from an author without an agent, BAEN and DAW Book. BAEN will read your story, and take about a year and a half to get to it, and then, most likely reject it. DAW will send you a rejection much more quickly, within about two months, if you don't have an agent. If you DO have an agent, DAW will take over a year to respond to your submission. 3. There are quite a few other publishers of SF/F, but all of them require submissions to come through an agent. Some of them allow for unagented submissions on a limited basis for a short period of time each year, but even then, they don't want a full manuscript, just a couple of chapters and a synopsis. So, the crux of this point is very simple, GET AN AGENT! Trying to get published without one is extremely difficult. 4. Getting an agent is extremely difficult for someone who has never published anything before. The best way to get an agent is to know one, or to know someone who will recommend you to one. If you don't have that, the next best method is to publish at least 3 short stories in the various SF/F magazines. There are three of these left, Asimov, The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Analog. Each of them is looking for specific types of stories. There are a few others that are online magazines, that are considered legitmate venues that pay the industry standard $0.06 a word, but they tend to come and go quickly. Note: Selling at least 3 short stories will allow you to join the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America. (www.sfwa.org) See their website for a more complete listing of what are legtimate venues for short stories. The third best way to get an agent is to sell your novel to a publisher, and then find an agent to represent it for you being already sold. Agents would be eager to take on a book that is already sold, as the hard work is already done. All they will have to do is negotiate the terms for you. Of course, selling the book without an angent is not easy to do. 5. Have at least one more book close to done, of not done already to demonstrate that you are not a one hit wonder. 6. Be incredibly patient. You are going to get a lot of rejection letters. 7. Unless your name is Christopher Paolini, self publishing your work will assure that you never make any money off of it, and that you will never be taken seriously as a writer. If your name IS Christopher Paolini, your can write garbage and get it picked up by a major publisher and earn lots of money that you do not deserve. (Sorry, I had to say it.) 8. Be incredibly patient. I finished my first novel in early 1990. I have been trying to sell it ever since. 9. Cheer yourself up, or depress yourself, by going to the local bookstore and looking at all the crappy novels in the SF/F section that are no where near as good as yourself. Depending on your mood, this will either encourage you becuase if this junk can get printed, yours has a great chance, or, depress you horridly becuase this shlock got through when you can't get anyone to look at your own stuff cuz you are an unknown. 10. Never give up. Sooner or later, you just might get lucky. Yes, luck has a lot to do with it. You can have the best manuscript in the world, and no one will ever take a chance on it because of various factors. Or you can write a piece of garbage that gets in front of the right pair of eyes and it'll get published. Hey, it worked for Paolini... I know this may sound daunting, but it is. Getting published is darn difficult, and I don't want you to think that it's gonna be easy. For other types of fiction, I don't know. The publishers MAY be more open to authors without an agent, but I tend to doubt it. Best way to be sure, is to do the following... 1. Go to the bookstore and look in the section that is of the same type of fiction as your book to see who the publishers are. 2. Go to the non fiction section and find a copy of "The Writers Market" This will contain information about how to contact and submit to the various publishers. Often the entry will direct you to a website with more info for that publisher. CHECK THAT WEBSITE! There will always be more info than what is in the book. Good luck! Su Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 FWIW - Most of the writers hereabouts can be found hanging out in the Saloon (ACS) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snakebite Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 http://vantagepress.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palindrome, SASS #54445 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 If you check Amazon, you will find a number of good guides to book publishing based on the genre (Fiction, Non-fiction, Children's books) and the process is outlined for you. If the author is a so-far unknown (as I was)consider finding a co-publisher in the proper discipline. Write the book, have it edited, write a book proposal, send out query letters to publishers that might be interested, send the proposal and a piece of the manuscript to those that express an interest. The hardest part for me was the proposal because it requires chapter summaries as well as a number of other marketing ideas. Not an easy project but for me it was an education about a field that I had never considered entering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curley Cole, SASS #56849 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Check with our resident man of letters...Forty Rod. curley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Check with our resident man of letters...Forty Rod. curley ..... and/or Charlie MacNeil ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailrider #896 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Unless you have a LOT of luck, or write something that catches everyone's fancy (Harry Potter, for example), you won't get rich writing books. Of course, as has been said by others, it depends on the genre. When I was writing "Trailrider's Guide to Cowboy Action Shooting", I knew that there would be a limited market for it. Therefore, I contacted several publishers to see if they were interested. Dixie Gun Works' Pioneer Press Division agreed to publish the book at their expense, with me getting a small royalty on each book sold. In addition to the royalty, I can purchase books wholesale and sell them for not more than retail (plus postage), if I purchase a certain minimum number of the wholesale books. Now this has the advantage of my not having to put up any money up front (other than what it cost me to take, develop and print photos, which were done on film in the days before digital photography made things much simpler and cheaper). The publisher then takes charge of marketing the book. So, how much have I made? If I kept strict track of my expenses...probably enough to pay for the film and developer! Perhaps one reason this publisher accepted the book was the fact that I had written and published a number of magazine articles in gun and history magazines, mostly back in the '60's and '70's. The other way to "publish" a book is to do it yourself, either doing the work yourself or paying a "vanity" press. The problem there is who will do the actual marketing and selling of the book. With computer software available today you can do the text and even graphics (unless you are writing a children's book that requires a lot of illustrations, in which case you need to be an artist yourself or find someone who will do them for you...probably for a considerable piece of the action). The problem with self-publishing is who is going to advertise and distribute the book for you? I recently co-authored (along with three others) a book on Remington Over and Under Double Deringers. After co-authoring an article in a gun collector's magazine back in 1995, my co-author and I were approached by two other gentlemen so see if we wanted to write a book on the subject. The only problem was that they wanted a considerable amount of money to get the book published. My friend and I declined, but allowed them to utilize our material and to have us edit our portion of the text, so long as we took no part of the "profits". The book is a really nice job, but I'm not sure how many books have actually been sold, and how much money the other two gentlemen lost on the project. I've got several books in mind, if I can find the time to write them, but I have no illusions about making a bundle on them, especially a Western, based on a minor historical character. My problem is that when I try to write fiction it comes out sounding like an aerospace technical paper! Louis L'amour I am NOT! Anyhow, good luck to your son on his book! Ride easy, but stay alert! Godspeed to those still in harm's way in the defense of Freedom everywhere! Thanks to all those involved in 30 years of the Shuttle Program. Hopefully, we can get back on the trail to the stars! God Bless America! Your Pard, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 ..... and/or Charlie MacNeil ... Go with Charlie. He's not only a writer (and a cowboy shooter), but has formed his own publishing company and will be my new publisher...if I ever get number 3 done. Charlie, are you out there? Should I give our your email address? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 BTT for more help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 A pard of mine writes detective novels. He self-published the first on his own dime and about broke even. The next he "e-published" through one of those deals where folks can download books, and it's made a few dollars. On number three he actually got a "real" publisher to take him on, and they will place the books, set up signing events, etc.... It's a darned poor way to make a living unless yer one of the very lucky few, but if a man's got a book inside him and just HAS TO write it, may as well make what ya can. Edited to add, my friend is retired and divorced, and he writes to pass the time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Dawg you could try and get a hold of Linn Keller, he's a member or used to be of Firelands. I got his autographed copy of his book "The Sheriff's Legacy". I think Johnny Shiloh knows how to reach him. Good luck to your son, Rye Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfgang, SASS #53480 Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 If the writer's father is a Mexican bandit ..... . . . . he can have his dad steal a printing press and get going on it. ps. I really that '51 Colt that I got from you. I fill it up with blank loads and use it in the shows at White Horse Ranch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Creek Sam, SASS# 78004 Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Dawg, Good luck finding the answer. Katie and Mom have both gone to e-readers. Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolan Kraps, SASS # 24084 Life Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 I published my book myself. www.lulu.com. It is free! You just pay for the books you buy. Every month you get a payment in your ebay account and a 1099 at the end of the year. It is a great way to get your book published. After a couple of years a publisher in NYC picked it up. I can still sell it there with my gun cart plans... http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fListingClass=0&fSearch=David+Steier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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