There are a lot of online guides to this.
Kindle prints books on demand, you needn’t worry about that, but you need professionals to design the cover, format the inside, and do your copy editing (that’s minimum to make it look like a real book. You may also want to invest in a developmental editor.)
It’s not gonna be cheap but hey, you only live once. I’m already saving my money to do this if it turns out to be necessary.
It’s worth pointing out, I’m published with a small press. I got zero advance, only royalties and money from selling the audi rights. And the publisher did well with the marketing, I think mostly advertising on Amazon.
Well I might come looking for advice someday.
Good to know. If they would do marketing for me, that’s a compelling reason to go small.
Got a second story actually published (three more have been accepted but are not yet out.)
This is also a comedy. Actually most of my stories AREN’T comedies; it’s just a fluke the first two out were.
In other news, rejections for the novel are starting to roll in. I know the numbers game here. It’s still discouraging.
Hilarious. Let me knownif you put anything else out!
The rejections are rough. But you’re creating great stories. I hope you enjoy writing them,
LOVED it.
It’s very rare that writing makes me laugh out loud and that did several times. Great job.
Another comedy one will be out on Saturday. I’ll link to it then. Serious ones out next January and April, unless something happens before then.
So far, submission statistics:
NOVEL 0 for 18 with agents.
STORIES (16 of them) - 141 submissions in total:
5 accepted
91 rejected or clearly passed on without notifications
45 no answer yet or passed without notification
I got my first acceptance!
It’s going to be performed as a podcast. I made a cool 78 bucks, so I plan on quitting my day job.
Congratulations!
Nice! I’m sending a few things to the podcast sites too. Which one did you get in to?
I’m looking forward to it. That magician story was so freaking good. I could see it as a TV show on an anthology series.
Now I’m a fan of at least 3 different authors who post on this board.
CreepyPod. My story will be “Rituals”, but I’m not very clear on when it’ll be out.
Another funny one published. Honestly, I mostly write serious ones, but these seem easier to get picked up.
Any response on your novel RickJay? I just finished writing my first which took seven months which I thought was fast - not comparable to fourteen weeks! Have you submitted it to a bunch of agencies at once, or are you doing a few at a time? I’m new to the game and have read that when you submit to an agency they want to know about who else you submitted it to. Did you spend a fair amount of time polishing up your query like the first chapters of your book? This may all sounds overly anxious, and if it does, I apologise. Just want to sincerely congratulate you on your novel and am curious about the process from a completed work to eventually seeing it published.
I really enjoyed Dave is Dead. Loved the deadpan nature of the humour; that was right up my street. It also kept me guessing as to how it was all going to climax. The story about the magician (sorry, the name escapes me now) was amusing and entertaining too, but a little too slapstick for me (no offence meant and hope honest feedback is what you need). The writing style between the two stories seemed quite different to me, which I think is a good thing as that is a nice skill to have.
Chunks of 15-20. Chunk 1 got no interest; I’ve since done some adjustments to my query letters and changed chapter 1 to make it start faster (probably to the detriment of the novel later, but whatever, I just need a few requests for the whole thing.)
I’ll start more chunks after the new year.
As to your question about agencies asking who else you’ve submitted to, NONE ‘ve ever encountered have asked for that. Maybe 2-3 out of the 75 I’ve identified specifically ask if you’re submitting elsewhere at all. The rest don’t ask (half use the QueryTracker system, which has fixed input fields; I’ve never seen that asked there, for sure.)
They just assume you do.
I sold a second story to CreepyPod, so now I’ve got Rituals and Silent Treatment. Still no idea on when they’ll be published, but I think Silent Treatment will be in October as part of their “31 Days of Halloween” series.
I have to start targeting the podcast sites. I have some decent choices for them.
It’s odd- my BEST stories don’t get picked up, and least not so far.
It’s unfortunate that your best haven’t been picked up because I’d like to read them - your less than best are strong. I was recently speaking with my friend’s husband who makes a living as a writer. His collection of short stories which are solid and really good, took ten years to get published. They were too ‘literary’ , he was told. Other works, which he considers lesser, got published far quicker. He called literary agents gatekeepers, in that they think they know what the public wants. They want submissions to replicate previous successes. I think that people in the industry love art and good writing, but at the end of the day, business is business.
I’m pulling for your success. Keep this thread going by letting us know about your struggles towards recognition.
I, and I hope others who are interested in the process of getting published, will contribute to the conversation.