How to Get Published?!?

JobYouDeserve

Can anyone speak from personal experience about getting published?  Or, can anyone recommend any good books or articles to read?
I have to admit that I know practically nothing about getting published, but it`s something I really want to do.  I`ve heard how frustrating the process can be...that`s why I`m asking you guys for your input!
Thank you so much, and have a great week!!  JobYouDeserve2006-9-18 20:56:34

LogoMotives

Kristen -A good resource for any writer hoping to publish a book is the Writers Market book. It covers putting book proposals together, submitting proposals to editors or publishers, and many more details of the industry.You might also want to check out the site About Freelance Writing. A great deal of information is posted on the site and writers share their experiences in the site`s forum.Best of luck!  - J.

TeleBoost

Hi Kristen,

Have you considered using  http://lulu.com  and  http://cafepress.com 
. They seem to offer quite good solutions for self-publishing. They
offer print-on-demand service and apparently do not have any upfront
fee. But, I have not used them personally.

Good Luck
Nat 

Missy

   I`m contenplating writing ebooks. I don`t have a lot of money to start. Do you know of the best place to have my ebook published?
                              Thanks,
                                Missy

theswaynester

I have used www.lulu.com</A> for some writing projects and had pretty good success with them.You can set up a store front for free and sell books that way. Lulu only gets paid when you sell books--bsically, they have a production costs and a royalty.They also offer a way to get your books on Amazon.com, etc. for about $100.You, of course, are in charge of your own marketing and publicity.I`d defintely check them out, if you`re having trouble finding a publisher.The Swaynester

JobYouDeserve

Very interesting...you guys are very smart.
I`ve heard a lot about lulu, but I always wondered how they make money - I guess it`s a "we don`t get paid unless you get paid" sort of thing?
Which do you think is better, self publishing or trying to persuade a publisher/editor to do the marketing for you?
What do you think about ebooks?  It today`s world of instant gratification, an ebook is cheaper and easier to obtain.

LogoMotives

Kristen -Another online source is iUniverse. I know a woman who is using the service to publish her upcoming book but I know little about the details of the process they use.I was lucky - I had a publisher basically come to me for my first book.  Then when I suggested a second title early one morning I had a second book contract by the end of that day.  I also have four other publishers who want me to do books with them - so I`m in an unusual situation.  I`ve also been approached about writing an e-book for a new site that has yet to go live - but I can`t even think about it until my current manuscript goes away in the next couple weeks. Still, prooducing an e-book will create another situtation where I can cross-promote my other books. That decent cash advance from the publishing house is a good thing, too!  It`s also great to have a large publisher backing you - and the worldwide distribution is fantastic. My yet to be published book is already being sold on Amazon and it will not be released until next July. Even with the marketing/promotion department of a publisher pushing sales of the book there is a great deal of promotion to be done with the author (I had been warned about that by other authors). Amazon offers some great opportunities for authors to promote on the site - including the recently released AmazonConnect feature, allowing an author to create a profile page and a blog on the bookseller`s site.I will add that it`s MUCH easier to get a second book published with the proven track record of good sales on the first.The one thing I was not prepared for was how exhausting actually writing a book would be - it`s hard work!All the best - J.

Joyfulmommakim

  << I`m contenplating writing ebooks. I don`t have a lot of money to start. Do you know of the best place to have my ebook published>>>
 
Hi Missy! I have published 7 of my own ebooks. The beauty of ebooks is that there is virtually no start up money invovled. (I`ve also self published print books too...that is expensive!). I have made a steady and growing amount of income with ebooks.
I think having a website upon which to promote your ebook, and then having them on either Payloadz.com or Clickbank for downloading is best, especially with an affiliate program through either of those.I`ve only used Payloadz so I can`t speak to clickbank other than to say that others seem to like them too. With payloadz, you put a buy it now paypal button on your site (generated at payloadz), and when someone clicks on it and purchases, they get a temporary download link that expires after three days. Payloadz is free until you cross over a certain amount of sales and there is no start fees, but it only accepts paypal for payment so it is limiting in that way. Now I have a shopping cart that allows automatic downloads hosted on my site, but payloadz was a great way to start!
I also wrote an ebook about publishing your ebook, called "The EHandbook on Ebooks". I actually just uploaded it to my store right before checking out the forum here. You can find it here :http://joyfulmomma.org/bookstore/index.php?main_page=produc t_info&cPath=12&products_id=29
I hope this helps!
Blessings,
Kimberly
 

Joyfulmommakim

Can anyone speak from personal experience about getting published?  Or, can anyone recommend any good books or articles to read?
Are you talking about published articles or books?
For articles, I have used the Writer`s Market and I`ve also looked at websites that fit the genre I am writing for, and I have looked to see if they take submissions of articles. Some do. Most of them do not pay (though a few do), but it is great publicity for your website to have a bio like out there with a link. Article marketing generates a lot of business for me. If there is a magazine I like, I try to find out if they take queried submissions (ie, articles that were not specifically assigned), and what their writer`s guidlines are. It is also important, I think anyway, to try to get your name out there as a writer, even if it is "for free" so that you can get your articles in the bigger magazines later. Most of the "biggies" don`t look at unpublished authors. They want to see some experience at least.
There are a lot of good articles in the Writers` market itself about getting published. There is also a good website about article marketing called www.ArticleMarketing.com</A>.
For books, again, you can look in the Writer`s Market for book markets, though that is hard to break in . there is always self publishing, which can be expensive for print books. The "industry standard` rate is to charge 8x what it cost you to print the books so as to cover all of your expenses and still make some money, but those of us who self publish in smaller runs (due to lack of funds ) can`t really do that too easily without having overpriced products! This is especially true of P.O.D. companies printing your books one at a time--that gets expensive in your price per book.
You can also self publish as an ebook  until you have enough capital to get a larger run of books printed, and while it is still an ebook you can get great feedback from your readership about your book, and thus perfect it before you invest in a larger print run. I`ve done this for all of my books--they`ve all started as ebooks, and two are now print books, printed by Jostens, who did a fine job. I still sell WAY more ebooks than print books.
Hope this is a help,
Kimberly

LogoMotives

I also meant to post the online resource Bookcatcher and the forums associated with the site. A lot of great information is provided about the writing, publishing and marketing of books.- J.

JobYouDeserve

Great information!
I`m very fascinated by Lulu, but I have a couple of questions.  How do you get on Amazon.com?  Also, how do authors get testimonials from important, reputable people and places such as The Wall Street Journal?  I`ve always wondered about that.
Thank you so much, guys!
iUniverse has a "select" package for $499 that includes Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, but can this be done by yourself (for no cost)?JobYouDeserve2006-9-21 10:53:16

JobYouDeserve

Hello!
Thank you again for all of the great information and support!  The book is available at  =0-595-41896-1!
Now you know my opinion about job searching...please let me know if I can be of any assistance.
All the best,
Kristen

LogoMotives

Kristen -Congratulations!- J.

JobYouDeserve

Thank you so much!  You were right about the hard work part! 

theswaynester

Nicely done!I wish you much success as a published writer, Kristen.Keep us posted. This might make a good forum for anyone trying to get published or considering the self-publish route.

LogoMotives

Thank you so much!  You were right about the hard work part!  K. -I had to laugh at your comment.  I`m sure you are realizing that the "hard work" is just beginning.  Now that the book is a reality you have to market and promote the thing!I`m now in "recovery" from completing the writing/coordination of my second book.  It`s with the editor and designer now.  I`m taking a bit of a breather before diving into the hard-core marketing of the book.  Even though the book will not be released until July 2007 Amazon has been selling it for a couple months now.  I`m already lining up a lot of speaking engagements in the first half of 2007 and book signings after its release.  It`s very exhausting and satisfying at the same time.Just this morning I was talking about my next book project.  Yes, I must be crazy!All the best with the book!- J.