who publishes?

mostly i publish short stories but i'm working last year's nano into shape for publication. I don't do self publishing but i do publish b oth online and in paper. mostly i look at places like www.ralan.com for markets

note: I'm not talking self publishing here for those who might have thought I was. the included link doe take you to paying markets. I've sold several stories this year

2004 - Until the Ice Breaks (fantasy YA, won)
2005 - Splinters of Cold Iron and Silver (Urban fantasy YA, won)
2006 - Melt into the Wind (Urban fantasy, won)
2007 - Drops of Emptiness (Urban Fantasy won)
2008 - Riding with Strangers (urban fanstay/wo

I'm thinking about sprucing mine up and getting it published. A lot of people seem interested in reading it, and I've got an editor (my co-creator of this madness) and a friend willing to draw my cover. It's possible, but i'm also nervous as to how the world will react to it :3

http://cupcake_writer.livejournal.com
2009: Welcome to Hell. WON!!
2010: 100 Million Lightyears From Home. Alien abduction, grand escapades, and finding your way home from the other side of the galaxy.

Of course a NaNo can be a "real" novel. I'm using NaNo as motivation to get work done on a project I plan to complete and submit to agents. How long after NaNo this submitting will occur is a hazy spot, but it's my goal.

I suppose the real question here is how you define "real' novel. If you mean self-published, my fourteen-year-old nephew can get something self-published. That's a definite yes. If you mean published by a publisher (not a vanity press), then the chances drop, but it's certainly still possible if you are a good enough writer and work hard on revisions.

You (the OP) seem to be talking about self-publishing, and so do the other commenters. If that's your goal, go for it. I can't promise it will be a "real" novel, though.

Takato, as a self-published novel, it's not all that likely that the world will have *chance* to react to it. So I wouldn't worry all that much.

All lines are arbitrary; otherwise, we wouldn't have to draw them. ~Nicholas Vesiri

http://atsiko.wordpress.com

Yeah, I'm mostly just disbelief that a novel that was essentially written in ONE MONTH could even by "spruced up" enough to BE a real novel. I'm reading over some people's stuff on here and I think... maybe it's possible! Which is kind of nuts, seeing how people spend years writing one book.
It almost feels like cheating.

No, it totally feels like cheating.

Genre: Fantasy
Title: The Golden Empress
Number of Characters: oodles
Characters Killed Off: 2ish
Tools of the Trade: Absurd overuse of flamboyant language, sex, death, and shameless comic relief.

Years? I've talked to published authors banging out a novel every three months. "Spruced up" might be taking it a bit lightly, but there's no reason a NaNo novel can't go on to become published. You'll have to put in a lot more work, though.

All lines are arbitrary; otherwise, we wouldn't have to draw them. ~Nicholas Vesiri

http://atsiko.wordpress.com

No, I was talking about IRL publishing. My family has some litereary connections and it's *possible* I could exploit those if my book doesn't totally blow.

I have done the vanity press thing before, and it's great to have access to that, but I have really gotten to the point where it kind of feels poinless to do it.
If I'm going to publish, I want the real deal.

I started my book on the 1st, and now, I'm pretty much through with the first draft.
It feels a bit like I've cheated somehow- and I think to myself "aren't books supposed to take years to write?"
Yes, I know, the drafting process is long and arduous and time consuming, but it seems so... bizarre that the *whole story* can come together in less than thirty days.

I guess I'm just looking for someone who says "uh, yeah it can!" and knocks me on the head to see if anyone's home, haha.

Have you published (not self) before? What has your experience with it been like? Heartbreaking? Totally awesome?

Genre: Fantasy
Title: The Golden Empress
Number of Characters: oodles
Characters Killed Off: 2ish
Tools of the Trade: Absurd overuse of flamboyant language, sex, death, and shameless comic relief.

The only way I'm not going to follow-through on this book is if I die in pilot training. Otherwise, count on seeing the Second Wind all over the damn country within a few years (maybe less, depending on how much I can get done on weekends). I figure I've got it made because, everything I've ever sent anybody for publishing has been received well..... okay, so that's only been like five times, but still. This is way better than any of those were. I'm pretty confident that this is gonna make me rich and famous, so...... keep your eyes open.

Not that I'm overconfident or anything, and I'm gonna let you guys finish this thread here, I'm just saying this is one of the best books of all time. Of all TIME!

"He blew his nose with the air of a man who had received an affront to his dignity." -- Dostoevsky

Connections, really? Lucky! Care to drop some names? :)

I've never been published before. Probably because I've never submitted anything. I don't think I'm quite at that point yet. But I'm getting there.

I'm perfectly willing to knock you on the head, though. There are authors out there with series contracts putting out three or four novels a year. If you can write, you can write, and it's mostly up to you how prolific you are.

I'd assume you meant self-published because you brought up having an artist. Generally, the publisher picks the cover artist, so I hope you can forgive me for being confused.

All lines are arbitrary; otherwise, we wouldn't have to draw them. ~Nicholas Vesiri

http://atsiko.wordpress.com

LOL. Kanye jokes never get old.

I'm fairly sure that a few people have published their NaNovels, and not vanity publishing either. I also know there's a few already-published authors who do NaNo as well. Look here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/nowwhat Chris listed some of the published NaNo writers.

Well, my dad works in poetry and essay publishing - or he did- and his "Rain City Review" published some great folks, including Ursula K. LeGuinn, and therefore he has a long time acquaintence with her. Also, he's buds with the fellow who wrote the screenplay for "The Crow". My dad is doing the edits, and so far he's knocked me off my chair with little red notations, but he likes the story and thinks I should find representation...

My uncle (the artist) is a fantasy sci-fi painter who did the amazing plates for "The Millenial Project: Colonizing the Galazy in 8 Easy Steps" (norly) and he's very, VERY good. I think having him onboard would be a boon to a potential publisher.
Here's one of his paintings:
http://distant-star.info/issue13/asgard/plate06.jpg

I'm an artist "first"... or a WAS before Nano... but yeah.

I added you
You are pleasant.

Genre: Fantasy
Title: The Golden Empress
Number of Characters: oodles
Characters Killed Off: 2ish
Tools of the Trade: Absurd overuse of flamboyant language, sex, death, and shameless comic relief.

Thanks, what a great page! Much gratitude!!!

Genre: Fantasy
Title: The Golden Empress
Number of Characters: oodles
Characters Killed Off: 2ish
Tools of the Trade: Absurd overuse of flamboyant language, sex, death, and shameless comic relief.

I'm rewriting the best of my previous Nanowrimos, have a lot to choose from. The one closest to final draft was called "The Hunt" from 2004 and is one new ending away from submission shape, just a couple three more chapters to tighten the end and not leave it dangling for a sequel. It's now called Curse of Vaumuru.

My other 2004 Nanowrimo is next up on the edits stack. I've been doing this every year since 2000 but not all roughs are equal in how much they attract me for editing. Sometimes I start over from premise and do the novel over again in a successive year -- The Hunt was one of those, it was also my 2003 Nanowrimo in a much more erotic version with completely different characters.

This year's extravaganza are all very editable and I expect to do them. I had health problems in 2005 just as I started getting serious on the edits, took three years to get past the surgery and other problems, but now I'm hitting my stride again.

I self published one novel, Raven Dance, in 2000. I might do that with some of the others but I'd have to rewrite them to pro quality either way so I'll be throwing them at publishers first, unless I turn one of the short ones into a promo ebook once I sell something pro or small press -- small press is where they go after pro-publishing rejections because that still wouldn't cost me the setup fee and would have more distribution than self pubbing.

Now if I can get the editing process as streamlined as the novelwriting process I'll really be happy and have the start of a good prolific career! It's much slower so far, but I'm getting better at the editing.

Nanowrimo 2009 Beyond My Best!
Magic in the Streets 82,964
Greenwood Road 84,709
Medicine Show 75,978
Greenwood Gates 94,378
Greenwood Home 65,415

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You're lucky to have such great connections. I'm thinking of self-publishing, but mostly because I don't want to translate the novel into norwegian, and publishers here don't like manuscripts in english unless the author is english, and published already :p

And I've never heard of anyone getting published in a different country than their own with their first novel so :/
I say go for it!

http://mariellesin.wordpress.com
http://elfhybridmarielle.deviantart.com

I don't think I'll ever get published, I'm simply not good enough for a publisher to be interested, and I don't want to self-publish. (Why inflict my crap on the world, eh?)

This was a 'for me' thing. I'm pretty sure once NaNo is done and that nice little '09' button thingy is on my profile, I'm just going to delete the entire thing.

Doesn't stop it from being fun though! :D

There's e-publishing these days too. Admittedly I don't know a lot about it .

I rather feel selling and then marketing the book is a whole 'nother area I need to get my head around, so it's waiting till I think my first draft is good enough to start the, for me, separate process of making it available

I may well e-publish as it seems to be a more open field than traditional publishing at the moment. If only so that I can point at it in terms of reviews etc when I take my 2010 nanol to a print publisher.

I can dream :)

After editing the snot out of it for a couple months (I'm thinking until about mid summer, since I hope to be done with the rough draft before December ends) I will definitely try to get it published. I have a editor on hand (My mom, which would be bad, except she was a professional editor and has her own book published, plus she home schooled us so she is used to telling me how messed up my work is ^_^*) and some beta readers.

I figure, why the heck not try? On one hand, even if I fail I get a lot of experience with the real world of publishing, possible feedback, and can always post it online with a donate button and copyright somewhere. One the other, if I actually manage to get it published then I have a published book in my back pocket, some extra money (hopefully), and a good experience.

The one thing I am concerned about, which makes me think I probably won't be published, is the mass amount of vampire fiction right now. I heard that many publishers aren't even looking at the vampire stories any more. Though I do feel mine is a unique prospect and has a fairly interesting premise and a different feel, I'm not holding my breath. *shrugs*

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original.

I'll be finished or nearly finished by the end of December, rewriting in January; Feb '09 my first query will go out, I've researched agents TO DEATH and have four I want to target, one at a time.

This is the second novel I will have finished; I submitted my first to a few agents and ended up getting a couple of requests and eventually a nice, encouraging letter from John Lipskar. Yep. Nora Roberts's agent. Looking at that manuscript now I can see that I sent it out about three rewrites too early at least; but I've been studying the craft again for the past four or five years and now my toolbox is ready.

I'm going to write a 17000 word prequel and submit it to the Writers of the Future contest, just as (I'm not worthy) Patrick Rothfuss did. But it would be nice to have my first manuscript and options on the remaining three sold before the contest rolls round!

And don't get too excited about your cover art; Stephen King might have the clout to pick his own cover. Maybe. Major publishers have that work already contracted out.

I know authors who only found out what cover their publishers had given their work when it showed up for pre-orders on Amazon. Many more who find out when their publisher sends them a "for your information, this is the cover design we're going with". It's rare that the author gets to see anything before the decision is made, and I suspect this is for the very good reasons that (a) authors almost always hate any cover their publishers like, and (b) authors don't necessarily know jack about marketing, and covers are squarely in the realm of marketing.

The cover art isn't there to be liked by the author or the fans—it's there to get the kind of people who buy your genre to pick it up and buy it.

Always. I started writing short stories in 1978. All of them published via indie-press chapbooks. Though most never had more than 12 or 15 copies made. =P I moved on the adding novels in 2006, and started writing non-fiction stuff in 2003, but didn't start pubbing the non-fiction stuff until 2007, which I publish both in print format and online.

Both. It depends on how you look at it. Some would say I self publish, others would say I don't. Explanation: I own a publishing house (The Twighlight Manor Press). I publish my own work through said publishing house. Therefor my work is being published via a company, but it is also self published because, I just happen to be the owner of that company. =P

I submit some of my work to the big publishing houses too (Harlequin, Scholastic, etc.) but not very often. Usually I just stick with my own publishing house.

I also am under a work-for-hire contract to write scripts for copyrighted characters (The Duck Family aka Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck) through Edgmont (Disney Comics). This means technically I work for Disney and can write Disney "fanfic" so long as I follow Disney's really rigid super strict guidelines and send every thing I write to them.

I always consider EVERY THING I write as publishable. My theory is there is a market for every thing and every thing that is written, can be edited to make it marketable. (Some stuff just needs more editing than other stuff.) With that thery in mind, every thing I write eventually gets published some where, some how, though in some cases it may take several years of editing to make a piece publishable.

My stuff usually goes through 4 edits, before reaching the final draft. This process can take a few weeks for shorter works, to a year or more for longer works.

Where I send it and how it gets published depends on what it is I wrote.

I taught myself bookbinding and so from the 1970's through 1980's my books were hand bound. Papers hand cut. Pages hand sewn, with olde fashioned needle and thread book binding stitch. The words themselves hand done in calligraphy. That's why there were usually less than 15 copies of each book. It took about a month just to make a single copy. I was like a 15th century monk or something! LOL! =P

I went the desk top printer road in the 1990's. Quality sucked.

Tried a local print shop once. eeh. Quality still sucked.

In 2005 I switched over to using http://www.LuLu.com for my publishing house's printer. Quality has skyrocketed. I love it, and will likely stick with them as my printing house from now on.

As for where do I send stuff when I do send it out to an outside publisher?

Well, right off the bat, EVERYTHING I write with a Disney character, gets shipped to Edgmont and from there it's Disney's problem. Getting published with Disney, let me tell you - NOT EASY! Pay sucks. It's not worth it unless you are mega super obsessed with whatever character you are writing about, which I am, so it's not like I'm going to stop writing Duck stories any time soon. =P

My Harlequin quality stuff gets shipped off to Harlequin for consideration.

Short stories head out to various random magazines depending on genre.

My unagented attempts with Scholastic continue to fail; yeah, I know, I need an agent for Scholastic. Someday when I can afford an agent, I'll hire one. ;)

What I am most well known for however is my trademark long running, banned, M rated series. My Twighlight Manor series, has since the 1970's been sent to various publishers, and I get back lots of nice rejections, telling me that my unique writing style is wonderful and they'd really love me to write a different book for them, but my subject matter is just too outside of what can be published main stream, could I tone it done a bit, try to be a little bit more politically correct, use a little less gore, make my teenage rape victims over 18, make my rapists not always elderly men, and could you TRY to write a Happily Ever After ending . . . just once? Hey! I write what I know. Older men rape teenage and preteen girls. Been there. Done that. I was the teenage girl. I've known others. It happens. It happens a lot. These girls don't get peach scent happily ever afters with rose colored glasses. I write about it. I write about it a lot. I write it like it is in the real world, older men, 8 year old girls and all. I'm not going to glamorize it and make it into some pretty happy romance story because that's what people want to read. This is not romance, this is a girl traumatized for life in a world that would rather look the other way and protect the false integrity of their beloved church leaders. You know what? Life for these girls is hell, in a world that doesn't care, why should I tone it down and make it more digestible for the reader when it isn't digestible for the real victims? No! I won't do it. Some one has to speak out for these girls, and I'm not changing these books just because you don't like it.

And so, my Twighlight Manor Books, continue on published via indie press and remain to date, still not mass produced. And I am being excommunicated from my church for writing them, because well, it's a big No-No to say anything against one of their priests. :(

Actually, I'm being excommunicated for writing my autobiography, the 433 page story behind the story of the Twighlight Manor books. My autobiography was what I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2008. It took a year to edit, went through 4 drafts, and was edited online with the help of some of my online friends. The draft had been posted on my blog, which, unknown to me, my bishop reads, and when he read what I had to say about several of the leaders in our local church building, he just flipped out, and called me into his office and DEMANDED that I not publish this book or else. Or else? He'd rather hide his head in the sand and protect the criminals in his church, than stand out in the open and protect the innocent victims????? Well, that book got published a month ago, and so I got called in again and told I was being excommunicated from the church. Oh well. Such is life. My NaNovel 2008 has become some what of a local controversy, and really, I don't see why my bishop is going all freak out like this, but whatever.

As for this years NaNovel, yep. It's being published. At the moment I'm planning on going through my own publishing house. (Which currently PODs books via http://www.LuLu.com btw, no more hand bound books for me! LOL!)

Every year, about 3 or 4 NaNovels get accepted through Harlequin. They even have a place to submit special NaNoWriMo submissions to them. (Check out their web site, info changes each year). If you are writing romance, Harlequin is very open to reading NaNovels.

and one word: Eragon.

Look up the Hal Spacejock series. Long running series of best sellers, every volume was writing right here on NaNoWriMo

Every year hundreds of NaNovels get published. A few through mainstream big publishers, but most through small press, indie press, and self published POD (LuLu and CreateSpace).

So, yeah, a NaNovel can be a real novel. All you got to do it edit, edit, edit, polish, polish, polish, and submit, submit, submit! EVERY THING you write, can be published, it's all in the amount of time you are willing to put into editing it after you write it.

There are probably a lot more mainstream published NaNovels out there than we realize too, because a lot of authors, don't tell you here on NaNoWriMo who they are and just come on here, write their draft, and never tell any one they wrote it via NaNo. Besides, when you submit it to a publisher, there is no reason to tell the publisher where your wrote the book. The publisher couldn't care less wither you wrote it on NaNoWriMo or in an igloo on top of Mt Everest. All they want to know, is will our readers want to read it?

You will only need a cover artist if you plan to self publish. Authors have no say or control when it comes to cover art on their books, unless they are self publishing the book.

Please Buy My NaNoWriMo 2008:

In keeping with Yog's Law: Money flows to the author, I don't do self-publishing.

I'll likely edit this and sit on it. A roughly 50000 fantasy romance novel likely has only one possible market--Harlequin. And Harlequin has just turned into the Evil Empire by starting a vanity press branch for wannabes. And, while I don't have anything against vanity publishers when they're upfront about it, this implies that if your paid for novel sells well -- which it won't since you have to do 100% of the marketing--it won't be put in bookstores -- they'll buy your next book.

More info here: http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=3176

I've got two professional credits--Avon/EOS fantasies. But that was 10 years ago and I had an agent in them there far off days and they were co-written with my best friend. This year's NANOWRIMO is my attempt to see if I can actually finish something by myself.

Like Mr Earbrass, I am the straying, rather than the sedentary, type of author.

Honey, I don't know who you've been talking to, but you don't *afford* an agent. You submit a query letter and they decide whether they will take you on or not. You pay them absolutely zero. They make their money on commission when they sell your work to a publisher.

All lines are arbitrary; otherwise, we wouldn't have to draw them. ~Nicholas Vesiri

http://atsiko.wordpress.com

I've gone on to publish my very first NaNo win and did it via CreateSpace.

What happened was that I found out the hard way that it takes a miracle to secure an agent. Quite effectively, I've been shut out endlessly but with compliments, so I said to myself, "If by this date I won't secure an agent, I will make use of the CreateSpace code and get it out that way."

That was precisely what ended up happening.

And a NaNo CAN be a real novel. GO FOR IT. Edit, edit, publish. I cannot say it enough, go for it! CreateSpace is an amazing resource when it comes to publication; it is inexpensive, is listed on Amazon - do it. Seriously. If only for the feeling you get when you hold the professionally-printed copy in your hands.

Author Website & Blog
The Index, Book 1: Mages (2006w)
Book 2: Secrets (2007w - coming soon!)
Book 3: Lineage (2008w)
Book 4: Revival (2009w)

Well, I'd prefer holding a professionally *published* copy. If it isn't good enough to sell, it's not worth it to print, imo. But to each their own.

All lines are arbitrary; otherwise, we wouldn't have to draw them. ~Nicholas Vesiri

http://atsiko.wordpress.com

I stick my tat up on lulu.com, a few people buy a copy every few months or so, which is nice, nothing to quit my day job over of course but i write for myself, anyone else is an unexpected but welcome bonus :)

The Succubi: Charlotte's War

an agent gets a cut of the money you make from your work. that goes for any line of business- a musician, a model, an artist, whatever. if you are not making money you shouldn't be paying them anything. there are sadly plenty of unscrupulous jerks out there who take advantage of creativity-prone and business-challenged folks who will believe their lies.

Thank you all for your words of wisdom. I really appreciate it. You've given me great links and ideas and all kinds of crap to think about.

I want to let everyone know that I read every single comment, and they have dropped my panic level considerably.

@eelkat

WOW what a wonderfully considered reply. This was very informative, and I'm super grateful for all of this.

Genre: Fantasy
Title: The Golden Empress
Number of Characters: oodles
Characters Killed Off: 2ish
Tools of the Trade: Absurd overuse of flamboyant language, sex, death, and shameless comic relief.

Nobody reaches into your pocket -- nobody. If you're paying anything to have your book published, you'd best be self-publishing.

"He blew his nose with the air of a man who had received an affront to his dignity." -- Dostoevsky

Moving to Coffeehouse

Heather Dudley
Forums Moderator
I use Liquid Story Binder to write my novels.

uh, ok... that's cool but did I do something wrong?

Genre: Fantasy
Title: The Golden Empress
Number of Characters: oodles
Characters Killed Off: 2ish
Tools of the Trade: Absurd overuse of flamboyant language, sex, death, and shameless comic relief.

NaNoWriMo's can be real books, but it takes a lot of editing and critical reading partners to see where there are holes that need to be fixed.

I'm going to take some time to polish my NaNo book and I have a few small presses in mind. Before you look for agents or publishers, don't forget to check with Editors and Predators.