Any authors here?

Love-N-Peace

As some of you know I'm trying to write a book and I'm considering the hard choice of scrapping my book (I did it once before) and I seem to be getting closer and closer to a better, more mature tale each time. The new one I'm thinking of will have a distantly related story-line and similar characters, but fewer, so it's not quite so chaotic. The thing is I'm reading tips on the internet from a sucessful American author. And she started talking about all editors and agents and all the publishing details and it just went way over my head. Is there anyone here with a published book that can explain the process of what you do when you've finally completed a book? Thanks

All the best,
Jellybean

PietroPumokin

when you see a publisher walking down the street get the heaviest version of your manuscript and hit them in the head with it

sorry... hehehehe.... i don't know. the publishing industry, to me seems like a huge labyrinth/castle which isn't worth climbing and going through all the hoops.... it's a bureacratic fortress as much as i know.. i think it's best if you really want to try to look over the author's tips... getting an agent is necessary if you insist on trying to get published. self-publishing is also another option that you can try

Love-N-Peace

Not only do you have to use all your brain power to write a book but you have to be an einstein-come-prince charming to get it published LOL. I never thought it would be this complicated to get a book out on the shelves, maybe I will just opt for hitting the publisher over the head, tie them up and say "do yah stuff and you can go!"

Palzang

Well, you can always publish it yourself on Lulu. It's actually not a bad option for a first-timer. Just don't expect to make any money!

Palzang

Love-N-Peace

What no money at all. I at least want to make a tiny bit

Palzang

Well, marketing is everything. With good marketing you can sell freezers to Eskimos!

Palzang

Love-N-Peace

Please can you define 'marketing' sorry, but remember I'm just a baby

Palzang

Marketing is Waaaaaahhhh! Oh, that's right, you can talk. It means getting your name out there and your book. You know, do some signings down in London, get on Oprah, that kind of thing.

Palzang

upekka

there is thing calle 'vanity publishing'

remember

not 'vanish publishing'

Love-N-Peace

Getting my face out there. Lets see...
Looks- No
Sports- No
Musical talent- Barely average
Talent at all- Nothing special
Intelligence- Above average in some things but nothing out of the ordinary
Bravery- No, no, no

I don't know how I'd get my face out there, I thought a book written by a 12 year old would be enough! The youngest author I've heard of was a 15 year old who wrote a poetry book and went to my school

All the best,
Jellybean

Love-N-Peace

Thank you which post do you mean?

All the best,
Jellybean

Zachaa

Here's a link to one of my favorite blogs, where the blogger, Wil Wheaton, gives tips on self publishing.

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2009/03/a-few-self-publishing-resources.html

If you've ever seen Star Trek: The Next Generation, he played Wesley Crusher, the much-hated teen save-the-Enterprise-every-other-episode character. I actually had a crush on him when I was younger Anyway, he's grown a lot since then and has gotten into writing. Perhaps something there will help you out?

johnathan

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Not sure if spam bothers others but I'd prefer not to see it here, my oasis away from such irritants... Most sites I have been on frown upon it...

Perhaps we have a spambot within our midst...

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This category of spambots has gained considerable notoriety since November 2006, with the introduction of XRumer, a forum and wiki spambot which can often bypass many of the safeguards administrators use to reduce the amount of spam posted.[1]

One way to prevent spambots from posting on forums, wiki, guestbook, etc. is to enable e-mail activation by installing a mail server on the host (eg: Sendmail, Postfix, Exim.), since most spambot scripts use fake or randomly generated names on real e-mail providers, the e-mails will mostly never be successfully routed to them, although this has eventually been circumvented, since it is of trivial matter for spammers to automatically register an email address and use it for validation, mostly via webmail services. Using methods such as security questions[2] are also proven to be effective in curbing posts] generated by spambots, as they are usually unable to answer it upon registering.]

Love-N-Peace

I haven't even started a book yet Zachaa :eek: I've been banned from my computer which has word but it's allowed me to think through about what I want. So far I've come up with a small boy named Teddy Googie who lives in the lake-side village of Liclak Remoss and whom sees something in his garden at night and he and his house pig go into the garden to look when a huge explosian goes off behind the lighthouse which his family live in and soon the house is teetering on the edge of the cliff it's on. It begins to fall back and the light smashes through the roof and electrocutes the huge nearby lake which is shrouded in myth, legend, mystery and eeriness and that ranges from fresh to saltwater and which's called Lake Liclak Remoss Loch killing a local humpback whale and then the burning lighthouse falls into the lake below with the little boy's family inside. He runs to the next door neighbour; an old woman who lived in a creaky wooden house which hangs over the edge of the cliff on swaying, old, creaky willow stilts. She tells him about her distant relatives who had ten children and would probably be willing to adopt him so he goes deep into his little country where he is sent to the family who live through the Yarkleyokalvarclevocalvitch Mountain Range in the small village of Buddhazmipaddingtonpatchwork which is constantly shrouded by mystery and low cloud. The family live in an old five-bedroom cottage which is crammed full with people. Mrs Penelope Pazdicky the mother recently had to deal with her husband dieing and moving in with her and the ten other children ranging from 4-18 but the little 5 year old orphaned boy has to deal with torturous siblings, fearsome teachers, poisonous school dinners, devastating discoveries, heart-breaking secrets, the meddling law and terribly true myths

All the best
Nickidoodle

budhabee

Hi Love N Peace

Do like that lady did who wrote the Harry Potter books. Print out a few and see where that leads you. I think she printed ooo...not sure maybe 50 and set them in the childrens section of a few friendly bookstores in her area. Then BLAM they took off. So the Bookstores had to call her and tell her they needed like 500 more then called again and it just kept going up and up. Good luck honey. Writing books takes a lot of mental effort and dedication. (something I am sorely lacking at the moment). heh heh. So why not go ahead finish the book and take a chance. Do you have a full time job...cause that eases a lot of the strain of money worries. You will have to be mindful of the taxes though. Like whatever you sell remember Uncle Sam. If you sell enough of them like 5000 or so he will be a consideration so keep accurate records and always count him in. Gosh good luck honey.

Love-N-Peace

LOL, I'm 12, no job! I've got a good plan for my book, it's called Visiting Grandma. A little boy's parents die so is addopted by single mum with 8 kids. 8 kids n him have to treck up to this mountain and all the way to the top to check on their grandmother because the car bridge had burnt down. They have to travel through Woefull Wood, Freaky Forest, Spearelm County and Mount Varcle (the tallest mountain in their island of Pik Turesk) to get to her but come accross gnomes who plan to take over the world, a cannibal tribe, wicked fairies, city harpies, political trolls, kind but suicidal hags who have eyes in their hands and with a few extra recruitments they picked up along the way but with a few losses they finally arrive at Grandma's house only to find she likes to eat little children... and at the end they get stranded on a little island in the huge and eery Lake Liclak Remoss Loch.... So then I get to write a sequal! But my plans for stories always change so....
It's a fairytale with very big twist

All the best
Nickidoodle