Export thread

Newbie Author Stuff

#1

evilmike

evilmike

I've got a friend who is working on her first novel. She is looking for information / recommendations about either finding a publisher or self-publishing. Do any of our Halforums authors in residence have any suggestions I could pass along?


#2

PatrThom

PatrThom

Is this for wide physical distribution? Or is this just something to put stories and stuff out there for people to see?

—Patrick


#3

evilmike

evilmike

Hoping for wide distribution, but interesting in finding out other options.


#4

Simfers

Simfers

Paging Nick Piers, paging author Nick Piers. Yo, @ThatNickGuy ! Your input, I'm sure, would be appreciated, my dude.


#5

ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Paging Nick Piers, paging author Nick Piers. Yo, @ThatNickGuy ! Your input, I'm sure, would be appreciated, my dude.
I'm the wrong person to ask. I failed as a writer, I've given up on writing, and I'm not the right person to discuss this anymore. Please don't tag me into things like this again.


#6

mikerc

mikerc

I'm a big fan of the Writing Excuses podcast - it's published authors discussing how to write & they've done a few episodes on publishing, self-publishing & submitting your book. Each episode is only about 15-20 mins long so it won't be a large time commitment to check out a few episodes.


#7

LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

I know I'm late to this, but wanted to toss in my two cents!

Your friend really needs to decide if she wants to self publish or go the publisher route - obviously there can be crossover between the two but it's less common. There's pros and cons to both, but really, it's up to her and what she wants to do. Self publishing is quicker, but harder to be noticed in the grand scheme, unless she's really good at self promotion and social media.

If she does want to go the publisher route, she really needs to be honest with her self and her book's potential - not every book is going to be a home run, published by the Big 5. And that is absolutely okay. If she's gunning for mass production/sales, then she'll need to hook a literary agent. Which also means she'll need to learn how to do a query letter. But sometimes a smaller publisher will suite her work just as well. She should also look at what type of book each company publishes and hone in from there - you don't want to send like adult fiction to a kid's publisher, etc etc.

I would recommend Jane Friedman's blog. She's quite helpful, succint and thorough on these kinds of topics.

Also, she shouldn't bother much with the publisher search until her novel is completed. Most places won't even look at you unless your manuscript is DONE. And I mean like fully edited, done, not just written out. Unless she wants to self publish, in which case, you can submit what you want when you want - even having multiple versions of the same book. I know Amazon is a popular outlet for self publishers.

Anyway, hope this helps some! Good luck!


#8

evilmike

evilmike

Thanks to everyone! I'm relaying the information as it comes in.


Top