Posted on 07/11/2022 8:55:07 AM PDT by The Louiswu
I've just finished a rough draft of a book length sci fi story, it's taken me a year and I've still got some rewriting to do but I was starting to think about the next steps in possibly getting it published.
I've not been on the internet in any depth for over a year and I don't know what sort help and resources are available these days so any help from published or even aspiring authors would be greatly appreciated.
Like I said, it's not finished yet, but the rough draft is good, it has a beginning a middle and an end, the story makes sense and with a couple of rewrites and with some punching up it might actually be worth reading. Thanks for any help.
I’ve self-published several books.
Feel free to private message me with any questions.
And congratulations!
Watch the Writer’s Dojo podcasts by Larry Corriea and friends.
What happens when you self-publish?
Do you sell electronic copies of the book, or physical copies, or both?
Do they go onto amazon or any other service for sale, or do you do all this yourself independently?
Just curious how that works.
You can do it any number of ways. For small runs, “Print on Demand” can provide highish priced physical copies, and it is easy to have Kindle and ebook versions available on Amazon and other venues.
If it is a business, and not a hobby, get an ISBN from Bowkers.
QueryTracker puts you in touch with 2000 agents and publishers, categorized by genre. A fee of $25 per year.
nanowrimo.org, they know everything!
Vellum is great if you have a Mac. And enjoy learning curves. SP is definitely the way to go.
Have you had others read it? A good friend is a novel writer—published, movie deals, etc.
The thing she has told me is editing is the hardest part. Baring your work to the world is scary, because they will have something critical to say. And who likes that? Ha ha.
Self publishing is fine. But it will pretty much take most future “big deals” off the table unless you are literally the one in a million writers.
Learn how to officially copyright your work. It is cheap. And it will save you from lawsuits and potential abuse.
So, my suggestion is send it around to a few people. Then edit the crap out of it. Then look for an agent. That’s the most difficult part of the “going commercial” process.
Finally, congratulations. Getting through a book is an accomplishment you should be proud of.
I thought you were going to show us an outline of the story for our remarks or critiques. My error. I hope you get the publishing advice you need. I will say that even though kindle is available and often for free, I still prefer physical books to have and to hold.
I just got done reading “From Here To Eternity” by James Jones. It was a big swallow at 800 pages, but I slowly digested it all. What a great novel that was to read! Usually I would expect to be bored by the story of a soldier. Not this time. Not at all.
ping
contact Freeper Travis McGee
He is an excellent author and has books published
I sell both electronic and physical copies.
Basically how it works is you have two files, a pdf of your book text and a pdf of the cover. With print-on-demand there’s no inventory. When somebody orders a copy of your book the cover and text are put together, printed and sent to the customer.
You can choose to publish only on Amazon, which may be easier and cheaper, or choose to publish on all sales locations (Amazon, B&N, Apple, etc) through printing sites like Ingramspark/LightningSource or Smashwords.
I set up my own publishing house, which means I have a company name and a Tax ID number, and my business is registered in my Town/City.
It’s not as complicated as all this sounds.
My friend published her short story through Amazon and that was fairly easy.
I’ve found this website to be invaluable for information. It’s where I got my book template.
https://www.thebookdesigner.com/
Let me know if you need more details or clarifications. Or any help. I did it all on my own (though I took a self-publishing class at a local education center) so have been through the process several times.
Do you have a cover artist?
Ping
Placemarker
Binge watch “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour”! It will come to you!
Hi.
Mat used to post a chapter or two on FR for various reasons.
His novels are very good.
Ping.
5.56mm
Did your friend sell many copies on Amazon?
“Did your friend sell many copies on Amazon?”
I don’t know. She never told me.
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