Posted on 07/23/2007 5:05:12 PM PDT by SamAdams76
marker
I like action novels. Usually the author’s bio says something like, “Joe Blow and his family live in New York, Cape Cod, and Bermuda.”
Three pingie-dingies.
Wow that was the whiniest article ever.
It is, however, why if I ever got so lucky as to write a book, I would never want an advance, what would happen if I couldn’t finish the book? Argh.
I’ve written two plays that have been produced locally (Hampton Roads area of Virginia). They both played to very appreciative audiences, but were savaged by the local newspaper critic. My wife actually took the bad reviews worse than I did, since I knew that the critic was a hopeless jerk who couldn’t identify with happy endings, or the concept of a heterosexual romance.
But I digress...
It was scary putting myself out there on stage, with directors and actors interpreting my words, and audiences deciding whether or not they wanted to allow me to entertain them. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, though.
I have a novel (spiritual thriller) that I’ve started many times. My wife wants me to finish it, but I keep telling her that when I started it, I was in a different place. Now I’m married and happy, and I don’t really want to go back to where I was when I started it. Maybe someday I can compartmentalize enough to do it... but not yet.
They appear to be to be a massive waste of paper, and their narcisstic authors could just keep their thoughts to themselves. But no, they think they HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY that the world is breathlessly waiting to read and in most cases, that is not the case.
Recommend that they self-publish and distribute the dosens of copies to their friends and relatives and quit stuffing libraries with their output.
Just the humble opinion of the OldPossum.
Flame and belittle the non-literary OP if you wish; possums have tough skins. They also are known to snarl back.
Congrats and kudos!!! Woohoo!!! I long ago decided that if critics raved over something—it sucked. If they didn’t like it, it was probably great. Critics are from a different planet!
With me, it’s not so much finishing a novel as shutting up the voices. It’s the only way they’ll leave me alone!! My husband has learned not to ask me what I’m thinking—he says my brain is a scary place—he’s right!! I can’t think one thought at a time—I have a whole three ring circus with a zoo and an amusement park and who knows what else going on at the same time. The scariest part is that I can keep track of all of it. Drives my hubbie and kids nuts!
It’s not always about getting published—sometimes it’s just “me” time.
I write a local gardening column—I can’t tell you how many people come into the garden center where I work and tell me—I never understood that before—or so, that’s why that happens! The best compliment I’ve ever gotten was from a good customer—he told me, and I’m paraphrasing—I don’t like to read, but your column—it’s fun! I have so much fun writing about gardening stuff and I know so much useless trivia... Everything I read/see/hear sticks to my brain. I can come up with the most obscure facts no one had ever heard of—I call it brain lint! My kids call me encyclopedia, but I love it!
That’s what writing, and reading, is really about. Having fun, visiting a different world for a bit.
There’s a surfeit because there aren’t very many good editors, let alone many who actually read the drivel they print! On the other hand, there are innumerable truly spectacular books that never catch the limelight. It’s more a matter of right place, right time.
Despite this, our book got great reviews and tons of publicity. We were featured in Playboy, the Star and In Style and interviewed on a number of radio and TV shows, including Inside Edition. And the book still didn't sell, I think because the publisher misprinted it, miscategorized it, overpriced it, failed to publicize it and didn't even get it into stores. This was the Internet infancy days, so Amazon was no help.
I was getting letters from people who said they'd had to go to five different bookstores, even in major cities like Chicago, trying to find a copy. Naturally, the publisher put it out of print after about a month, claiming the low sales proved nobody wanted it(apparently, they expected people to fly to New Jersey and pound on the warehouse door for a copy). One magazine even named it "The Best Hard-To-Find Book of the Year," not exactly the honor I was hoping for.
We now have the rights back to it and would like to bring out an updated version, but can't find a publisher. They assume it must be a bad book because it didn't sell well the first time, even though I'm still getting fan mail from as far away as Australia, begging us for an updated edition. So we're working on creating a website to promote it and selling a better quality self-published version. That's what I did with my last book, and the best part of having to do all the work myself was that I didn't have to deal with any publishing industry morons.
The big publishers are like dinosaurs with three feet in a tar pit, and they don't even realize it. It's not surprising to me that none of them saw the potential in "Harry Potter." If they weren't mostly owned by big multinational corporations that use them as PR arms for their movie & TV branches (another Paris Hilton book, anyone?), most of them would've been gone long ago. /rant.
I'd say don't waste your time, but you know about the old saw about wise men & advice. I went through the same ups/downs, self-doubt & delusions of grandeur. The most money I made was retaining the copyright on alternative media, which paid off years later. The trick to being published is no different than all businesses: address what's currently hot.
Try marrying the right person.
I remember many years ago reading about a high school English teacher who met a woman in a bar in NYC. At the time he was living in a rent controlled apartment that was so small it was impossible to vaccuum if anyone was visiting.
The woman he met was an editor at Harper Collins or one of those publishers. They married. She encouraged the man to submit his novels to a publisher. Hers.
The result: Angela’s Ashes.
Taxes, weight gain, depression, loneliness—book advances are like lottery payoffs”
Stupid is as stupid does.
I have one children’s book written, another in outline form and sort of semi-vague plans for a whole series. The one that is written is now being illustrated. They are for little children, ages 4-7.
I also have the idea for one young adult novel in outline form and the idea for another swirling in my head.
I am afraid to share them too. I fear rejection for something that I have planned and worked at for so long.
Well, I hope you didn’t title it “The Throws (sic) of Divorce”.
lol sad but true.
Sam, you write good. Now you need to research good about getting published. I believe there are published book writers here, let’s hope one of them shows up. If not, get a leg up. From what I remember, you need to get an agent first. It’s not easy either, they get thousands of submissions, just like publishers. (Look up the sad story of John Kennedy Toole.) But some agents, I’ve heard, actually solicit submissions. I always read stories and interviews of writers in the newspaper, and what strikes me is that many of them get a leg through the door by taking writing classes or workshops and getting connections to agents through the instructors who like their work.
One of these days (he said without conviction), I’ll make some headway with the Alexandria Quartet.
I don’t know if I could drink enough bourbon to be the southern author I’d like to be...
Do what I did and self-publish it as a POD (print-on-demand) book at Lulu.com. It's absolutely free (you must handle pre-press and publicity yourself) and Lulu will print it as it's ordered, ship it and handle payment through major credit cards and Paypal. You set the price and Lulu takes a 20 percent commission; any books you order are shipped to you at cost. I recently published a special-interest book, "The Unabomber and the Zodiac," and have been one hundred percent satisfied with the results. With POD a self-publishing author need no longer pay for huge press runs; in fact, you don't need anything up front unless you wish to purchase a distribution service for about $100 that will make your book available through online retailers like Amazon.
Go for it!! Like I told SA—sometimes it’s not about getting published, at least for me, although that would be nice!
It’s more the fact that I have this whole world and all these people and characters bouncing around in my head, demanding attention. Writing them down gives them substance. (And shuts them up!) LOL
I said children’s book, but I’m thnking more along the ages of twelve or so. I have a lot of trouble making any age distinctions with books. So much of the stuff I read as a child that was written for children was soooo boring. I tended to enjoy stuff that was a little harder to read—more challenging. I still enjoy good children’s books. The ones that catch my interest the most are the ones that are written as if for adults—no talking down and assuming kids are too stupid to figure out that if the character’s in high school in one paragraph, she shouldn’t be in college in the next. Or out of character stuff—that drives me nuts.
When my daughter was in middle school she did Battle of the Books—a reading competition. I don’t know who gets to choose the books on the list, but they do a bang-up job. I read everything she brought home for BBTB. There were some great reads—The Face on the Milk Carton comes to mind, Holes, Hatchet, the list goes on and on.
The best advice I can give you is have faith and have fun! Do somethng you enjoy and the rest will come.
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