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Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
3032
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 01, 2007 - 07:09 am: |   |
anybody looked at this?
lifted from an AP story on new writing contests
For the Amazon contest, authors with ''an unpublished English-language novel manuscript'' can submit their work any time between Monday and Nov. 5. There is no entry fee and all applicants can obtain free proof copies of their books through CreateSpace, a self-publishing service.
I've never heard of Createspace have you?
http://www.perrycomer.com
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Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
3033
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 01, 2007 - 07:12 am: | |
here is link to create space
it contains the costs and what they provide - it's an Amazon project
http://www.createspace.com/Products/BooksOnDemand.jsp;jsessionid=53EC9A6A23B8F328B2A5B0E1B291EC05.cspworker01
http://www.perrycomer.com
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Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2836
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 01, 2007 - 09:54 am: | |
Looks like simply another self-publishing service to me.
The more I think about it, there is no pride in being an author any more.
Anyone with a few dollars can be a "published author", the quality of the work
being incidental. |
Stephen Lodge
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
591
Registered: 06-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 - 04:36 am: | |
'Anyone with a few dollars can be a "published author"'
But not everyone can be a good published author ~
http://www.stephenlodge.com
Novels by Stephen Lodge:
"Charley Sunday's Texas Outfit!"
"Nickel-Plated Dream"
"Shadows of Eagles"
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Gloria Marlow
Unity Member
Post Number:
2026
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 - 05:27 pm: | |
Self-publishing muddies the waters, just like companies such as PA muddy the waters.
Gloria
www.gloriamarlow.com
Flowers for Megan**Shades of Silence**The Butterfly Game
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Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3682
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 - 05:52 pm: | |
It's all a matter of whether you can generate and maintain a fan base. Whether a person can do that by self-publishing is immaterial.
Mindsight Moderator
Aston's Blog |
Gloria Marlow
Unity Member
Post Number:
2027
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 - 09:39 pm: | |
Don't you think it would be more difficult to generate and maintain a fan base being self-published?
It may be a viable option for some, but I don't understand it.
I want the real deal. I'll settle on some aspects of my life, but my writing career, or lack thereof, is not something I want to do that with. I want a publisher to choose my book and publish it, or I don't want it at all.
I know it is a popular belief among authors that publishers, agents, etc. are just mean and don't want to publish anyone or are just overlooking good works, but I tend to believe that good writing will win out and eventually be published through legitimate routes. It may take years, and a million submissions, and I will no doubt grow weary and discouraged at times, but if my writing is really worth the effort, then it is worth the time, the energy and the battle to have it legitimately published. I go in bookstores all the time and there are new names on the shelves, published by big real publishers. These people aren't celebrities, they aren't big names. They are ordinary writers just like us who persevered until they made it.
There are so many options out there for publishing right now besides self-publishing. There are many, many small presses. There are e-book publishers. I just don't understand why someone would chose to self publish until all those avenues are exhausted. If I came to that point, I think I would have to look at my work again and try to find out why it has been rejected by everyone. I know that most rejections are form letters and I am certain all of those that I have received from agents have been form letters, but they all said basically the same thing. "Keep trying. There is a perfect fit out there." I think this is true.
If you've tried the query letter route and gotten nowhere, find publishers/agents that accept the first few pages or chapters in their submission packages.They're still out there and that sample of your work might open the door a lot quicker than a query letter.
I guess to me self-publishing just seems like defeat or surrender. When word was getting out that I had written a book, but before it actually came out, someone asked me if I paid to have it published. I guess this reiterated to me that there is a difference. I was proud that I was able to say "no." Now, of course, I realize it wasn't such a difference in self and PA, but still, it made me know that I would not be proud to say "yes" to that question.
I know some people have been at this whole ordeal a lot longer than I have and they may be at that stage when they feel it's best just to give up and pay to have their books published. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I am just giving my opinion.
Maybe if I never found another publisher, I would consider self-publishing my books and giving them out as Christmas presents, etc. to family and friends who are asking when the next book will be out. (Of course, they wouldn't care if I took it down to Kinko's and had some copies made and bound them up in 3-ring binders and gave them out.)I just don't see that I could get on the bandwagon of selling and promoting them. There is something essentially lacking in that scenario, in my opinion.
Gloria
www.gloriamarlow.com
Flowers for Megan**Shades of Silence**The Butterfly Game
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Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3128
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 - 11:39 pm: | |
Gloria,
I was taken along that same route this last weekend, cause while I was at my 45th class reunion, there were a lot of people who were asking for my re-write of Notes. They were disappointed when I told them that it hasn't gotten to a publisher yet, because I haven't gotten it totally re-writtten yet, and they all wanted me to promise to make sure that I am not going to let it just die in my heart or mind and never see the final version in print. It was a good lesson that PA gave to us in many ways, but it was also a form of abuse because we all want our books to be legitimate and coming from an honest-to-goodness publisher for real. Not just as a pay-by-me to get it out to friends who think highly of me and my writing style or thoughts.
I guess, after some not to gentle prodding, I am going to have to sit down and finally get that re-write finished and not feel like I am doing something that is not worth the effort, because there really are, if even only a few, people who really want to read what I have to say. And that means that I will have to go the long torturous route to get a legitimate publisher for my newest version of Notes, and the other works that I have in my mind, because several asked me what else I had thought about writing and were very interested in some of the things I told them that I was thinking about for storylines. And none of the people I talked to would have been at all interested in any of it, if they didn't think my words on paper merited a legitimate publisher. I would have to be at the very bottom of my bucket to go with a POD that I had to pay to get it done. Not saying that it isn't right for some, but to me, that means losing and I am not that good at losing in that game (or any other game, for that matter)...... so the torture has to begin again for me, only this time, I will try much harder and I have a lot more experience behind me to know when things don't add up. At least I learned well. I can't tell my classmates, friends and people who for whatever reason, think I am one of the best that our group produced and look up to me as being sort of intelligent, that there will not be any other newer version of Notes available, even if it means going to a really small house and getting it done that way, it would still be legitimate. Because it makes a difference in my viability to me...
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
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Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
3037
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 05:48 am: | |
My wife loves those cooking shows, flip it shows and those how to dress shows. They all have one thing in common - presentation.
My writing misses being published for two reasons (1) presentation - the query process. It is a real struggle to produce the query and package that gets attention. (2) quality - writing style does matter! The use of language has to be acceptable to those who make the decisions.
One editor commented in a rejection letter than my writing style reminds her of works of the fifties and forties. I'm still trying to digest that analysis.
Editing and re-writing are the least enjoyable activities of any writer. But, these are the ones that teach a writer the most. Or, at least this is what all the books say. Personally, I'm tired of re-writing, re-working and editing the same stories. A few weeks ago I started a new project in a new genre and writing was fun AGAIN! I have missed that FUN aspect for a long time. Not only was I having fun but as I was creating I was reading and discovered so many of those lessons learned the hard way were being employed.
Self-publishing was a dead-end street for me as was POD and e-pub. Holding a book in your hand is one thing but to recognized by the publishing/writing industry is another. It's the difference between being a New York Yankee and a Monroe Mudhen. One is at the top of the professional category and the other is in the "not good enough for the pros" category.
The fact is that anybody with any a manuscript can be published. Professional writers are paid for their work.
http://www.perrycomer.com
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Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
3038
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 07:06 am: | |
it's one of those weeks
three days and five rejections --- think I'll go hit a golf ball
http://www.perrycomer.com
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Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2839
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 10:45 am: | |
Oh, I misread that. I thought you said "goof ball".
I was going to remind you it isn't nice to pick on Democrats |
Kevin R. Paglia
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
322
Registered: 07-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 10:52 am: | |
Editing and re-writing are the least enjoyable activities of any writer.
See, I'm a mutant. I actually enjoy the re-writes more than the original writting. The first time through I am typing so fast I rarely take the time to read what I've written. I'll go four or more hours without looking up from the keyboard (yes I have to look at the key board or else my writing looks like this "I amd realllu tryionf to hIe the right keys" I'd spend more time fixing it than writing.) But on the rewrite everything is slower and I take the time to digest the story.
Kevin |
Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3683
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 03:16 pm: | |
Don't you think it would be more difficult to generate and maintain a fan base being self-published?
It depends on the situation. Certainly, it depends on the author.
If I had the finances, time and energy to do so, I wouldn't hesitate to self-publish. Alas, I don't, so I go through the efforts to try and locate a publisher. There may come a day when I have all of the above. One never knows.
But then, I'm vicious when it comes to editing manuscripts (as Nancy will attest - even more so now that I've been through the PA experience). I also have no qualms when it comes to promoting. I also have this knack for picking up new knowledge quickly, and I'm a sucker for not giving up even when I should.
So, myself, I don't think it would be more difficult to generate and maintain a fan base through self-publishing. It may take more effort (but then, it may not, depending on the publisher one ends up with). That being said, it requires finances, time and energy that I just don't have at the moment...
Mindsight Moderator
Aston's Blog |
a1207006751094 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 86.96.226.13
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 06:02 pm: | |
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