WritersClub!

hey dragoncat *waves*

"and I'd be embarassed to look for a publisher for it"
Now when there is one thing I learned: If you're eager to find a publisher you can't be embarrassed (and sadly you also sometimes can't be very picky^^ *laugh*)
Finding a publisher is really hard, and if you're not confident with your work it gets even harder...

*waves back to everyone* yay, thanks for the warm welcome everybody!

My work gets better through the years, but I always doubt my abilities. I don't see that changing. But then I think I'm just one of those writers.

@dharma: guess we all have our little doubts every now and then.^^

i only joined this group because of this...

Finding a publisher is really hard, and if you're not confident with your work it gets even harder...

thank you Nachtwind, are you trying to scare the holy s*** out of me *goes to hide*

Hi everyone, especially all the new people, I love being in the company of writers.

Although I know that publishing is hard, I have friends who work in the field, it gets easier when you get noticed or you can get an agent. Most of my friends who are well known now got agents earlier in their careers.

On the Gila Queen (gilaqueen.com) links page are several sites where a writer can either leave synopses of work or else whole chapters or short stories for both agents and publishers to see. Most of the better ones ask for cash (so they don't get every kid and his mother, posting their work online). If someone is serious, then they expect you to put up some cash. Frankly, with some it isn't more than some online games.

Getting an agent gets you read. Unsolicited manuscripts usually end up in the "slush" pile. I once had an editor act as my agent. She could not buy my story for her publication (it didn't fit the genre as well as she would like) but she took it to lunch with her and gave it to other editors to see if they would. Imagine my surprise when I get a letter from someone else. While she said my style did not fit, she asked me to always send her my new stories because she liked reading them.

Hello everyone~~
A fellow writer here, better said fellow critic >.<
I have not written anything for the last year and half, but i really enjoy reading and giving my comments to others.

Actually this is also the reason I joined the group. I'm not really interested in posting on forum as i prefer to stay silent watcher.
I'd like to get better at giving critics so before i get in some silly details I'm asking if here is anybody that would like me to give a comment on his/hers story?
It would save me the trouble of going through whole fiction section on the forum >.<

竜ness.

Um, no. If they ask for money, they're probably fraudulent--there's this thing called Yog's Law that says, "Money flows toward the writer." I've seen that reiterated over and over again by professionals in the field (writers, editors, and agents).

Fee-charging so-called agents are usually looking for an opportunity to refer you to a book doctor, who will take more of your money while not increasing your chances of being published, and give the scamming agent a kickback. Real agents make their money off commissions and don't charge reading fees. And neither they nor editors working for respectable publishers have time to go fishing for new authors by poking around on-line--they're too busy dealing with the manuscripts submitted to them directly. Here are an agent's remarks on the topic of these sites (note the last paragraph), and here's what an editor working for a major publisher says about getting an agent (follow up the links, too--it's all good stuff), just so you know that I'm not just pulling this out of my arse. In short, if someone is serious, putting up cash is exactly what they don't expect you to do (unless you're trying to publish poetry, "literary fiction", or academic papers--those are special cases).

Admittedly, it's true that getting an agent will get you a better chance of getting published, since they can both bypass the slush pile in markets that still have one and submit to markets that take only agented submissions, but it's very difficult to get one before a major publisher has already offered to take you on. (In other words, shigrl, you were really lucky--that editor must have really liked your work.)

There are no real shortcuts to getting published, alas, just a lot of scams aimed at the unwary.

(And that probably came out a lot more confrontational than I intended . . . Sorry.)

hmm, thanks for the links. im really serious about getting published, but i havent really looked into how the field actually works. i had a basic idea and most of my hunches regarding it were confirmed by the two articles. im currently working on a manuscript and well...

(If you’ve never sold anything, and one of the top agents in the genre not only takes you on as a client, but gives you his Saturday-night dinner timeslot at the next Worldcon, please believe that he’s taking your prospects very seriously indeed. You know who you are.)

...this is what i will continue to hope for, lol. i still need to read up on all this stuff, but at the moment im really trying to concentrate on finishing something to submit. the idea of submitting something through an agent never actually crossed my mind, i always just assumed to submit it directly. i just hope that works out for me.

Mhm... I actually never tried to find pubishers via internet, Nor do I intend to ever try that out... - nor did I ever post something online, that I seriously want to get published.
I think it's always best, to choose the direct way. internet is more like...mh...can't tell, I guess I just don't like the thought of my "real" stuff being put on some online pages...


@melody: ohhh sweetie I didn't mean to scare you! not at all! - And besides, you know that your fricken good!