Hi
I am a wannabe writer. I have taken a very long time to start but now I have written a fiction, a trilogy. I am done with part one. It is suitable for a series or movie. I want to publish it as a book first and then see if anyone will show interest. I have a publisher based in India who read one of the chapters and agreed to publish it asap. He said it is a very unique story very well written. however, his publication company mostly publishes non-English books and also has a limited presence outside of India. I am based in Pennsylvania.
I have a lot of questions, looking for guidance from the CC community who have some experience in writing, publishing, and pitching it to other media companies. Please help!
Thanks!
Thanks for your advice, yes I have already noticed similar things. That’s why I am trying to exercise my due diligence in this process! All I can say is even if I didn`t make it to the top circle or any circle too. It has helped me a lot to survive and find meaning in my life currently, as I had a lot of loss due to corona. It has given me a reason to wake up and be excited to do something! I am hoping something will work out as it is a story that has basically written itself.
Thanks!
Many people self publish with KDP amazon. The process is very easy and inexpensive. I would take that route over an international publisher nobody has every heard of.
Yes, I am also leaning on that as a last resort, but just checking all my options first before doing so! For the Indian publisher, I will translate it into my local language and have him publish it. That publisher is also a writer and has better reach than me when it gets translated into my language. There are some people who still want print books, especially in India, so I will have to have to look into all those possibilities.
Thanks!
Amazon can print books for you - although it is called KDP - they don’t just do ebooks - and they offer options in other countries (including India).
Oh, that’s great then! I have not looked into the details of Amazon yet. But looks like it is going to be Amazon, self-publishing route then. Do you happen to know anyone who has done that?
Thanks
Yes I do have cover art done already. Yes I too have plans to release my book in Audio as well as ebook and print on demand as your friend has done. I will make sure it is a high resolution file!
I was wondering if anyone has experimented adding audio files in ebook version. Like if I say some character cries because some song elicited some emotion in them, can I include that song? I am trying to make my book kind of an experiment. Of course I can do that easily in an Audiobook .
Thanks a lot for everyone’s time! I
I’ll try! My path was a little different…I never seriously checked into KDP. A friend self-published through Archway Publishing (a division of Simon & Shuster) and had a good experience with them so I thought about that route. Before I went too far, though, I hired a former prof who is also an editor to edit my manuscript; she recommended a publisher to me that she thought would be a good fit for my book. I reached out to them directly and was offered a contract.
@swan1, if you haven’t already done so, you may want to set up a book-specific Instagram account and start connecting with what’s known as the bookstagram community. Lots of aspiring writers out there who share great info, and also a good way to start your marketing process for when you are eventually published.
Regarding use of songs…you always need permission. I used the required channel to request permission from a music publisher to reprint a few song lyrics in my book, and never received a reply (I ended up paraphrasing the lyrics indirectly). Not to say you can’t try, but in my case it wasn’t a fruitful attempt.
That’s great! @oneofthosemoms ! I will follow your advice. What I am confused about should I keep trying to get someone to publish it. Like how you said Archway publishing took your book? I have sent my book proposal to only a couple of companies which I found through a Google search. Needless to say, I got no response. I had thought going through amazon was my last resort as I believe since it is easy to publish, the competition there will be crazy!
I will set up my Instagram account once I finalize the name of my series{Trilogy} my daughter who has been helping in this journey thinks the current title I have in mind is kind of serious and does not really reflect the light-hearted romance comedy nature of my book!
Oh, I never thought of the copyright part of it. Really, for example, I can`t say the song from sting"Desert rose "was playing in the background.
OK then putting audio clips is out of the question!
You can always ask for permission, it’s just that you need to follow a specific procedure for obtaining permission from the company that holds publishing rights to the music. You can say in your book that the music was playing in the background, but if you want to quote specific lyrics or use the actual music, you would need permission.
To clarify: I did not publish through Archway, that was a friend of mine. Archway is a self-publisher and you must pay to publish. I was published through a traditional publisher and did not have to pay anything. Either way is fine; some people prefer to self-publish as it gives them more control over the book and typically they make more per copy when it sells.
If you continue reaching out to traditional publishers, focus on firms that publish titles in your genre. You can also consider submitting query letters to agents and seeing if you get any bites there.
Hi
I just wanted your insight about this. My story is very complex with many things happening, involving six main characters. Since I am a first-time writer, that too who learned English as a second language from 5th grade my command of English is not that great! But I have overcome this ambition to write this trilogy and I am almost done with it halfway. I was wondering if I should spend more time refining my writing. Initially, I struggled with so many things including the main storyline and setting time period, etc. Now I have written 400 pages and if I had a good editor it would probably can get down to 300 pages or so.
My daughter who is born here with good command of English cringes when she sees my writing! It does feel bad! but I believe my story is strong and there is room for all kinds of writers. I am doing this because I love to write and I believe I am a good storyteller. So should I consider hiring an editor? I wonder how much it does it usually costs? I do hate if someone totally changed my style as being an immigrant with English as a second language does bring a unique style of writing.
Appreciate your input and your precious time!