<p>does anyone here know how to go about getting something published or discovering if it's even worthy of being published? i have a collection of essays/short stories/poetry that i'd like to get published, but the obstacles i see are:
1. i don't know if it's worthy of being published
2. i don't know who can determine if it is worthy of being published
3. if it is worthy of being published, i don't know how to go about finding a publisher/getting it published</p>
<p>any comments/information/advice will be much appreciated!</p>
<p>grab a book from your shelf and see what it says on the publisher part. type that into google and go to the publishing company's website. go to 'contact us' or somthing like that and call them. let them know what you are worried about, and most likely they will ask you to bring them your stuff. the editor will then decide if it's "worthy" of being published.</p>
<p>If you really want to get something published you need to get a literary agent. Publishers rarely accept manuscripts directly from writers. Therefore, the best course of action is to look up literary agents on-line (make sure they work on the type of writing you have, some don't like poetry or short stories) and send it to a lot of them. But don't expect to get your work accepted immediately or at all, most literary agents reject 99.9 percent of the work submitted to them, especially from unknown and unpublished authors. Even great pieces of writing sometimes often get rejected for various reasons. I know this probably sounds discouraging but that is the reality.</p>
<p>I think they usually just take a cut of your profits, so you don't need the money now. </p>
<p>My advice is to buy (or borrow from the library) a Writer's Market book. They come in poetry, novel and short story, children's and other varieties. Inside are hundreds of listings of publishers and literary agents divided by whom they accept (new writers, only writers with agents, etc) and in which genres they specialize (poetry, western, romance, etc).</p>
<p>And if you submit to a literary agent you only send a sample of the work, not the whole thing. If he or she is interested you will be asked for the rest.</p>
<p>I know this is a really old thread but someone might have the same questions. </p>
<p>My advice is to start reading magazines that feature writing, like Writer’s Digest and Poets & Writers. Both have websites. </p>
<p>Seeking an agent: Join a writer’s group like Romance Writers of America (no, you don’t have to writing romance). They not only have a great conference every year where you can actually meet agents/editors, but they are a tremendous resource for helping to sort to crooks from the good guys. Remember a bad agent is worse than no agent at all.</p>