Publish it

Greetings,

A new article link and ideas about the world. The world of self-publishing. You write for an audience of one. You write with passion, authenticity and humor. You write with a light heart. You are hopeful. You expect the worst.

You play the publishing game. Every fall you buy a copy of Writer's Market, the bible. You research markets. You craft a query letter and synopsis. You send the query letter, synopsis and first five pages to a literary agent. You wait. You write. 

The agent reads your synopsis. They thumb through the five pages. Their first thought is, "Can I make 15% on this?" If the answer is no, you get rejection letter wallpaper to decorate your room. If you take the rejections personally and bang your head against the wall all the letters become wild word birds and fly away.

Or, you consider self-publishing. This is what I did in 2007 while finishing a teaching job in China. I researched options and purchased a publishing package with iuniverse. It was a good choice. A viable option considering my work was experimental, non-linear and filled with nomadic storytellers and their adventures.

You have many self-publishing options now. Look around. See what meets your needs.

A Century Is Nothing...

Few have read it. Fewer have understood it.

read more...

Metta.

Publish or perish?

As the saying goes, if you want something done write you gotta do it yourself.

When it comes to publishing your book you have a choice in the game. Roll the dice!

Follow the instructions in traditional how-to-market books and articles or self publish.

"In 2008, nearly 480,000 books were published or distributed in the United States, up from close to 375,000 in 2007, according to the industry tracker Bowker. The company attributed a significant proportion of that rise to an increase in the number of print-on-demand books."

Option #1. Research literary agents. Send out query letters and a one-page synopsis by snail mail. Make sure you mention it's a "simultaneous submission" so all the literary agents and secret agents and cleaning agents know other prospective purveyors of literary genius are reading your breathtaking query letter. The letter has been honed to a sharp point. 

Then you Wait. You keep writing. You read all the publishing trade mags. You keep writing. You recycle material out into the slush pile. Read and recycle rejection letters, "Thank you very much for considering our agency. We have read your query letter and synopsis with great interest. However..."

You know your epic is not a hum-drum mainstream literary creation. It does not follow a prescribed plot and narrative structure. It is an anthropological journalistic blend of scatological hubris, an amalgamation of styles. It's a jazz poem, photographic riff montage. It's a combination of poetic prose, mud, meadows and strange vivid dream landscapes.

You create it. You self-publish it. You share it.

More....

Metta.