Anyone a published author?

[TheOtherVillainess]

How did you go about submitting your story/article for publication?

I've written two children's stories and am in t he process of tweaking them (and getting some copyright permission because the stories involve somethng that's sorta copyrighted) in order to get them ready to send in for publication.

TOV

 

[monkeyboy]

Do Letters to Penthouse count?

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

No. I mean SERIOUS publication,monkeyboy. *bops over the head with a banana*

TOV

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

I've had my story in a book once but it was a book with a bunch of stories in them. A Chicken Soup type thing but it was about 9/11. I didn't approach her though, she saw something I posted on a website and contacted me about submitting my story for her book. Wish I could help. Maybe you could just go to a random book publishing website and see if they give you an answer. Or go to AskJeeves. I'm sure they'll have information on that topic.

 

[Minnie824]

I wish I had some advice, but I was wondering how you go about getting copyright permission? I've started writing a book...quite a long way to go, but I think that may come up for me as well. Thanks!

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Well, I've done some poking around the various publisher's that I could think of (Random House,McNally,etc) and they all say they don't accept submissions except through an agent, which at the moment I obviously don't have. However...Publish America doesn't require you to have an agent in order to submit your work. Sooo...I'll probably end up submitting through them. We'll see what happens and I'll let ya'll know whether I end up being published or not.


*ETA for Minnie824--as far as copyright permission, I went to the website of the thing I knew was copyrighted and simply sent them an email. The person who wrote me back said he wanted to see what I was writing and we could work out copyright details,etc as things progressed. He seemed like he was all ready to give me the permission, he just wanted to see my work first. To make sure I wasn't using the copyrighted er..thing..in any 'adult' or porno type way.***


TOV

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Good luck! Lots of pixie dust for you

 

[wvrevy]

I haven't had anything published, but I've got quite a bit that I think might be worthy, with a little polishing...Let us know how it goes, and maybe you could give us some tips of your own Good luck either way....

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Thanks..I can't wait to hear back from Publish America. I'm writing children's stories and I hope they have a good illustrator waiting because while I can write, my drawings suck big time.

TOV

 

[RickinNYC]

My partner is in the publishing industry. He works for Holtzbrinck, specifically St. Martin's and Tor. Send me a PM and I'm sure he'd be happy to help.

Edited to say that he's a contracts manager in their legal department. Plus, he's had short stories and essays published before.

 

[Talking Hands]

Published but only through some medical jpurnals. Did medical research before I had children. Did it throught he job.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Rick--check your PM box!


TOV

 

[swilphil]

Go to the public library and find some books about how to publish children's stories. They will give you the nuts and bolts. The Writers Guide to Children's Books will list all the publishers.

 

[RickinNYC]

Rick--check your PM box!


TOV

Got it! And I think Joe sent you a note as well. His DIS name is Billysotherdad

 

[Fantasmic303]

TOV,

I'd suggest you check out writers.net. I'm an aspiring writer as well, and, while not ALWAYS useful for what I'm looking for, the community over there has been pretty helpful in matters I had never even considered before. I also purchased Herman's Writer's Guide, which has been helpful.


I finished my first novel a few months ago and toiled over my query letter for a long time. When I finally sent it a few weeks ago, I got responses pretty quickly from several agencies requesting samples, so I'm holding off on sending directly to publishing houses. My top two agency choices are both currently reading my manuscript - hopefully they like what they see!!

As someone else said, the bigger publishers generally prefer you to be agented, but it's not impossible to get your stuff read if you're not...it's just harder. I've also heard that agents, though they take some commission off you, are better equipped to negotiate better deals when/if you have the good fortune of interest in your work.



Good Luck!!

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Well, see that's the thing. I can't afford to pay somebody to go out and peddle my work right now,which is why I chose Publish America. I may try to get some stuff published in children's magazines,also,but again..I have NO idea where to start. The only kids' magazine I can think of is Highlights and I'm not sure they would accept what I sent it. It's not their kind of thing.

So this is going to be more difficult than I thought. I thought maybe I could be my own agent and get stuff sent into the publishing houses, but would they believe I was my own agent? Or is that generally frowned upon, I wonder?

TOV

 

[GEM]

I really suggest you get a copy of the newest Writer's Market. You can buy one, or your library might have one. It will have detailed information on all kinds of publishers - including what genres they publish, what their submission guidelines are, etc. It's really the very best place to start when you are trying to figure out who to send your work to and how to go about it.

My mom is an author. Her publisher is Walker and Company in New York.

http://www.walkeryoungreaders.com/

www.annamyers.info

 

[VampHeartless]

Writer's Market--EVERY writer needs one. They also make one especially for children's writers.

 

[PLUTO2]

Has anyone ever heard of Tates Publishing?