Everyone has asked me, when am I going to get around to publishing? The answer isn't easy. One must first find a publisher. I know that I can self-publish, but that doesn't mean anything at all to me. I have already read my books seven or eight times and enjoyed them thoroughly even if the read generated changes. The books aren't changing any more. I suppose that means they are ready for publication.
The process of finding a publisher is not an easy one. They look at voice and say, wow, never heard this voice before, who are you, why should I care, why should anyone care, assuming they think it is fun and exciting and a trip never taken before which I have tried to provide. I have been working on who I am and why should others care from many directions based on suggestions of friends who let some of my answers stay around online, although it seems every time I am ready to send the material out, someone takes it down or other random erratic effect of the universe happens, like attempted murders and adopted children and moving across the country and such.
Who I am is about my credentials, the reliablility of my research, the scope of what I have written. So I have tried different genres i.e. poetry, articles, short stories, flash fiction and looked at different markets. Pay makes a difference. And with science fiction, the issue of research and credentials is essential so I have followed advice and am working on a Masters degree, well, at least two Masters degrees--one for writing and the other at the moment with Political Science and Anthropology classes.
More often then not, attempts at helping me have all been directed toward saying go away, there are published authors writing. Ha Ha. I did know that.
But I was also told that the demand for materials exceeds what publishers receive that they think are publishable quality. Anyone want to tell me who, so I can save some time? The downturn in the economy has affected this to some degree.
Oh, and I am picky. Who I am is also about what I write. My voice. It is mine. It won't change. I can change it--just buy hormones or something so I grow a beard or lose three inches or gain 700 pounds, but then it is not me (read the preceding blog to know more). And it is about my content. So matching a publisher to my voice and my content is not as easy as it could be.
Then, there's the whole industry collapse and regeneration and ... well, in the US they are encouraging everyone to e-publish to save paper and production costs and everything, while in Europe, the latest craze is PocketBooks that has opened dozens of stores to sell cheap paperback books! Hmm. Not E?
And then there is what I want. Which is the best I can get--I am human, but also something that doesn't defeat my intent to continue to write by overpaying and publicizing my sale and then not getting the projected sales. So after wanting to get the best--which is all the same thing when it comes to contract with a given percentage and a breakdown of sales and rights and obligations and an amount of money that seals the deal (this I don't care the amount since what I want is readership),
the next thing I want is an understandable working relationship that:
1) provides a knowledgeable, helpful, polite, honest guide
2) has a professional working web site as a publisher or agent of more than one book, where my book will be found (no sites that have bad certificates, give visitors viruses, or have incoherent links or make derogatory remarks)
3) sells books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other web sites you can reach via their web site
4) provides a mockup of the book that I can use to get endorsements and reviews and for pre-publication proofs
5) will publish the book with an ISBN number
6) will publish in electronic as well as book form
7) is a SFWA publisher
8) is able to support a developing writer (i.e. multiple books at assumed increasing sales)
9) has helpful contacts
In looking at the publishing industry, I wonder why there are so many publication lines and so little connection to the slot on the bookshelf at Amazon or the book store directly and why the person that you interview with has so little connection to being the one that provides the above.
I still believe that my best starting publication would still be my dinosaur tales and I have a plan for that which hopefully will begin next year as part of a Master's degree program but until that comes about I will still work on the sale of my first novel for which I have a few publishers in mind to try, I've only sent it to three so far.



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