Help Getting Published

[NJelsen]

I would like to get a book of short stories that I wrote published, but don't know how to go about doing that. The only publishing houses I find online want me to pay them and I don't want to go about it in that way. If anyone knows about how to get published, or knows where a publishing house (preferably in a state fairly close to Louisiana) is located, I would appreciate directions. I would also greatly appreciate any tips on how to get published.....Thank You.

[andy-hughes]

The ones you are finding are known as 'vanity' publishers, for obvious reasons.

The competition to get books published is absolutely massive - even established authors have enough rejection slips to wallpaper their houses with. Stephen King republished his original novels, written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman - with his name on 'writing as ...' and their previously modest sales rocketed, but they were still just as good when no-one knew it was him!

Concentrate your efforts on publishers to deal with short story authors. Send a synopsis, and one sample, with an sae and be prepared for hundreds of 'not what we are loking for ...' responses.

It really is a matter of luck as much as skill - the right reader finding your work on the right day, but be persistant, and let us know how far you get.

Meanwhile, enter any womens' mag. short storiy comps - another way of getting your name out there.

Best of luck!

[VHG]

The first Harry Potter book was rejected by over 10 different publishers before it was accepted.

I bet they are kicking themselves now !!

[saxy_jag]

Andy's right - any publisher that tells you your work's publishable and then asks you to pay anything for the privilege is a vanity publisher. There are companies out there who call themselves self-publishers and who will basically print a book of your work to your specification at your expense, and you usually have to do your own editing, typesetting, promotion and marketing. It's a possible and sometimes justifiable route, but you really do need to do your homework on that one first.

In the UK we have the Writers and Artists Year Book, a directory of agents and publishers and the work they will consider. I'm not sure what the USA equivalent is (although WAYB does have a USA section), but your librarian should be able to help.

It is notoriously difficult for new writers (and all but the very top ones) to get collections of short stories published. I suggest you look around for publications - magazines, websites etc. that publish the sort of thing you write and approach them re. publishing single stories. Many of them have very helpful guidelines on exactly what they're looking for - it's just a matter of contacting them and asking.

Also, look around for a writing group or evening class. These often get together to produce anthologies of their work, usually edited (ie chosen) by an external individual or committee, so you at least know your work has merit even if it doesn't make you a fortune.

[NJelsen]

Is there a cut off point where a short story becomes a book..........how many words are in a book, on average?

[feebal]

Short stories are generally between 1,000 and 20,000 words long. A novella - either a long short story or a short novel - is generally regarded as being 20,000 and 40,000 words. The average novel length is between 60 ,000 and 100,000 words.

Don't ever pay to have your work published. A real publisher won't charge you a cent. Are you sure these are the only publishing houses you can find online? What about Harper Collins, Simon Schuster, Faber&Faber, Hodder, Random House? A good idea is to look at books or short story anthologies similar to the style or genre you write in and target your book at those companies.

Generally, publishers expect a covering letter (explaining who you are, what you have written and why) with your contact details, a few sample chapters (or a sample short story) and a return envelope. The writers' guides other people have posted about are full of ideas about how to make your work stand out from the thousands of others that are submitted every week by hopeful writers...

Why limit yourself to Louisiana? You could get published anywhere in the world.

Also, bear in mind that short story collections are usually by established writers who have either had novels published, or who have built a reputation as short story writers. You should probably look at getting your short stories published individually by magazines and periodicals that do that kind of thing. Again, a good writer's guide from your local library should contain a list of magazines and the type of fiction they publish.

Similarly, genre anthologies (horror or sci-fi, for example) may advertise for contributions. It could also be worth entering a short story into one of the many short story competitions that are run every year.

But don't ever PAY to get published...and remember you are one of thousands of writers, good, bad, brilliant or indifferent, who want to see their work in

[NJelsen]

Thank you all for your help...I was clueless about process...I will look up all of those publishers and see what I should do next......my stories actually range from about 2000 words to 22000 words, so I have a good range of material to work with...and I am currently writing a story that I am hoping will be much longer......thank you for the advice....and I just wanted to know about the one's in louisiana so I could hand deliver my stories to them, but I'm sure mailing them will work just as good...thanks