Lesson 12 Class Notes

Publishing options:

The ‘legitimate’ press or royalty publishers will print, market, and advertise your book and you’ll receive a percentage  of the take in royalties. Some will offer  an ‘advance’ against future  royalties. If the book doesn’t do well, you don’t have to pay the advance back, and if the book does well, you’ll get the royalties.  They also do basic editing. But it’s a long hard process to get approved for publishing. And you might not be approved at all.  In addition you’ll require an agent for 99% of most of these publishing houses.

So how do I get an agent? The course never mentioned it once before now.

Self Publishing  aka ‘Do it Yourself Publishing’  at your own expense. With today’s technology, the finished product will look just as good as those published by a firm. Use a self publisher’s guide, however, so you can do it step by step and learn how to market it.

Avoid the ‘middle man’ ? Sounds too good to be true, though where to find the time?

The ‘vanity’ press (aka subsidy, joint venture, co publishing, cooperative publishing) used to be looked down on as a way for sub standard works to be published, and there may still be some folks who will snub their noses at you if you pay a company to publish your story. These publishers will usually print, advertise, and ship, but seldom edit. Usually you’ll receive about 40% of the retail price but this will vary. Sometimes you’ll have to guarantee the publisher that you will purchase a certain number of books yourself.

Might be the way to go.

What’s in a Title:

Everything. A title may ‘make or break’ the sale. Many publishers and literary agents will take one look at the title and decide if the book is  worth their time and trouble to review and/or publish. The best kind of title will use a key phrase or question in the title. If you’re stumped as to a title, write several options and if one jumps out at you. Choose it.

Well, if I do decide to publish one day, I guess a pizza party would be in order to get some suggestions.

Note: Titles can’t be copyrighted.

Editing:

Self editing is essential if you want to be taken as an author seriously. But be careful. You may be too strict with yourself, so don’t over use your red pen. Hire an expert if you don’t feel up to making basic grammatical changes.  But remember, people don’t often use correct grammar in speaking either, so you don’t have to write to please your fifth grade teacher. In addition to grammar, you may want to revise, rephrase, add or completely omit parts of what you’ve already written.

Agent Catfish calls it ‘flow’. She’s kind of picky in that regard. Likes things written as if they’re for a TV show, and the says the readers are an ‘audience’.

Pictures:

Pictures, (photos, drawings, etc.) can add to your story, but remember that a photo  or likeness of an individual belongs to that individual and/or artist.  Get their permission, in writing, to use it.

Cheech! How would I get permission to use Capt. Krueger’s picture, or  that mermaid that mesmerized Lee? Remind me to tell you about that siren some day…perhaps I can put it in my journal, but I’m not sure I’ll be keeping it after I take the final.

If the image is ‘public domain’ or copyright free, you won’t need to get anyone’s signature, but it’s standard practice to credit the person/artist/camera person with a footnote.

Naturally.