For those of you that have published books, ?
 

I'm wrapping up a book I started writing just for kicks and after some outside opinion I'm thinking about trying to get it published.

I know a few of you have had books published. Did you find a literary agent 1st or just solicit directly to publishing house via mail?

The book is a fictional conflict or life/drug use/murder/with a pretty original story line.

.....and yes, I had no idea I shallow jerkoff like me could come up with something clever. :D

Terry,

Some people choose to self publish and market their book thru Amazon, it is actually a decent deal when you come down to it, check it out.

Todd

PS...course you will get no big check right off in the mail, you only get paid when a unit sells

Terry:

The conventional wisdom is that no publisher will look at your stuff unless it is submitted by an agent.

However, that is not always true.

Moreover it is now so difficult to get an agent, that it can be easier to have your stuff read directly by a publisher in the first instance.

Bottom line: try every which way you can. It's a brutal business and a punishing process, but if your product is good and you have infinite patience (or fools luck)—you'll get into print.

I've heard of a few people with success in self publish. Honestly the only reason I have been thinking trying to get it published is to say it actually happened.

My 15 year old daughter self-published a book a couple of years ago. She used lulu.com and opted for the lower level cost option where the book has no ISBN and is not sold on Amazon. She only wanted a couple of copies for her and a relative or two. It came in a nice hardback version. I thought it was kind of cool, but she is embarrassed because she thinks her writing 3 years ago stinks.....such a critic. "The Not-Quite Princess, the Almost Queen, and the Royal Pain" lives on.

Good luck and have fun.

I only know about non-fiction publishing. You can publish it yourself but it will be a crap shoot to get sales. There are many publishers out there that are always looking for good work.

Self-publishing is to getting published what masturbation is to getting laid.

Same end result for 2% of the headache and effort?

Sounds like a winner!

If you think the book is actually good, then try to get an agent first. If you think the book is amateurish and not really a serious effort, only then should you self publish.

I'm currently trying to find agents for both a fiction and a non-fiction book. I've made some progress and learned a lot so far. PM me if you want to discuss tactics. There's a lot to consider.