Hi all fellow authors I have this "inconvenient" situation: I've finished my book 3 month ago, and gave it to professional editing and publishing company. All of them thought it's a fantastic story! (I know I love it, it's my first one) and now I need to wait another 6 month. (to finish the editing and the translation... yea, English is not my native language). I really want to share my excitement, and feeling, but I can't: 1. I don't want to reveal myself. It's too complicated to explain. So the book won't have my name on it. 2. I can't say what it's about since I have this paranoia that someone else will take the idea before I have the book published. I wan't to scream I wrote a book, and share with others ideas and thoughts about it and I can't I mean I have this burning passion for this book, and I feel that I'm left alone to dry for 6 month...It's exhausting to be like this for that long. I Tried concentrating in my every day job, didn't work. I Tried writing a blog (Tsukiko Spark's Blog, didn't give a lot of thought to the name...lol) It helped a bit...but still frustrating feeling fills me every way I go...Hard to work like that, at my regular job (for now...Buhahaha...just kidding...not funny, right?) Does any one share this feeling? any Ideas how to feed this hunger? Thanks for your attention, Tsukiko Spark.
Hi Tsukiko, ummm... considering I haven't submitted anything to be picked up by a publisher, I would say no, I don't know the feeling. But If I had to suggest anything, it would be to write something else. Writers write; surely you have some more ideas up there to crank out. If not, maybe you should find some people to talk to about it. Btw, this thread would probably be better suited in the Publishing forum.
I guess you are right. I mean the thing that helped me the most was the blog. I really do loooove to write (found that out lately, funny isn't it?). How do I move the thread to Publishing forum? are you sure it will suit Publishing forum? since it's not about the publishing itself, it's about the time that goes slower then a turtle with a bunny on his back (that was funny, right?) Tsukiko Spark
If you have any other stories in mind, or maybe a sequel to the one you've written, it might help to start the architecture for one those. I try to have a couple ideas saved up to explore. Then again, I'm often too busy to write much thanks to school work. (I'm in college. ) And of funny? What's so funny about a writer joining a writing forum and claiming she loves to write? Mayhaps the redundancy. (pardon my awful sense of humor) Also, you can't move it, but I'm sure one of the mods will gladly move it to where it best fits. I'd say publishing because the waiting is a part of your specific publishing experience, and others who've been published or are waiting may be able to identify. If not, then the only other place I could think of would be the Lounge, since this doesn't exactly pertain to writing. And sure that's funny. Although you missed the perfect opportunity to pit the turtle in a race with a snail.
I should have put the turtle in a race with a snail, and let the bunny win The Lounge sound so dreadful, I hope this thread won't get there... About a writer that loves writing, it is pretty obvious. I guess I didn't consider myself as a writer...
Come on, you've written a book, you love writing, but you're not a writer? Pa-lease! Then again, there are many authors who are no longer writers, but you don't seem to have any interest in dropping writing soon. The lounge isn't bad at all actually. It's really where we all hang out to talk about things that are less related to writing. Some things are completely unrelated. You should drop in for a visit. It usually gets a lot of traffic, and I'm sure you'll find some interesting discussions to get involved in. Just participate and have fun.
I've been to the lounge...too much information about, well... I really don't know... Do you have more good ideas?
Well there is lot's of chatter about these forums. Since you've managed to get a publisher to pick up your book you might want to check out the workshop, where you can provide critiques to other writers's work. If that's not your cup of tea, then there are almost always a few writing prompts and or contests running. The best idea I can contribute is to explore, find your zone and get involved. The forum is full of great people and topics. If you can't find what you're looking for here, then... umm... you could find a mountain and set a goal to clime it. Okay, that's not the best suggestion, but when I need to get some things off my mind, I take time away from the internet to enjoy some outdoor activity. Sorry if that's less than helpful.
• I've finished my book 3 month ago, and gave it to professional editing and publishing company. You might want to mention the name to get an opinion on their reliability. Publishers publish. They supply editing as part of the normal preparation for publication and they don’t charge. They also insist that the work be written at what they think of as a professional level. While your publisher may be honest and above board, there are damn few companies who will charge for editing and then automatically go on to publish. None, in fact, that I know of. In general, if you do not see this company’s name in your local bookstore they are suspect. Not good news, I know, but there are a lot of scam companies out there, so it pays to check. • 2. I can't say what it's about since I have this paranoia that someone else will take the idea before I have the book published. Forgive me, I mean no insult, but this statement raises a huge red flag. Publishers and agents get literally thousands of submissions each week, week after week, year after year. The probability of your coming up with a unique and compelling plot that they don’t see over and over is vanishingly small. And in any case plot is a far second to writing skill because if the reader isn’t motivated to turn to page two, and every page thereafter by compelling writing, they won’t. And no editor you hire has the ability to take your rough writing and change it to professional level prose. Why? Because of they could do that they would be writing and selling their own work and making a lot more money. You’ve probably spent a fair amount of money on this, and invested a lot, emotionally, so I know this isn’t welcome news. But I’m concerned that in addition to what you’ve already spent you’re going to be besieged with offers of promotional packages at “reasonable cost” that are going to prey on your desire to please your reader. Add to that, that if you end up with online distribution only, unless you’re that one on a million, the money you make from sales won’t pay a fraction of the editing costs. I could be wrong, obviously, but as a test: Have you taken steps to acquire the necessary writing and editing skills, over and above the skills we get on our primary schooling and perhaps a creative writing course as an undergrad? Have you dug into what publishers look for in a submission? If your training for being a professional writer is to attend school along with every other kid in your neighborhood, plus your love of reading, you might want to do a bit of digging into the specialized knowledge that publishers expect the people submitting to them to possess. In any case, I strongly suggest you post about twelve hundred words of the opening, which amounts to four standard manuscript pages, in the workshop for comment. That isn’t enough to give away your plot, should that still worry you, but it will tell you if a reader, on looking at your opening, will be moved to want to read more—and feel it’s written on a professional level. And that will give you a bit of a check on your editing house.
Try waiting on the results of an HIV test. Then you'll realize just how trivial the way you are feeling right now really is.
Hello again all you fine people. Dear JayG, I did pay for the editing and the translation, I don't have the skill of good editing. And I had a story I needed to write (Ho so badly!). I looked for professional editing and translating in my region, and found them (for now I would like not to mention their name). I looked them up in the web, they seemed nice and professionals. I Went to their offices saw all the books they've published and I've decided to continue the work with them. I do work cooperatively with the editor they much me up with on a weekly basis. I must say that I never learned creative writing and I'm sure it would have been much easier if I did. And yes, one of the comments on the book is that it lucks some professional editing and language skills. I'm a mother to young children, I have a regular job that I go to every day. It was that time in life when I said to myself that those are the skills I have and not a lot of free time to do it, so if I can't do the editing (including literature editing), I'll pay some one to do it. There's nothing wrong with that. Eventually, the book will be exclusively 100% mine, and I can do with it what ever I want because I payed for it. I can, however, use their publishing expertise... I'll think about it when the book will be finished. Tsukiko Spark
I really wish you the best of luck with it, but you need to know that there are businesses out there that survive by aspiring writers paying them to vanity-publish their work. They'll always say 'it needs professional editing' and that 'the story is excellent' and obviously they can 'fix it for you' and print copies and the rest, for a cost, and that's how they make money - from people who want to be writers but aren't prepared to actually master all the skills necessary to become a professional writer. The truth is, they take your money, do a bit of a spell check and general overhaul (even Google translate it if you are unlucky) and dump a few copies on you. That's not how you sell any book. Your clue should have been that 'everybody' thought your very first attempt at writing a novel was 'genius'. That's a dead giveaway of appealing to your ego. It's called 'vanity publishing' for a reason. And no such book ever sells, let alone become a bestseller, because there's absolutely no correlation between vanity publishing and quality (or there's a negative correlation).. Having a traditional publisher pick up your manuscript is a testament to its quality, and the only time self-publishing turns out to be a bestseller is when you publish it by yourself (for free, on amazon, smashwords, blog etc) and it gaines big following through the 'word of mouth' (like '50 Shades of Grey). If you want to be a writer, you need to learn how to edit your own work. Only then will your stories have a chance of being properly published, and you to be paid for it. There are no shortcuts, especially not through vanity publishing who will tell you anything just to get your business, instead of helping you to improve your writing. I am sorry to sound so negative, and if a friend told me great news like this I'd probably not say anything if I thought it'll burst her bubble, but this being a writer's forum, I'm assuming you wanted to ask for our opinions, and in the long run, it might help you to know all this.
why not? is the publisher a vanity press that you're paying to turn your ms into a book, or a traditional [paying] publishing house? as for the time it takes, 9 months is shorter than most paying publishers take to put out a book... from the moment you sign a contract with one, it normally takes twice that long, or even up to 2 years, for the book to be released to bookstores...
I'm sorry all of you, but I give up. I guess you mean well, but I'm not going to justify my actions anymore. I know my truth. Thanks again, Tsukiko Spark.
