The Journal, Saturday, March 24

Hey Folks,

Well, I decided to post this today mostly to share the “Of Interest” section. Well, and to publish the following topic. This one will be on the big blog in May as well.

Topic: On Publishing, Indie-Publishing and Making a Name as a Published Author

I received another query today from a writer who’s interested in a copyedit. He also asked whether I would help him find an agent and a traditional publisher.

Uhh, no.

After I explained why I thought the agent chase and traditional publishing in general was not a good idea, he wrote in reponse

“About publication: I agree with you. However, I want not money but name as a published author which you know somebody does not get by self-publishing.”

Wow. Nope, I didn’t know that. (grin)

We have some new members to my (almost daily) Journal. For them, and for any who don’t know yet and are maybe still in the agent chase, here’s how I responded:

Before you commit to an agent and/or a traditional publisher, I recommend you read two books. If you do, at least you’ll be more knowledgeable before you talk to them:

Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0615959512/ and
Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1561466123/.

The author of those two books (Dean Wesley Smith) has published well over 100 novels with traditional publishers. Today he publishes only independently (so he self-publishes).

He still wanted me to help him find an agent. I don’t do that, and I won’t. I never want to be responsible for someone else’s decision. Especially when it’s a bad decision. So I recommended he find that big Writers Digest book that WD publishes every other year or so that lists all the agents and traditional publishers. That’s as far as I can go, and I was shaking my head even as I wrote that.

Folks, you make a name as a published author by BEING a published author. How your work is published makes not one whit of difference.

And you maintain and build your name as a published author by writing and publishing more work.

I’m a published author. I’m currently nearing completion of my 30th novel. I also have 4 novellas, over 180 short stories, around 25 short story collections and a lot of other stuff.

I’ve done most of the short stories, all of the novels and novellas, and many of the nonfiction books since April 2014. Slightly less than four years ago. I started my first novel in mid-October of 2014. I don’t write “fast.” I just write. I put the hours in the chair.

Of course, only you can choose the road you will travel. I could give you dozens of reasons not to go with traditional publishing, but depending on your stage of development as a writer, it probably wouldn’t register with you. That’s why I recommend Dean’s Killing the Sacred Cows books.

Anyway, no, I don’t help anyone find an agent or a traditional publisher. It just doesn’t make sense, for many reasons, in the new world of publishing.

But if that’s what you want, I believe Writers’ Digest still publishes a big book full of agents and publishers every year or two. I forget the name of it. I stopped looking around the year 2000. If you search for it online or in your library, you should be able to find it.

And good luck.

See you again soon.

Of Interest

See “How To Track Animals (or Humans)” at https://www.suecoletta.com/how-to-track-animals-or-humans/. I added this one to my Writers Resources page.

See “Book Clubs – The Human Touch in Marketing” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/03/book-clubs-the-human-touch-in-marketing.html. Some good points, and better than I thought it would be. Also this one includes some good references.

Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 580 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 580

Writing of Stern Talbot, PI—The Early Years: The Case of the Sliced-Up Secretary

Day 1…… 3207 words. Total words to date…… 3207
Day 2…… 3079 words. Total words to date…… 6286
Day 3…… 3870 words. Total words to date…… 10156
Day 4…… 2481 words. Total words to date…… 12637
Day 5…… 3164 words. Total words to date…… 15801
Day 6…… 3140 words. Total words to date…… 18941
Day 7…… 1145 words. Total words to date…… 20086
Day 8…… 1656 words. Total words to date…… 21742
Day 9…… 2544 words. Total words to date…… 24286
Day 10… 1648 words. Total words to date…… 25934
Day 11… 2781 words. Total words to date…… 28715
Day 12… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX

Writing of Novel 1, New Thriller Series

Day 1…… 1339 words. Total words to date…… 1339

Total fiction words for the month……… 50517
Total fiction words for the year………… 101822
Total nonfiction words for the month… 11200
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 30530
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 140372

Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 2
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 29
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 4
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 182