A lecture on publishing delivered to the English 210: Creative Writing class at Victor Valley College.

1. The Publishing Options of Today
How to publish your fiction

2. How to ‘make it’ as an author in
three not-so-easy steps:
Write a good story
2. Publish it
3. Repeat
1.

3. Write a Good Story
How
do I know my story is ready to be
published?
◦ Free of spelling and grammatical errors
◦ Strangers have given you positive feedback
 Friends and family don’t count because they are
biased.

4. Write a Good Story
Where
do I find strangers to critique my
story?
◦ Find a creative writing group that works for
you
◦ Online:
 www.critters.org

5. Publish It
Your
publishing options
1. Traditional Publishing
2. Indie Publishing

6. Traditional Publishing
The
way authors have been published for
at least the past 50-100yrs
Publishers
control the distribution
system to bookstores
To
reach readers, authors must go
through publishers

7. Traditional Publishing
How
to publish your short story
traditionally
◦ Submit your story to magazines along with a
cover letter (also known as a ‘query letter’)
◦ You will receive rejections letters
◦ Persevere

8. Traditional Publishing
Where
to find magazines
◦ Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market
◦ Online:
 http://duotrope.com

9. Traditional Publishing
How
to submit to magazines
◦ Read the magazine(s)
◦ Learn the style of fiction that they publish
◦ Make sure that your story is a good fit for
their magazine
◦ Follow the magazine’s submission guidelines
◦ Submit your story with a query letter

10. Traditional Publishing
How
to write a query letter
◦ Make it concise (two paragraphs of no more
than 3-4 sentences each)
◦ Tell them why you’ve chosen to submit to
their magazine and why your story might be a
good fit
◦ Give them some background information
about yourself (esp. previous publications)

11. Traditional Publishing
Be
patient and persistent
◦ Magazines can receive 100s of submissions
but only publish a few stories
◦ It may be weeks or months before they can
reply to you
◦ Do not hassle them for a quick response
◦ If your story is rejected, do not give up
◦ Find another suitable magazine to submit to

12. Indie Publishing
A
viable option since 2010
Bookstores are closing and content is
migrating online
Authors can bypass publishers and
upload their stories directly to online etailers
Authors no longer need bookstores to
reach readers

13. Indie Publishing
How
to self-publish your short story
◦ Design a book cover and format your story
so that it is compatible with online e-tailers
and digital reading devices
◦ Upload your story online

14. Indie Publishing
Online
distributors
◦ Amazon KDP
 Kindle Direct Publishing allows an author to publish
their story straight into Amazon’s store
◦ Smashwords
 An online distributor that will send your story into
the virtual stores of major e-tailers like Apple,
Barnes and Noble, and Kobo

15. Traditional vs. Indie
Time
◦ Traditional publishing involves a lot of waiting.
It can take months or even years before your
work is published.
◦ Indie/self-publishing is almost instantaneous.
It can take a few minutes to a few weeks
before your work is available to readers.

16. Traditional vs. Indie
Money
◦ Valid traditional publishers will pay you
money upfront. All services (editing, art,
formatting, etc.) are free.
◦ Indie publishing may include upfront costs if
you choose to hire cover artists, professional
editors, or formatters. However, the actual
online upload process is free.

17. Traditional vs. Indie
Money
◦ Traditional publishers usually pay around 15%
royalties for novels
◦ For indie publishing, you will not be paid
upfront, but distributors normally pay around
70% royalties for all stories based on a list
price that you choose

18. Traditional vs. Indie
Control
◦ Traditional publishers can make editorial,
marketing, formatting, cover art decisions
without your approval
◦ With indie publishing, you will control all
aspects of how your final story appears

19. Traditional vs. Indie
Reaching
readers
◦ Traditional publishing: if you’re published in a
magazine with a wide readership, you could
potentially reach 100s if not 1000s of readers.
◦ Indie publishing: if you’re an unknown author,
your story may be lost in a crowded
marketplace.

20. Traditional vs. Indie
Reaching
readers
◦ Traditional publishing: a well-established
magazine will already have its own readership
and marketing plans.
◦ Indie publishing: without a built-in readership,
you must devise your own marketing
strategies, such as free giveaways, to increase
your visibility.

21. Traditional vs. Indie
In
summary:
◦ There are no guarantees with either route.
Research carefully and choose the option that
is best for you.
◦ Most of all, remember to keep writing and
never give up.
◦ Good luck!

22. For more information:
Digital
Book World:
◦ http://www.digitalbookworld.com/
Publisher’s
Weekly:
◦ http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Nathan
Bransford’s blog:
◦ http://nathanbransford.com/