Publishing:- The Techno-Babble

This blog is work in progress. So keep checking back for new definitions. =)

Royalties: When you get published you're going to love these. Royalties are lump-payments from the publisher to you depending on how many books you sell. Depending on the publisher, the royalties are paid either annually, twice-yearly, quarterly or the payments are negotiable. To find out what the publishers offer get the Writers Handbook and under each publisher at the bottom there will be a £ sign followed by how often they're paid.

No unsolicited mss: If it says this under a publishers name, it means that they don't want you to send any work unless they requested it. These publishers will most likely want a sypnosis or a sample chapter.

Sypnoses: This means the publisher wants you to send a summary of your book as opposed to a chapter or the whole thing.

Make sure you pay attention to their requests. Don't think they'll make an exception with you, follow their rules!!

Word of warning to those who post plots/book excerpts online

One paticular user on Yahoo! (I'm not mentioning any names) has been taking parts of stories others have posted on the Books and Authors section and asked people to critique them as his own. For this reason I have to say be careful about how much you post!! If you post plots, many people will read them innocently but the same number of people may actually steal your idea. Be careful, if you want help with a story get advice on a little bit at a time. Don't post your whole plot and ask for criticsm. At the end of the day, YOU are your best critic. =)

I want to publish my book!!

Once your book is finished, you might want to publish (and since you love me, I should get a free copy) but since you would have spent a lot of time working on your book you wouldn't want to throw all your talent and time away with publishers online. Too many people come onto Yahoo saying "I want to publish but I don't have the money". Money isn't an issue when it comes to publishing!! The publisher pays YOU. Never the other way around unless you are self-publishing (I'll explain that in a minute) remember, if a publisher asks for money take your story, don't sign anything and go elsewhere.

Before you publish.....
Some publishers may help with the odd problem, such as if your story infringes anyones copyright but you cannot expect those (or editors, for that matter) do to everything, so please make sure your story is as good as you can get it!! Don't ship it off to anyone full of mistakes and bad grammar, they will ignore it. You need to edit it, edit it again and keep editing until it's as good as you can possibly get it.

Where to find a publisher...
Look through the Writers Handbook 2010 for a decent publisher (an agent will be a good idea too) but make sure you check through their recommendations. Some won't let you send work unless they request it, some only publish educational books... check you have the right people.

*Look out for another blog telling you what all the techno-babble under the Publishers names means!!*

Self Publishing...
Self-publishing is where you do all the work. You write the book, pay someone to print it off and then you have to sell it yourself. Since not many book shops take self-published work this is harder than it sounds, but it is good if you just want a book for one paticular person. Not so good if you want to be the next best-selling author.

:-)