Any writers out there waiting for their first break?

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Permalink Reply by Pritha Chattopadhyay on July 23, 2011 at 8:52am

Hi Sameer

 

Congrats on your first book :)

 

I am a writer too...and yeah, I am yet to get that publishing break. Would you know how and where I can get started? You can email me at reveuse.pritha@gmail.com.

 

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by scribbler on July 25, 2011 at 5:52am

Who are you publishing your book with, Sameer? You didn't say.

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Permalink Reply by Sameer Kamat on July 25, 2011 at 10:05am

Thanks Pritha.

 

When I was starting off, I would spend a lot of time on the internet. There's a lot of information available on the internet, but it can get a litte overwhelming.

So I'm hoping to share more information about this in a structured manner on my blog (http://www.sameerkamat.com/). So watch out for those posts.

 

- Sameer

Pritha Chattopadhyay said:

Hi Sameer

 

Congrats on your first book :)

 

I am a writer too...and yeah, I am yet to get that publishing break. Would you know how and where I can get started? You can email me at reveuse.pritha@gmail.com.

 

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Sameer Kamat on July 25, 2011 at 10:14am

Scribbler,

 

It's with the business imprint of a leading publishing house. I'm a little reluctant to share the specific details right now on a public forum. Hope you don't hold that against me. Once the book has been published, I'll come back here and share all the gory details.

 

I just checked out your profile page. Seems like you have been on this site (and in the publishing industry?) for a long time. I'm just taking my first baby steps and trying to read through the various discussion threads.

 

scribbler said:

Who are you publishing your book with, Sameer? You didn't say.

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Permalink Reply by Pritha Chattopadhyay on July 25, 2011 at 2:37pm

Thanks Sameer, I will have a look. But I have already done my initial research on the internet. Actually, at this point, I am more interested in an interested publisher, who can give me a straight no or a yes.

Sameer K said:

Thanks Pritha.

 

When I was starting off, I would spend a lot of time on the internet. There's a lot of information available on the internet, but it can get a litte overwhelming.

So I'm hoping to share more information about this in a structured manner on my blog (http://www.sameerkamat.com/). So watch out for those posts.

 

- Sameer

Pritha Chattopadhyay said:

Hi Sameer

 

Congrats on your first book :)

 

I am a writer too...and yeah, I am yet to get that publishing break. Would you know how and where I can get started? You can email me at reveuse.pritha@gmail.com.

 

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Sameer Kamat on July 30, 2011 at 2:18pm

Pritha,

 

Unfortunately, for new authors targetting the top tier publishers, the 'straight no or a yes' may happen only after real long wait. Which is why many start looking at alternative publishing options.

 

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Permalink Reply by patricia A murray on August 2, 2011 at 7:15pm

I'm working on my first book—nonfiction of course. I've gotten it planned and mapped out and am now starting on the proposal. I'm also polishing the sample chapter so that it will be nice and shiny once I get a nibble from an agent.

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Permalink Reply by Sameer Kamat on August 2, 2011 at 8:03pm

Sounds exciting, Patricia. What topic are you working on?

 

Good luck with your agent hunt.

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Permalink Reply by Cleveland W. Gibson on August 5, 2011 at 2:32pm

Congratulations on your up-and-coming  book, soon to be published.

I read somewhere below(this page) that you didn't want to share the

name of your publisher.

It's not a problem. But you might  take a look at Yorkshire Publishing

who offer three types of publishing and are open to submissions in

certain genre. The list is long.

 

I'm guessing you are from India. Why didn't you approach Unicorn Books to

publish your work?

Who edited your manuscript?

Did you check the guidelines  of the publisher before you sent in your work?

Guidelines vary so much was there something about your current publisher

that was different in what they asked in MS preparation that you might share here?

Did you use a 'notary' when you signed your contract?

On this forum somebody ran into  'PublishAmerica' and that makes me hope

the same disaster is not happening to you.

A good test for newbie writers is to ask them to share their first sentence of

their book. If they are full of ego they will curl up and never surface again.

If they have thrown their ego away and write and write they will be happy

to share. Might you be happy to share something concrete like your first

sentence? My first book was a collection of short stories.The book is no

longer in print as a collection. Pity. It carried a warning: 'read one story

at a time. ' My first sentence from the first story:

"Incredibly insane! Me? Never Dr Harper! I was clever enough to kill my

best friend and get away with it."

On a serious note. Submission have been switching to e-submissions and

in the next 12 months that will be the onl way to submit a book, etc.

Not only that it means the 'slush heap' has disappeared. Only submissions

on the screen will be looked at or more often than not deleted.No response

or comment sent to the authors who wait and wait.In marathon terms there

are many thousands waiting for their novel to be accepted or rejected. But

in real terms they never get rejected or accepted. In fact they never hear from the

publisher or agent. It is understandable as e-book sales are up b 40% forcing

authors to to 'try' getting their hard copy into kindle or digital format. With

kindle it costs £111 to buy the machine. With Digital Stories for 99cents the

story is sent direct to their computer to read. Isn't that a major break-through.

I'm published at the moment through Trestle Press on Smashwords.com and

am happy with the treatment, covers and a thousand other things.

I applaud your effort to share your thoughts on writing, your enthusiasm on

being in print for the first time, the dancing on the ceiling and drinking champagne

feeling. It is good. Writing is a solitary occupation or pastime. And to make a

break through it is necessary to have friends who are also writers. Keep plugging

away. Don't stop writing even if your book is going to be printed soon. When you

publish that's when the hard work starts. You'll know soon enough through

experience what it entails when it happens.

Good luck. And I mean good luck.

Cleveland W. Gibson

Award Winner www.celj.org

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Permalink Reply by patricia A murray on August 6, 2011 at 5:30pm

I'm working on a how-to book for people with limited resources who are caring for loved-ones with Alzheimer's disease at home. It's a labor of love that I hope can help lots of people.  :)

Sameer K said:

Sounds exciting, Patricia. What topic are you working on?

 

Good luck with your agent hunt.

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Permalink Reply by Sameer Kamat on August 7, 2011 at 7:08am

Patricia, I sincerely hope you are able to get book out to a whole lot of folks out there who are in a similar situation.

 

After the manuscipt has been completed, let me know if you need some help creating awareness for the topic and for your book. I've recently published an interview with a young (fiction) author on my blog. Check it out here. I'd be happy to post something similar for you.

 

patricia A murray said:

I'm working on a how-to book for people with limited resources who are caring for loved-ones with Alzheimer's disease at home. It's a labor of love that I hope can help lots of people.  :)

Sameer K said:

Sounds exciting, Patricia. What topic are you working on?

 

Good luck with your agent hunt.

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Permalink Reply by patricia A murray on August 7, 2011 at 4:20pm

Thank you, Sameer. I've got a long way to go!  :)

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