Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers
New Authors
What are some tips and ideas for new authors? What if they have no formal training or degree's in the field? Can just everyday people write their thoughts, feelings, perspectives, research, or ideas and be successful? Or does it take experience, ghost writers, and alot of money?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Margi Taber on
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That's a great question Frank! I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this.
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Permalink Reply by scribbler on
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You don't need a degree in the field to be able to write. We can all improve upon our writing, formal training or not. That's why even the pros like Stephen King use editors. Judging by the success of The Chicken Soup of the Soul series I'd say yes, ordinary people can. What matters is that you write with your heart in it and have a passion for what you write. Everything else you can learn (structure, character development etc) and there's a multitude of resources online for that, including this very site. You can also use forums like this as a sounding board.
Experience helps, and that comes with learning too. No good writer will be turned down because they don't have a degree. Heck, look at how many bad writers WITH one get published! LOL.
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Permalink Reply by Frank Nebolsky on
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Thanks,
Back in my college days a English Professor told me I had talent, but needed to fine tune my grammar. I never did well in regular English classes. But classes like Ethics, Science, Psychology, or Creative Writing I did better at. When I start writing again, I will use all resources I have available........
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Permalink Reply by Robert L. Allen on
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As of 1992, I had twenty-eight poems published. (Singles) Now I am trying to get a book published. Its been some time. I had a great story but not the writing ability. So I learned sentence structure, I hope!!! Then I purchased a Writer's Market, which be careful, there are a lot of things in there not needed for writers, just a way for people to make money. Learn how to use the book and follow the guidelines. I have no education above HS, but I have desire, hope and believe my books will be published.
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I hope this is where I ask questions? Is 142,000 word book to large for a first time author to be published. I have been advised to trim it down to 70-90,000???
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Frank Nebolsky said:Do you make money or is it the love of what you do? I know that might be strange to some, but I feel it has to be both in today's economy. I believe as do most believe that my books are interesting and will sell, yet our feelings do not matter.... It is the market and the click that makes books fail or pass or maybe get a pass to sit on some stock shelf's because they had the backers or the money to do so. My wife says I think too deeply or as some say, "out of the box".......What really is my brain has a hard time winding down. Things are not as they seem, there is more than an equal or opposite perspective. If one can think, it will come....Does that mean successfully, hell no......many a fool believe he is the best or he has all the best abilities. Thank-you Robert for your responses.
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I have turned down money for national publication, which one of my poems won two awards which I did not enter. However; as I said before, at this time I am not sending out poetry. I believe if the story keeps moving and is a page turner, it will be published. Readers are sick of the same old story written by different authors. So make your book stand out from the rest...take some chances...Best work, not good luck, there is no luck in publishing...Robert
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By the way Frnak, Thank You...
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Permalink Reply by Kay Elizabeth on
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Robert Allen said:I hope this is where I ask questions? Is 142,000 word book to large for a first time author to be published. I have been advised to trim it down to 70-90,000???
Could you please keep new topics separate, Robert? Here's a friendly piece of advice. It's frowned upon in forums to hijack other people's threads and take them off topic. You're risking your question going unanswered if you don't extend others the courtesy of not doing so. Often new questions get buried in other discussions too when that happens.
I know you have a thread on this as I'd already answered it, so that's great. It's better for related questions, supplemental information and comments on that to be there rather than scattered around in other topics. I'll add the link for anyone who'd like to answer your question further or add more information. That way you don't need to search everywhere for something you know you read and can't find again, plus any answers will bump your discussion up where more will see it. It makes for much easier reading all round. :)
http://www.authors.com/forum/topics/book-size-for-new-writers
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Frank, I posted a video that answers your question in part about whether you need a degree to be a writer. The short answer is no, you don't. There are benefits in doing so too apart from the obvious letters after your name. This video explores them.
http://www.authors.com/video/do-you-need-university
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Thank-you, I will
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Sorry, I'm just trying to figure this out
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