where do you get a story you wrote published?

Question

i wrote a story and i want to know where i could get it published

Answer 1

First, how long is your story? You will want to target magazines and journals for short fiction, but literary agents if it is a novel. Have you edited the story yet. That should be your FIRST step. Don't worry about publishing until it is edited.

Once you are there, take a look at the book "Writer's Market" if you have written a short story. It is a huge reference book with listings of tons of possible publishing outlets. Where you send it depends on what genre it is, so we really can't tell you what to do with it. For agents, I really like the current issue of the "Guide to Literary Agents". It is from the folks at Writer's Market, who do an excellent job is creating resources for authors to start their research of agents. I'd also recommend their book "Formatting & Submitting your Manuscript".

As for finding out if they're reliable, and excellent resource is the website Preditors and Editors-- they are a good jumping off point to start your quest!
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/

When it comes to money, you should NOT be paying to have your book published. This is a commodity that you are selling, and be wary of anyone that wants money up front. The kinds of "publishers" that charge you to print your work are called vanity presses and it will not get your book into bookstores. These can be useful if you only want a few copies for friends and family, however. Is this what you are looking for? In that case, I would suggest http://www.lulu.com for it. I've had great service with them.

Do your homework, and find out exactly what they want in a submission package or a query letter. Then submit over and over until you finally find an agent who accepts you. You will face a lot of rejection, but keep going!

Answer 2

If I were you, I would not try to find a publisher/agent directly. I'd pay a GOOD editor (see Predators and Editors website for names, or Writer's Digest) to do a full assessment of the ms. Then, rewrite if necessary, return to the editor for another quick look, obtain a written assessment of the first and second drafts, THEN look for a publisher/agent (again see Predators and Editors website for names, or Writer's Digest) who publishes in your genre, and submit exactly according to their submission guidelines, including a copy of your editor's letter. You could also try emailing authors in your genre and asking who they use - word of mouth from a respected author is by far the best way to contact an editor.

The reason I'd do this is because if this is your first book, it is not the best it can be (sorry, I've been in the business a while and it is always true). Without exception, all ms by amateur writers will be hugely improved with some professional input. It will cost you hundreds of dollars for an excellent editor, and even then there is no guarantee of success, but it will improve your chances.

Publishers receive huge piles of submissions, 99% of it badly written (for an example see the literary level of most messages on Yahoo answers). Yours must stand out from the mountain of trash. The way I outline above is the best way to do it. The first step is to find a good, reasonably priced editor.

Answer 3

First of all, you have to target the publishing house. You can't send a manuscript to a children's publisher if you're not writing a children's book..

Your best bet is to log onto the website for writer's digest. You can find out loads of stuff you need to know there and you can get the writer's digest market book, which will tell you if you need a query letter, what kind of manuscript they are looking for, etc. You can even enter your story in a contest and hopefully get discovered. Oh... and there's always the option to self-publish and get your book on amazon.com and barnes and noble.com

Good luck.... hope you get it published.... if you do, don't forget to put me in the thank you notes...LOL!

Answer 4

i recommend self-publishing. I self-published a book through http://www.lulu.com/
they are completely free and very easy to use. You can then buy a global distribution, or ISBN, which will put your book on Barnes and noble, borders, amazon.... i really like lulu, i think they are great. They also offer a great customer service if you get stuck.
If you think they are too good to be true (which was my original opinion) you can view my book at http://www.lulu.com/dchooper
Hope this helps. Good luck with your writing.
For any more information about Lulu you can contact me at [e-mail] (if you do contact me, put Lulu in the subject line, or i might report as spam)
Cheers, Deanna.

Answer 5

At a Publisher, duh!

My grandma got her book published. She had to first get it copyrighted, then she sent it to like 20 publishers before she found one that would publish it.

Answer 6

good question....i'd like to know too

Answer 7

www.magickeys.com
www.iknowthat.com