I am trying to get my first novel published?

Question

Im in the houston area. Dose anyone of any publishers in this area for first time authors? Also, dose anyone have any opinions about lulu.com?

Answer 1

With the electronic media today, there is no reason to limit yourself to publishing in Houston. Many people have NY publishers and do not live here. NY is where the publishing action is. I recommend you get a copy of Writers Market or go to the library and use Literary Marketplace in the reference section and find publishers seeking work in your genre. You are either mailing or e mailing a query to them - you do not appear in person.

As for Lulu and all self publishers, it is a dead end. A black hole. It costs you hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars to self publish and the average number of books sold by a self published author is less than 100. There was recently an article in our paper here in NY about a woman who refinanced her house for 60 thousand dollars and gave it to a self publisher to publish her children's books. She didn't make back one tenth of her money and is having trouble making payments on the loan and about to lose her house. Fun. With self publishing - expect to sell about 2/3 as many books as you have friends and family. Who else is going to know about your book? It won't be in stores. You will have to spend tons of money on marketing. NONE of that is done by self publishers. All they do is print your book. And they will print anything just as long as your check clears the bank.

My suggestion is this. If you believe in yourself and in your book you owe it to yourself to spend at least twice the amount of time you spent writing it trying to publish it traditionally. Start reading and learning about the publishing business. You have to learn to become your own best advocate. Those who spend the time to learn and who work hard at it are 100 times more likely to get a break in the industry. Nobody is knocking on your door asking if they can publish you. It is a long and arduous task.

If you go to my profile you will see I star great Q and A regarding publishing and writing. Search through them and print out ones that will help you to learn. There is a LOT of great information given to novices on this forum by the many authors who have been down this road before. Use their knowledge to help you achieve your goal.

Pax - C

Answer 2

Two people in my writers group have used lulu.com, and they are both happy with it.
Be advised, however, that they did this to have ONE nicely printed copy of their books.
Lulu is a self-publishing print-on-demand service, NOT a traditional publisher. They will not market your book beyond posting it on their website, and they will not provide any service that you don't pay for.
As far as I can tell, Lulu is not trying to trick or cheat anyone, but you MUST read and understand all of the conditions before agreeing to anything.
Also, when I considered using Lulu (as my friends did) to have a nice copy of my book instead of a stack of paper, I found it was UNCLEAR whether my book would be considered 'already published' when I send it to a real, traditional publisher.
I decided not to use Lulu's services because it may create some sticky legal problems when I want to really get it published.

So, whether or not lulu.com is good for you depends on what your plan is for your writing.

Best wishes,
James

Answer 3

The Writer's Market and literarymarketplace.com are are good sources for publishers or agents, whichever path you choose. But I agree with previous posts--you don't have to limit yourself to the Houston area to find a publisher. My publisher is based out of Hawaii and I live in the western US.

Answer 4

You don't want a publishing house, you want an AGENT. A reputable agent will be able to open doors for your work that you never thought possible. A press might be willing to take you on without one, but it will NOT be to your advantage. An agent knows the market and the lingo, and they are responsible for getting you the best deal and percentage for your work. You wouldn't want to purchase a house without a real estate agent's help, and the last thing you want to do is navigate the murky waters of the publishing world alone. Without an agent, you are more likely to lose money on advances, royalty percentages, you might not be given anything for foreign, film, or electronic rights (which are all big deals), and in extreme cases, you could lose all rights to your book should it go out of print or the house goes under.

If you care about your work at all, I suggest you rethink your strategy and start querying agents instead. Good luck!

Answer 5

What genre are you writing in?

You're really not restricted to the Houston area if you want to get your book published. But if you want to work locally, try posting on Craigslist. I know a lot of writers troll the Houston craigslist, and I've gotten a few editing jobs through there.

Lulu or a self-publishing service like that is a good idea. You could do it yourself even at Kinkos and handle the marketing of your book yourself.

Go to the library or bookstore and check out a book like this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0898793912/resourcesforr-20

And a book like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Market-2007/dp/1582974276

Then send query letters off to agents or small publishing houses.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

You really want to avoid agents and self-publishing, I cannot stress this enough.

As for advice, stick with what Persiphone-Hellecat says, it's what I would have said, had I not been beaten to the punch...again.

Answer 8

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