9 First-Sale Mistakes to Avoid
This article shines a light on what you should do after you get an acceptance letter from a publication. I never really thought about what to do after getting an acceptance letter. I thought that all the hard work would be done and I could just sit and watch as I reap the benefits. Things like signing a contract and worry about getting paid on time didn't really cross my mind.
My first question would be, should I get a lawyer to look at my contract? I don't understand law slang at all and I'm terrified that I would be getting scammed into signing over my rights or something by the way a contract is worded. So should I get a lawyer to look at it, or is that me being too paranoid?
I know I wouldn't want to sign over my rights to a publisher. I've heard a lot of other authors say that they decided to self publish instead of going through a publisher for fear of losing their rights to their work. So that would be something else to consider.
Also, I feel like having an agent would help a lot with this process. I don't know if I could fully trust an editor not to trick me with a contract and an agent would be very knowledgeable and have my best interest in mind. Maybe that would also be something to consider.
My first question would be, should I get a lawyer to look at my contract? I don't understand law slang at all and I'm terrified that I would be getting scammed into signing over my rights or something by the way a contract is worded. So should I get a lawyer to look at it, or is that me being too paranoid?
I know I wouldn't want to sign over my rights to a publisher. I've heard a lot of other authors say that they decided to self publish instead of going through a publisher for fear of losing their rights to their work. So that would be something else to consider.
Also, I feel like having an agent would help a lot with this process. I don't know if I could fully trust an editor not to trick me with a contract and an agent would be very knowledgeable and have my best interest in mind. Maybe that would also be something to consider.
Why We Pick Ourselves Up After Getting Rejected
This article talks about how you will get rejected and how you have to just keep going until someone will publish your work. I like to think that I could keep resubmitting my book even after it's been rejected. You have to work so hard to write a book and should I just throw away all that time I spent because a couple places won't publish it? Even J.K. Rowling had to shop around.
Debut Novelists on What it Takes
This article answered my question about if I should have an agent before publishing. Nearly all the authors interviewed had one and said it helped them a lot. I guess it depends on how you get one. Do you have to pay before you're published? These things would factor in for me.
It also says that you wont have marketing done for you, which I knew from talking to published authors before. A publisher will give you a little time to see if your book takes off. If it does, they help with the marketing, if it does not, it's up to you to get sales.
I know guest blogs are also great. Last semester I had a writer guest blog on my book blog for a class. I don't know if it helped her get sales or not, because my blog didn't have a huge readership, but her books are on my list for things to read so she's gained at least one.
One of the authors said they wanted to be formally published for validation. This isn't the first time I've heard that. I heard a local author say she went with traditional publishing as opposed to self publishing for validation.
The last interviewed author said you should write the query before you write the book. While I've done that for magazine articles I've written, and it has been a little easier, I don't know if I could write a full query letter for a book before the book is published. But I probably could partially.
It also says that you wont have marketing done for you, which I knew from talking to published authors before. A publisher will give you a little time to see if your book takes off. If it does, they help with the marketing, if it does not, it's up to you to get sales.
I know guest blogs are also great. Last semester I had a writer guest blog on my book blog for a class. I don't know if it helped her get sales or not, because my blog didn't have a huge readership, but her books are on my list for things to read so she's gained at least one.
One of the authors said they wanted to be formally published for validation. This isn't the first time I've heard that. I heard a local author say she went with traditional publishing as opposed to self publishing for validation.
The last interviewed author said you should write the query before you write the book. While I've done that for magazine articles I've written, and it has been a little easier, I don't know if I could write a full query letter for a book before the book is published. But I probably could partially.
Bypass Obstacles to Traditional Publication
This article is all about the pros of self publishing. One of my goals is to either self publish something I wrote or help someone else self publish. It will give me experience in the publishing industry.
I think the idea to release a free chapter is great. There have been books that I read with the first chapter of another book by the same author in the back. I wouldn't ever consider reading that other book, but getting that first chapter for free is a huge motivation.
I have heard of amazon's CreateSpace. My friend was considering using that service to self publish years ago, but never went through with it.
There are pros and cons to self publishing. When you self publish you save a lot of time getting published and you can guarantee that you keep all your rights. But, you have to invest money and do a lot of the legwork your publisher would do for you. You're also going to have to do all of your marketing where your publisher might do a bit in the beginning.
I think the idea to release a free chapter is great. There have been books that I read with the first chapter of another book by the same author in the back. I wouldn't ever consider reading that other book, but getting that first chapter for free is a huge motivation.
I have heard of amazon's CreateSpace. My friend was considering using that service to self publish years ago, but never went through with it.
There are pros and cons to self publishing. When you self publish you save a lot of time getting published and you can guarantee that you keep all your rights. But, you have to invest money and do a lot of the legwork your publisher would do for you. You're also going to have to do all of your marketing where your publisher might do a bit in the beginning.