Has anyone ever wrote a book?

[Sarian]

Robert(hope you don't mind calling you that rather than psychoslice), that's awesome!!! Is it going to be published? I heard it's nearly impossible to get a book published without an agent, at least by the big publishers... I so hope I can get mine published. It's gutwrenching to write LOL.

You are talented in so many ways.

Originally Posted by Sarian

thanks, Laura, I will check it out. I met a woman the other day while waiting for my daughter to get her haircut and she's got her first book coming out anyday. She wrote about civil war letters. I wanted to find out how she got it published, but my daughter needed me. I'm writing a book now. I want to get it published so bad. Any info and advice...keep it coming! Did your first book sell alright ? How do you get the word out or get it into stores?

FB, Twitter, Linkdin, Google+, Shops, stores, etc. You just talk to them, they ask you about overhead, your cost vs. their cost, and so on.

Just had mine approved for Kindle and Nook this week :) So happy!

you can upload your books for free on smashwords.com and lulu.com
i even sold one on smashwords then switched it to a free books

i have another one that has been accepted by a publisher

[Sarian]

Originally Posted by Medium_Laura

FB, Twitter, Linkdin, Google+, Shops, stores, etc. You just talk to them, they ask you about overhead, your cost vs. their cost, and so on.

Just had mine approved for Kindle and Nook this week :) So happy!

Ah, I think i'm the only one in the world who doesn't do FB or twitter and so forth. My favorite bookstore just closed in the last few months. I was so upset. There is a Barnes and Nobles still. i want it OUT there. People have read some of the stuff I wrote and got so emotional and one woman, her son is a congressman in the south somewhere, but I respect her opinions so much. she said that she hated for my writing to stop. she said she wanted to keep on reading and hung to every word. I had some people read some of the things I wrote and they were sobbing. I hope when I get this book done it will have the same effect. I have to take out the fact that I'm writing a book though, or it trips me up. lol And GREAT news about Kinkle and Nook!! woohoo!

MMM, that's fabulous!!! What did you write about?

[psychoslice]

Originally Posted by Sarian

Robert(hope you don't mind calling you that rather than psychoslice), that's awesome!!! Is it going to be published? I heard it's nearly impossible to get a book published without an agent, at least by the big publishers... I so hope I can get mine published. It's gutwrenching to write LOL.

You are talented in so many ways.

Hi Sarian, at first I'm just going to put the book into a of friends shop, he owns a new age shop, and he also sells a large range of books on all sorts of subjects, I'll put mine in the non-dualism section, and just see what happens. Wow, so you have written a book as well, could I ask also what is it about ?.

all of my books are under pen-names
several on mediumship
one historical fiction

competition to get with an agent/traditional publisher is brutal
your writing has to be so crisp and your idea fresh (only 1 in 100 submissions are ultimately accepted - and then if it doesn't start selling, it'll get pushed down and forgotten)
most authors either self (vanity) publish or share the cost with a publisher or eBook themselves

once you've written, the hard work has just begun
as other posters say , facebook, website, twitter, eBooking it- all are required and take several hours a day for a year - if you are serious about not only your book but SELLING your book

Originally Posted by Sarian

Ah, I think i'm the only one in the world who doesn't do FB or twitter and so forth. My favorite bookstore just closed in the last few months. I was so upset. There is a Barnes and Nobles still. i want it OUT there. People have read some of the stuff I wrote and got so emotional and one woman, her son is a congressman in the south somewhere, but I respect her opinions so much. she said that she hated for my writing to stop. she said she wanted to keep on reading and hung to every word. I had some people read some of the things I wrote and they were sobbing. I hope when I get this book done it will have the same effect. I have to take out the fact that I'm writing a book though, or it trips me up. lol And GREAT news about Kinkle and Nook!! woohoo!

MMM, that's fabulous!!! What did you write about?

When you self publish, you are your own PR team :) So if you want it out there you will have to join up in the social network scene and get a following for your writings :)

[Sarian]

Originally Posted by psychoslice

Hi Sarian, at first I'm just going to put the book into a of friends shop, he owns a new age shop, and he also sells a large range of books on all sorts of subjects, I'll put mine in the non-dualism section, and just see what happens. Wow, so you have written a book as well, could I ask also what is it about ?.

Nice, Robert.

No, I'm in the process of writing one. It's very emotionally draining. It's about experiences I've had since I was a child ...visions and so forth and from then to present. It's extremely emotionally charged. I've had people read sections and they were mind boggled and in tears. I'm hoping for the same when I finish...they want to read more and more. I just want to make sure I can get it out there. That is the hard part.

MMM, I hear that's the worst with the competition. I remember I met up with this fabulous photographer on a whim. I was taking pictures of seaguls and he came up next to me and asked if I minded tossing bread in the air so he could take his professional shots. He told me how competitive it is to be a photographer, he was fortunately, he has many degrees and traveled the world and settled on as a photographer because of his love of it and travel. I felt like I didn't have a snowballs' chance in hell. Sometimes I worry about that when it comes to my book, but I'm going to be diligent and perservere. I want it out there. Worse comes to worse, I'll publish it myself, but I'm trying to find people who have connections. I don't have much money at all, and so that doesn't help. Anyone have Oprah's phone number? lol

Laura, I was afraid of that...I really do not like FB...I've seen lives destroyed by sites like that and I didnt want to be a slave to it like I've seen so many others. how did people get books out before social networking? Maybe I'll just do it the old dinosaur way and pound the pavements actually getting out with people in person.

I found it was easy (and free) to upload original work at smashwords.com, where they will list your work and sell ebook copies for you.

When I was ready to publish a book that I wanted to be available in hard copies, I searched many online publishers but found that nearly all of them want to assign THEIR ISBN number to your work (and charge you for converting the file and listing it in their library) which means you will never have rights to the ISBN outside of their kingdom. They will handle printing hard copies but will charge an enormous markup to you.

So I bought my own block of ISBN numbers (Bowker.com) and published through a local print house (obviously you have to be able to fund your own print job) and created a website (free and has Paypal link) where I sell copies and do the shipping myself. The only expense is the 5% Paypal transaction fee.

Then I took part of the book (the Spiritualist teachings) and created an ebook that I listed on smashwords and made it available free for online downloads, as a sample of the original book which I'm selling at my website.

You DON'T need a "self publisher" representative if you can set up the file on your own and deal directly with a print house; and you DON'T need an online distributor if you can promote on your own, set up a website that makes sales, do your own shipping, and make social links to get the word out (like creating a FaceBook page, Google adwords etc.).

Yola.com is great for creating a free website with commerce capabilities.

donkemp is my yola web page if you want to check out a sample of their hosting work.

While FB may be a bit crazy, if you are using it for sales, then what's the issue? It sounds like you may be blocking yourself already. Are you afraid of people you know seeing you wrote this?