Daily Archives: July 16, 2012

Questions From Writers

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Photo courtesy of Suat Eman

 

I received the following questions from Kelsey and Mary:

Hi my name is Kelsey. I recently visited your blog website and wanted to seek your help. I recently finished a young adult novel and I am seeking help in getting it published.

Hi, Kelsey. Thanks for writing to me. There’s no nice “pat” answer about how to get your book published. If you’re trying to get your book commercially published, the first thing I’d recommend is attending a writers’ conference. That way, you’ll come in touch with like-minded people who share your passion and who can give you some insight about seeking publication. Editors and agents are also in attendance at writers’ conferences, so, you can get a chance to see which publishers are seeking YA stories. You can also meet with editors and agents, making it possible to determine if they may be interested in your novel. Also, you should have your book either critiqued by a good critique group or professionally edited before you submit to publishers.

Hopefully, that’ll be enough to get you started! Since I write Christian romance, the conferences that were most helpful to me were American Christian Fiction Writers conference and Romance Writers of America conference. Simply do a Google search for writers conferences. You might find one in your area if you can’t afford to go to the ones that are far away. I don’t attend writers’ conferences as much as I used to since they can be a bit pricey.

 

This question came from Mary. Mary’s book cover is to the left:

I love your blog. [I like the] heartwarming photos and great info. I am a published author of Inspirational Romantic Suspense.
I am new to the publishing world. This is my first novel. What happens after the two year contract is up? If neither myself or publisher decides to sign another contract where does that leave my novel? I think what I’m trying to ask is: Do I get to keep the edited novel or does all the edits made revert back to the publisher? If I wanted to self-publish the book myself would I start from scratch with my unedited copy making sure non of the publishers edits are in the manuscript?

 

Hi, Mary

Thanks for the compliments about my blog! I enjoy blogging and I’m glad when people tell me that they like to visit and look at the wonderful pics!

Congrats on your release of Escape To Big Fork Lake. I’m not a lawyer, but, I’d think it all depends upon what’s stipulated in your contract. I’d imagine if they have rights to the book for two years, after that time span is up, you then need to request the rights back to your book and then you can do what you want with your book – using whichever version you choose to use. Before you sign a contract with a publisher, it’s probably best to get a literary lawyer to review the contract if you don’t have a literary agent.

~Cecelia Dowdy~