Publishing A short story collection

A collection of short stories contains many different stories in a single book. The best example is bedtime stories for kids. A short story writing is generally fiction work, which is written in descriptive prose. Frequently, portraying a few characters and focusing on the same mood or effect. Short story writing is challenging work, as you need to put everything, background, present and ending of the story, yet it should not be very comprehensive and long. It requires different techniques, which are different than writing extensive novels.

A writer requires good imagination and creative skills. Generally, short stories are for kids. Therefore, you need to be very careful on how and what you are writing. Many novelists start their careers as short story writers and then they go for more extensive types like memoirs or novels.

Today short stories are much in demand. The stories are short. People can read and finish them in less time. Kids love to hear the stories before going to bed, and short stories are best suitable for them.

Publishing a short story collection is not that easy and there are no fixed standards that will get the collection published. Still you can try a few tips given below to increase your chances to get the short story collection published

Magazines and Journals:

You can begin by submitting the stories to magazines and literary journals. If your story gets published in the magazines, then agents will consider your work more seriously. You can publish a few of your stories from your collection in the magazines. In this way, they will get noticed. You can show the story to the agent, which could be one of the stories from your collection. Websites are available online for free publishing and also you can go for paid ones.

Contests:

You can participate in short-story contests. This will increase your credits in the publication world. Competitions and contests will help to draw the attention of a literary agent towards your work. Participation itself will help you get noticed, but if you win an award, this will give you good encouragement and many editors and agents will take you seriously. An agent is here to publish your work and gain some commission from it. Therefore, if you win a contest, this can help to get your collection published more easily.

Story Grouping:

You must group your story into a specific form of collection. The theme and central character must complement each other. This is very important for marketing. The consistent setting and single theme will be helpful for an agent to market your work more effectively. You must arrange the stories into specific categories before presenting it to the agent. This will make a good impression and an agent will know how to market your product.

Small Press:

You can try in small presses initially. Small presses are often well established in local markets as compared to big agencies and therefore, they can take a chance of publishing your work, and be happy to gain small profits initially. This also can be a good break, and you can still show your work to agents.

Novel Formation:

The short story market is very much in demand today, but getting your work published is very difficult. If you have a good collection of short stories, which are cohesively and consistently outlined, you can think of converting your work into a novel. A long and complex story with different plots is more appealing for a literary agent. If your agent likes the novel, you can even show the short story collection. You can get the work published in both forms.

Self Publishing:

Self publishing can be a good option. You can create your book bound collection and pass it to your friends, relatives. You can request the book shops to keep your books on the shelves, and this way you can find the right company for your growth.

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

Publishing a collection of essays- Important Considerations

An essay is writing that gives the perspective of an author. Essays can be comprised of different varieties. It could contain political manifestos, arguments, criticism, observations, reflection and recollection according to the author.

Personal essays are philosophical. An author tries to find out an answer from life. There are essays, which involve a particular sector. The personal essay writing market is up and in demand. It is made of newspapers, literary magazines, trade, popular magazines, and professional journals, thematic collections with scriptures by selected authors and book length anthologies by a single author.

Publishing a collection of essays requires the following important considerations:

Essay collections look good, when they contain essays with a common subject. For example, some writers are famous for humorous essays, and some writers are better at a collection of religious essays. There are many other interesting themes like travel, women’s studies, city life, sports. You must have a peculiar theme, which will be liked by all. You can choose the most intriguing topic, but your work will get attention only if your writing is good.

The writing industry is all about sharing and talking with people around you. You will have the best experience of your life by sharing your work with people who are influenced by your words. Creativity and skillfulness are very important in order to get your collection published faster. If a publishing office is near your home, the work will be easy and the printing of the book will be possible in less time.

You can try the local newspapers and other literary journals will be more receptive of your work. You also will get good guidance from local editors if you are new in the writing business. Local publication can give a boost to your career. You will be recognized as a writer and you will be able to show your work to other agents.

Research and study are very important factors in order to get the best out of you. You can get help at libraries and local bookstores to get guidance on essay collections. There are many articles available to investigate for nonfiction writings like cooking, travel, or parenting. After that you can search for agents and publishers who are interested in this kind of work. You can get references from the acknowledgement section in the books. You can read book reviews and get collections of essays to understand the work and the publishing industry. You can also meet other writers by joining a writers’ group and attend the conferences and seminars which are being held. This will help you with networking yourself.

In order to find out about the markets for your kind of writing, you must be on the lookout. You must cultivate a habit of reading a lot of variety of subjects. You can search for an essay section in the newspaper and contact the office for your work.

You can distribute your written articles in places like delis and cafes for free. You can write on a huge variety of subjects from everyday life. Every day there is something new happening on the streets. The publication of such writings is more promising. You may write about arts, theater, local music, women and their independence, drugs, recovery, alternative therapies, spirituality, religion, families, environment, modernization, technology, employment, software, vacationing, etc. Such subjects have room for good and effective essay writings. People do take interest in such publications. You can put your own life experiences in such essays. You can successfully complete you essay collection work and get it published.

Press gives good exposure to your writing. You can search for magazines which come in different types. There are women's magazines, also men's magazines, magazines for teen, sports, housemaking, hobby magazines, gadgets and electronic magazines. These kind of magazines require frequent fresh articles. You must know the type of publication you are associated with, and depending on that you must create your work. Your essays must be suitable for that magazine and depending on that you must concentrate on creating a collection of consistent work.

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

Mistakes to avoid while submitting work to Online editors and agents

In today’s gadget oriented world, where people are more fond of online videos and TV programs, reading is still sustaining its big share of audiences. The books now have a brand new platform for display and that is the internet. Studies have shown that now mostly the books are purchased through online stores. Some books are also available in the form of ebooks, which you can download on your computer and read at your leisure.

So now writers have a huge market to get their books published. But it has increased the competition for publishing as well. Today, the brand publishers take the books through literary agents only. Even the literary agents are busy stabilizing their existing clients. They do not have any time to even look at your work.

The internet gives you numerous opportunities, but there are equal number of frauds taking place online. Therefore, whether you are submitting a story, poetry, prose, etc., you must be very careful. Writers must know the tricks to successfully submit their work on genuine websites. There is an online submission form available. If you want to submit your poetry or story, you can fill the form with details, attach it with your manuscript copy and sent it to an editor directly. If you are submitting a novel, you can also attach a query letter along with your e-mail. Knowing the technology and using it, is a wise thing, but writers must avoid mistakes which can harm their reputation.

Mistakes happen when people, without any experience, think that they know everything. Online video marketing is very useful, but you should do it in the correct manner. Online marketing will help you establish yourself in the midst of other competitors and change the way of your career, but you must be sure about the methods you are following.

Do not make haste: Take some time to go through the guidelines before submitting to an editor online. You must make sure that you have understood the process. You must know how much line count is required, and how to save your file, and what is the file format. Sending a wrong kind of file or manuscript, which is longer than expected can damage your image as a writer. All the options should be filled in correctly and checked before sending.

Uploading your work: The common mistake that people make more regularly is uploading the video in one place only. Uploading your video on a single website will help you get success. In order to attract many viewers and generate money out of it, you require strong marketing techniques. Just putting your work on one url is not enough.

Remember this: You must be careful while submitting your work. Many people go through the process very carefully, but make haste while submitting. You must verify that all the steps are followed properly. You must receive a completion message or receive a confirmation message about your submission.

Do it yourself: Most people opt for doing all the marketing procedures themselves. As a writer, you are expert in writing, but presenting oneself with good staging is very important. You do not want amateur presentations to be sent to your clients. Therefore, you must hire a professional to make the work impressive for clients. You can learn the tricks in the process.

Proofreading: You must go through the formatting and text and grammar, before submitting. It should match the standards that are required and expected from you.

Promoting : When you put the video online, you think your task is over. Now, the people will come in flocks to visit your website. How will they know about your work? This requires promotion of your work. You will have to create a promotional video. You can use social media and other forms of marketing. This will make your work known to people and they will visit your website. People generally forget to promote their work and wait for the viewers to visit their website. Proper promotion is equally important.

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

Difference between essays, memoirs and stories

Essays, memoirs, and stories are different forms of writing. Principally, essay and story are names defining 2 ends of a continuum of focus varying from acting to thinking. In a story, you can imagine the characters in a more dramatic way. There are comprehensible plots and it includes detailed explanations on the background of the character and even the environment in which the character resides. The stories are quite intriguing and they take us in a totally different world.

Writing has evolved over the ages. Essays have gained fame in more recent times, especially the personal essays that show the values, beliefs, and opinions of the writer. The essay involves more meaningful topics. Essays generally contain the topics which lead us to self understanding and it is more articulate and delivered in an organized manner.

A memoir is an account from history or biography from personal learning. Memoirs can be long or in brief form. You can get a good variety of memoirs from your local library. Some you will find are in huge volumes and some may be a book of around 50 pages. On the other hand, story writing contains a fully evolved theme in the beginning. You can create a short story out of it, and you can even elaborate on the idea and generate a novel.

Stories may also involve a life story, which contains more of real life experiences and incidents. Customarily, essays will have strict limitations. Stories differ from the essays. They have lots of drama, dialogue, actions, different plots, and different elements, which make the reader more keen with heart pumping experiences and you get totally lost in the story. Whereas, the essays show us the way to self realization and understanding the condition in the topic.

In some common circumstances, the autobiography and memoir can be utilized by interchanging. An autobiography concentrates on the incidents of the writer’s life in a more organized sequence, whereas a memoir contains one particular part of the writer’s life. Both memoirs and autobiographies are narrated in the first person voice and both the forms of writings are inspired from true incidents from the writer’s life. They each hold personal information and are supposed to permit the reader to understand and realize the the author's point of view. In short, the reader starts thinking like an author. You will find detailed analyses in both memoirs and autobiographies, though memoirs are generally more personal as compared to autobiography.

More commonly, personal essays are well-matched to the complete purpose of story and making sense of perceptions and experiences. The essay writing procedure aids to organize reflective fragments into an impending and logical story. Once this fundamental understanding is well organized, it can be embroidered and refined into a work of good writing by utilizing dialogue, description, other forms of writing, and a good plot for good impact on the reader.

A memoir, unlike essays and stories, concentrates on one facet of the writer’s life. Many people compose memoirs to discuss their experiences in their careers, in war or their family life. Memoirs generally contain a comparatively short span of time of life. It concentrates on one or two incidents in a writer’s life. The main purpose of the memoir is to draw the reader’s attention to the particular incidence in a writer’s life.

Good stories help to connect with readers. It contains all the action, reflection and more artful manner and it contains all the components that impacts the readers and the reader gets more engrossed in the story. Stories can be a work of fiction, it could be inspired by true events, it can be science fiction, horror, social, etc.

You can start your writing with any of these forms. It depends on your creative skills. There is no standard formula for writing a great story, essay, or memoir. It is the writer’s magic, which creates a great work of art.

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved