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March 28, 2024, 11:26:59 PM

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Do We Have Any Published Writers On The Forum? (2022 edition)

Started by Ray Travez, May 27, 2022, 05:14:17 PM

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Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Mister Six on June 17, 2022, 01:29:53 PMSure, drop me a DM (but probably remind me in here too).

I will do, thank you again, it really is very kind of you and I hope you'll like it. I have to admit that original premise (waaaaaaay back in 2013) was what if there was a magician like John Constantine but only good things happened to him, but it's a changed an awful lot since then and I don't think the lead bares any resemblance to John any more.

Quote from: Thomas on June 17, 2022, 12:38:01 PMNice one, SMBH, well done for getting through it - an uphill behemoth of a challenge.

I've been writing short stories for a few years now, and I've just had one published in a journal stocked at times by Waterstones, the London Review Bookshop, and even that jaunty Shakespeare bookshop in Paris. Things are moving increasingly and sensibly online, but it's nice to have a physical relic.

Been chipping at an incomplete novel for about six years, but I think I've only recently achieved a basic 'Good Enough at Writing' standard to put some actual life into it. Every couple of months I'll think of a nice word to add to a sentence that's been gathering dust since 2017. I recently read Will Storr's The Science of Storytelling and got a bit better overnight (I recommend to all).

Cheers, and congratulations too, that's fantastic news on the getting printed front, I do have a couple of half finished more serious attempts at short fiction and plan one day to submit them to either online or print publications, but given how long it's taken me to write the book it's not going to happen any time soon!

holdover

Quote from: Ray Travez on June 16, 2022, 02:02:43 AMI've got that upstairs, I'll dig it out.

The nastiest stuff was wisely edited out (stuff about young boy-racers constantly wrapping themselves around trees). It was a surprise when it came out as I'd forgotten ever having sent the email.

But it was quite gratifying as I truly hate the place and after the Daily Record did a piece on the Scottish towns mentioned in the book the Peterhead paper (Buchan Observer) had an indignant article about it with an interview to some local worthy claiming that the book could do "real economic damage to the area". Which was ridiculous but pleasing.

non capisco

What steps did you take to get published, Thomas? I probably naively think some of my short stories are alright and was thinking of trying to do something with them.

Martin Van Buren Stan

You're a great writist @non capisco way better than many people making a living from it.

@Thomas well done. Curious how much £££ you earned from that though?


Thomas

Quote from: non capisco on June 17, 2022, 09:00:41 PMWhat steps did you take to get published, Thomas? I probably naively think some of my short stories are alright and was thinking of trying to do something with them.

I started by signing up to Submittable, which displays hundreds of journals with open submissions (and details on what they're looking for, word limits, genres, deadlines, etc). I also keep an eye on lists of literary journals - I'll try to find my usual guide.

Quote from: Martin Van Buren Stan on June 17, 2022, 09:03:12 PM@Thomas well done. Curious how much £££ you earned from that though?

I haven't been paid often, but in this case it was a cool €250. A couple of years ago, I got within 12 finalists of a £10,000 prize - but it's not about the money (I wish I'd won the money).

Greg Torso

Quote from: non capisco on June 17, 2022, 09:00:41 PMWhat steps did you take to get published, Thomas? I probably naively think some of my short stories are alright and was thinking of trying to do something with them.

I hope you do, I'd like to read them.

I've used Lulu in the past but have no idea if they're an economically sensible company, I've only ever printed ten or twenty books at a time (and had a friend to help with fonts, editing and design).

Greg Torso

Quote from: Thomas on June 18, 2022, 12:42:05 AMI started by signing up to Submittable, which displays hundreds of journals with open submissions (and details on what they're looking for, word limits, genres, deadlines, etc). I also keep an eye on lists of literary journals - I'll try to find my usual guide.

Thanks for this, looks like a good resource and well done on getting published! Respeck

madhair60

Quote from: madhair60 on June 03, 2022, 05:20:44 PMmy first book is being published soon :)

Because it counts I've also been doing online stuff for a few years now (Retronauts, Nintendo Life, Rock Paper Shotgun, etc), that's how I got the book gig to begin with. I've also been published in hobbyist magazines Sega Powered and soon Ninty Fresh (look, I didn't choose the name) and have been in Retro Gamer a couple of times, with a third and fourth hopefully coming to fruition soon.

Not bragging, I just never really get to talk about this. lol.

bgmnts

Congratulations that's quite impressive! Took me five minutes to realise Ninty is presumably short for Nintendo.

bakabaka

My history as a published writer is, I suspect, not that uncommon (I've told it here before, but that was a decade ago):
I wrote a How To... design book on a niche subject I'd been working on intensely for a few years, so knew loads about. I wrote it and drew all the illustrations for it in and then put it together in PageMaker (the precursor to InDesign), just to get an idea of how long the book would be and so if it would work as a book. When it was almost all done and looked like a proper book I sent off the first chapter to the 6 biggest publishing houses who did books like that.

The advice at the time was that you just keep sending it out and getting rejections until after a hundred or so attempts someone finally says OK. Or you just give up. So that was what I was expecting. Three publishers got back to me to say 'Yes, please.' which completely fucked me as there was no advice I could find anywhere to say how to deal with that situation. I suppose it's something that agents deal with, but there seemed no point in an agent for a one-off design book. So I just asked them what their terms were and chose the one that gave me most.

Having made the deal, I sent a copy of the finished book to them and was assigned an editor who then asked me to come down to London to discuss it. I assumed it was to change everything but when I got there it turned out that my editor was the wonderful Lucian Randall. He told me that the proofreader had come back to them saying that nothing needed fixing or changing (except possibly the only equation in the book, but I explained why it was right), so there was nothing to discuss and instead we spent a happy hour talking about Vivian Stanshall and the Bonzos (he was writing Viv's biography at the time). He then told me to claim expenses totalling about 2 months of the dole money we were on at the time and that was that. Except that they gave me an advance of a thousand quid. I checked with the DSS and as an advance is possibly repayable if the book doesn't sell, it didn't count as income so I wouldn't lose the dole. When it arrived I used it to pay off all my debts, leaving me with £50. At which point the DSS changed their mind, cut us off for 2 months leaving us with a new-born baby and £4.50 a week to live on for two months.

Luckily we didn't have to pay the advance back as the book was a big success, a 'bestseller in its field' ("like a dozen cows in an allotment", apparently) so they asked for another one. That was rushed and not nearly as interesting or innovative as the first and sold just enough copies to cover the advance. Classic second book stuff. And they never asked for another.

A couple of years later I got a letter asking if I'd be interested in doing a 20 page booklet and designs for a couple of small sheets of temporary tattoos. Once the higher-ups okayed it, I'd be given 3 weeks to write and design the package and they'd pay me £3000. No brainer, no problem.
Next year, same thing but for 'Tribal tattoos'. This was about 30 years ago, just as tribal tattoos were just becoming popular, but this bunch obviously had no idea what that meant. So I wrote and designed what I found interesting - traditional tattoo designs from the tribes and cultures that had historically used tattooing. They accepted it and paid me my £1000 a week for 3 weeks and I never heard from them (or any other publishers) again.

Weirdly, the best bit was shortly after publication when the publishers forwarded me an email asking if it was OK to use the equation I'd worked out in their paper (proof version attached) on string theory and would I like to come down to whichever university they were from and hear it being read and discussed at a physics convention. The next day my computer died, taking the email and details with it, so I never got to read the paper.

tl;dr - worked hard to start at the top then coasted to the bottom.

non capisco

Quote from: Thomas on June 18, 2022, 12:42:05 AMI started by signing up to Submittable, which displays hundreds of journals with open submissions (and details on what they're looking for, word limits, genres, deadlines, etc). I also keep an eye on lists of literary journals - I'll try to find my usual guide.

Thanks man!

Matthew Dawkins Jub Jub

I've got quite a lot of work published, to the extent it's my full time job. Tabletop roleplaying games mostly, under the name Matthew Dawkins.

Magnum Valentino

Quote from: madhair60 on June 18, 2022, 11:17:42 AMBecause it counts I've also been doing online stuff for a few years now (Retronauts, Nintendo Life, Rock Paper Shotgun, etc), that's how I got the book gig to begin with. I've also been published in hobbyist magazines Sega Powered and soon Ninty Fresh (look, I didn't choose the name) and have been in Retro Gamer a couple of times, with a third and fourth hopefully coming to fruition soon.

Not bragging, I just never really get to talk about this. lol.

I had a wee look online but couldn't find your forthcoming book, if you have any details feel free to PM me as I'm proper interested, and congrats.

FredNurke

Depends what you count as 'writing', I suppose. I did once see some of my professional work cited (not by me) in a CaB thread.

Mister Six

Quote from: FredNurke on June 19, 2022, 09:34:23 PMDepends what you count as 'writing', I suppose. I did once see some of my professional work cited (not by me) in a CaB thread.

Academic report, or newspaper-cutting kidnap letter to the police?

Ray Travez

letter of complaint disputing the amount of your Virgin Media broadband bill?

Ray Travez

Quote from: Dr Rock on June 17, 2022, 05:19:03 AMEasier than I thought as all Smash Hits are archived on the internet. This is from July 1985

I remember that letter! I thought it was clever (I would also have been around 15).

Smash Hits was really in its pomp back then.

FredNurke

Quote from: Mister Six on June 20, 2022, 12:02:50 AMAcademic report, or newspaper-cutting kidnap letter to the police?

Dictionary definition.

Crenners

 "My surprising opinions" is surely going to smash all the records to do with selling books.


Dr Rock

Quote from: Ray Travez on June 20, 2022, 12:50:03 AMI remember that letter! I thought it was clever (I would also have been around 15).

Smash Hits was really in its pomp back then.

Yeah it was great then. Had you heard the analogy before anywhere?


Norton Canes

Once had a piece of Doctor Who fiction published in the same volume ('Volume'? Who am I kidding? It was a fanzine) as a fellow budding Who writer with big dreams by the name of Paul Cornell. Fair to say our Who writing careers have followed different trajectories since then. 

Virgo76

I once had a funny letter published in Viz and two published in 2000AD.
Wrote a Judge Dredd story which was published in a fanzine last year.
I am a freelance writer and have had hundreds of features and reviews published on the subjects of film, TV, science fiction and history amongst other things in many magazines and websites.
Have had two local history books published in 2018 and 2019. One was co-written.
I wrote bits of the 2014 South Park annual and all of the Smurfs, Furbys and Star Wars Clone Wars annuals for that year and all of the Transformers annual for 2015.

Mr Vegetables

#54
I once submitted a letter of complaint to a writing award, which came second

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Virgo76 on July 09, 2022, 11:55:54 AMWrote a Judge Dredd story which was published in a fanzine las

Was that Zarjaz? A friend had a Zenith / Invasion crossover printed in it a while back and I was really impressed with the quality of the other stories, though I've heard there's been a couple of other very good fanzines.

Quote from: Dr Rock on June 17, 2022, 05:19:03 AMEasier than I thought as all Smash Hits are archived on the internet. This is from July 1985, the one with Howard Jones on the cover. For context, Black Type (Tom Hibbert) who replies to all the letters, was always venerating Bagpuss. If some of it doesn't scan properly it's because they edited it down a bit. If it's not funny it's because I was 15.



 Now I want to quickly admit that I suspect I nicked this analogy, but I've no idea where from. If anyone can place it pre-1985 that'd be super. The internet says this theory now abounds, and I remember Adam and Joe referencing it, but did I start it? I don't think so, but my memory is like a soggy paper bag.





Wouldn't Bagpuss be more of a capitalist fat-cat?

Virgo76

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on July 14, 2022, 03:06:46 PMWas that Zarjaz? A friend had a Zenith / Invasion crossover printed in it a while back and I was really impressed with the quality of the other stories, though I've heard there's been a couple of other very good fanzines.
That's the one!

Twit 2

Been published in Private Eye letters for them putting some poetry stuff in Pseud's Corner, like the bunch of philistine cunts they are; and The Guardian, reader submission article about wild camping.

AllisonSays

My first book came out a couple weeks ago! It's about a very specific historical subject and I feel slightly wary of naming it because it'd make me obviously identifiable, but I'm very pleased with it.