I once wrote a book..

Gabriel2k

Well.., I haven't myself, but have you?
If any of you is a writer, or has has published a book, I would love to hear about it if you don't mind sharing.

(I checked with @Babichev to make sure that you telling us about your own book wasn't seen as advertising lol)

Babichev

@Gabriel2k - I think it’s an interesting question and as long as someone isn’t trying to sell their book (i.e. I would not post a link to buy it) I don’t see a problem.

I’ve never written a book but I’ve been encouraged to collect some of my professional writing into a book. I write on massage therapist, often on busting myths and correcting misinformation, also trying to bridge the gap between research and practice.

Here’s one dealing with massage and pregnancy:
https://massagefitnessmag.com/massage/massage-pregnancy-myths/

Gabriel2k

Thank you for the clarification 😅.. I meant to include that, my bad.

I'll definitely be checking it out, thanks for sharing some of your writing with us.

JoyfulHeart

People have been begging me to publish my limericks. I'm still looking into getting them illustrated.

Gabriel2k

@JoyfulHeart that's awesome. Let us know when you feel they are ready, I'm sure there's some of us that would love to read them.

TheFunCartel

@JoyfulHeart How is Nantucket this time of year?

GreatHornedOwl

The closest that I've ever come to writing a book, was a 31 page (successful) patent application, that has now been cited by 37 other patent applications. If anybody has a need for some very dull, bedtime reading to put them to sleep, go to
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20110051139A1 and click "Download PDF."

Gabriel2k

@GreatHornedOwl 😂 I bet some people here will appreciate the reading material to help their sleepless nights. But congrats on the successful patent application 👏

DaringSprinter

I used to write an advice column in an online magazine. (Horrifying, I know. If it helps, it was readable by subscription only.)

A few other places have carried my work, but the magazine job's the only one I've ever been paid for. As far as writing a book goes... well, I'm trying for a critique of the system in which I was raised, but trauma keeps getting in the way!

Shaking and crying aren't terribly conducive to clear writing, unfortunately. Oh well.

Maybe I'll come back to it in a few years.

Maverick07

I've participated on a couple of book chapters and authored some technical/scientific publications in my field of work, but a 'real' and complete book per se, no.
My mother is a retired teacher (grade school) and has written a few poems and verses over the years. They were great and I encouraged her to put them in a little book, or something for kids, but it was not her deal.

Gabriel2k

@DaringSprinter I'm glad the subscription gods spared us from it.. just kidding. Was it usually on one specific topic or did you cover a wide range of topics?
I wish you the best on your journey.

I've had one work of prose in an anthology, Write Like You're Alive 2016, one poem on an online literary magazine, The Metaworker, and I self-published a book of poems that can be found on such retail websites as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, Walmart, and Google Play and it has exactly zero sales and one review (my own). Lol

HogboblinZwei

I've had some poetry published in various magazines. This is going to sound incredibly obvious, but it's important to (1) find a publisher who is looking for the sort of things that you write, and (2) who has been around long enough to be well regarded.

(1) is critical. While I generally avoid talking to other writers, those who I have spoken to—especially poets—think that their work can't be easily classified. I'm not an editor, but this tells me some things; the writer either lacks the ability to critique their own work or believes that they're super unique and special, or they don't read much. None of those possibilities are good.

There are so many genres out there that whatever you write can probably fit neatly into one. Realizing this makes finding a publisher much, much easier. Once you have an idea of which genre(s) your piece falls into, you can search for anthologies that focus on that genre. There might even be an award for those who write in that genre—in which case you can do a Google search for which body issues the award, and find out where their winners and nominees had their stuffed published. Easy.

(2) is kinda important, but not as much as the first point, especially if you're simply trying to get your first story out.

Please note: I don't have any experience trying to get a novel published, mainly because I'm not interested in writing novels. The following applies to short fiction, micro fiction, poetry, etc.

With that out of the way...

Certain publications have been around for ages, and those publications are usually run by editors who are respected in their field.

How does this benefit you? It means that you're more likely to get paid for your efforts, to receive valuable feedback from an editor, to be seen by fellow writers, and to reach an established audience.

Personally, I'm iffy when it comes to online publications. They haven't been around very long, and I love to receive contributor copies. So, yeah, I avoid them. Your mileage may vary.

It's usually a good idea to do some research into who the head editor is, too.

Here's a story for you!

Back in the day, when Weird Tales was being run by Ann VanderMeer, I submitted a short story to the legendary magazine. I received some feedback from an editor, which I took very poorly (as might be expected of a seventeen year old), but set my mind on reworking my short story in the hopes of it being published in Weird Tales—the mag that once featured Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard (albeit in an earlier, unrelated incarnation).

Unfortunately, Ann VanderMeer departed as the editor in chief, and the person who replaced her was a useless idiot who let the magazine decay spectacularly. The dude also decided it would be super neat to advertise a racist novel within the magazine—the justified backlash was the equivalent of the magazine getting its knees blown apart by a shotgun. This whole ordeal had a huge effect on submissions, and probably payment as well.

I didn't seek publication in Weird Tales after all of that. I canceled my subscription, and thoroughly scrubbed away what remained of the magazine's corpse from my brain. I'm not even sure if it's still around, or if it's shambling about like a zombie. Don't know, don't care.

So, yeah. Just try to make sure that your ideal publisher is doing well, and that the editors are at least competent. Buy a few of their magazines or anthologies. Check online to see if there are any discussions going on about the publisher. That sort of thing.

Gabriel2k

@Maverick07 wow, y'all are way more talented than I thought when I asked the question. Tech and science publications, that's awesome! Good for you.

Bella_Sera

When I was living abroad and finishing my graduate degree, I worked as a ghost writer for a number of business books and as an editor/citation manager for a variety of FDA clinical trials. I’ve also written a few dozen encyclopedia articles in my field of history.

Gabriel2k

Aww @MaineCuddle I was just going to message you but you are muted. What's the name of your self published book? If you don't mind me asking?

Gabriel2k

@HogboblinZwei I'm sorry it went that way for you. I wish you had had a more positive experience. Thank you for sharing though 🙂

DaringSprinter

@Gabriel2k: It was a magazine for the parents of kids with Asperger's Syndrome. So there was a wide range of questions with basically only one common link—the autism of every person being frantically worried over.

The whole magazine was disgustingly ableist, honestly. "Sometimes kids smoke!" I wanted to scream. "It's not an autistic thing! You can deal with it normally!"

But no: it was always "my darling sweet innocent autistic baby is doing something I just don't understand, why are they behaving this way, how can I make them stop and go back to being sweet and innocent again, how do I make them pliable?"

I tried very hard to gently guide these parents towards the idea that autistic teenagers are in fact teenagers (and, further, people).

I mean. People generally respond pretty well to being treated like people. Communication is possible even between the autistic and non-autistic! But these parents talked like what they wanted were human-shaped dogs instead of human teenagers—they didn't want to communicate, they wanted to manipulate.

"How do I make my son stop hanging out with his friends," "How do I make my daughter wear the clothes I want her to" ...it was sickening.

I got paid all right, but I'm pleased to be out of it.

Babichev

@Maverick - oh, you reminded me - I was hired to revise and rewrite a chapter in a massage therapist textbook. I removed outdated information and added new content about current pain science. My name is on the textbook chapter.

I’ve also been published in Italian. In 2004 I visited the village in northern Italy where my grandmother was born. The valley has a local magazine and invited me to write about how I came to visit and so I did. I wrote it both in English and Italian because I was not fluent in Italian and I figured that if they could not understand what I wrote in Italian, they had the English to refer to, not that anyone in the valley spoke English but they could probably get help from someone who did. They cleaned up my grammar, spelling, and sentence structure and published the article.

Gabriel2k

@BellaSera hmm, I don't see any citations on your comment, getting a little rusty? Lol
A ghost writer? Wow, that's cool.

I I wrote and self published a comic book last year. I’m hit chat about it. Pm me if you like:)

Gabriel2k

@Lulupoet that is great! Would definitely like to hear more about it.

Y'all are an amazing, self-publishing, huggable, and kind group of people. Keep up the good work!

Maverick07

@Gabriel2k LOL - thanks for the compliment! Since English is not my first language, a peer-reviewed manuscript for a scientific journal has always been less difficult to write than an article for a technical magazine.
The manuscript is pretty "dry" and follows the usual steps (abstract, intro, material & methods, results, discussion and conclusions); thus, it's more about data and findings. I feel that the article is more like a story and I have to make it interesting for the reader - it takes me a lot more time still, it is always special when I get one published

@Babichev - glad to help, my dear!

@BellaSera - it sounds fascinating! You'll probably hear from me next time I'm in KC

HUGGGGGG

@BellaSera sounds wonderful! i’ve wanted to write an encyclopedia article but have not ….

Nevertheless thankfully have published a book, and a book chapter, amongst few other scientific writings … wish I could do a lot more though! … I feel if I share people will find too much about me … what I can share is that when I was finishing the book I used to get these visions in my sleep where work was like a fountain and ‘work’ would flow out of it and would just not stop hahahahahahaah

TFWO

I have been regarded by some, as being highly successful in my carrier, and have worked in the electronics industry for 30 years. I repair industrial electronic machinery for a living. On day I got this great idea to write a book to educate others upon the fine art of seeing the unseen, and discovering the unknown. I was going to title it, "Conversations with Machery."

The trouble began when I began laying the groundwork for the book, I realized that much of what makes me successful at what I do, is extremely difficult to explain rationally. I get a hunch, or a feeling about something, I get curious about something and then go off to explore it. And then so very often, the problem was in plain sight, or nearly so. The difficulty is always in knowing what you're looking for, as well as knowing what you're looking at.

I may still write the book some day, and if I do, you can be sure that it will be filled with just as much metaphysical insight and observations, as it does information on the practical, physical application of it. As well as a glossary with pictures and descriptions of many of the archetypes of brokenness.

Gabriel2k

@TFWO I know you'll get it done one day, don't give up on that dream. Best of luck.

ThomSSI

I have written five books as sole author and another as co-author and have contributed chapters/sections/etc. to another half-dozen or more. In addition, I’ve done some ghostwriting. To be clear, I never set out to write the Next Great Novel -- these are all nonfiction titles written, with the exception of the ghostwritten material, primarily for the adolescent/young-adult market.

Many nonfiction books, these included, have their inception at their publisher’s offices: a project manager and editorial/production staff hires a writer or writers and the in-house team shepherds the book(s) through the editorial and production processes. As such, I never had to go through the process of getting an agent and trying to market my writing to a publisher.

If you’re a good writer/researcher and can market yourself as a subject matter expert in some field, this process is a surer path to getting published and avoids the long, painful, and uncertain process of writing a book first and then trying to get it published. Good luck!

WriterGF

@Gabriel2k I have had over 100 books published and 10 NY Times graphic novel best-sellers.

Gabriel2k

@WriterGF my mind is blown! That is a lot.. thank you so much for your contribution to society. If anyone deserves a hug its you, sir!

Maverick07

@WriterGF I heard a mic dropping

TheFriendlyFae

Wow, there are so many inspiring and skilled people in this community!!!

Personally I've helped my Grandma edit and publish two books in her Broken and Beautiful Memoir series. In the third book called Sound of Surviving I do author a few chapters from my perspective explaining my upbringing and the experiance I've had after a life altering crash, dealing with the legal system, grief, and the weird twists and turns of life. There's corresponding poetry after each chapter as well!
Recently I had to create a video with my grandma explaining a bit more about it and I include snapshots of news articles and photos from the scene. It was only my second time doing video editing and we weren't following a script so there's a lot of jump cuts and a few weird pauses but I tried my best. The whole ordeal has been a huge learning experiance.