Publishing a Book

[Cheyenne K]

I have a book of Christian short stories I have been looking to publish. The problems being I am a first time author, I'm fifteen, have no college degree, and the book is short stories. A lot of people just are not accepting manuscripts right now and I don't exactly have the experience to warrant them doing so. I looked into self-publishing under WestBow Press. It will cost some money that I will have to work for. But self-publishing decreases salability and I want to help people with my stories so they kind of need to be seen/sold.
Should I just wait?
Any advice on what to try and do here?

 

[Jacy]

Cheyenne,
Self-publishing is the way to go if you were to publish your book...
I have not yet published mine but I am waiting for some financial backing for this project.

If you go through a regular publisher, some of them won't even look at new authors if they never have been published before...weird huh? Also, they usually get to keep the right to your book and get more of a profit. You get royalties, which may not be as much...

With self-publishing, you have more control and it is not that expensive compared to the other options. Try Morris Publishing. They send you a free kit if you request one and have easy instructions for everything you need...
Publish Your Own Book - Morris Publishing

Good luck and update me! Your are not too young to go for it...just figure out your costs and start raising that money girl...keep the faith

 

[Chan]

I have a book of Christian short stories I have been looking to publish. The problems being I am a first time author, I'm fifteen, have no college degree, and the book is short stories. A lot of people just are not accepting manuscripts right now and I don't exactly have the experience to warrant them doing so. I looked into self-publishing under WestBow Press. It will cost some money that I will have to work for. But self-publishing decreases salability and I want to help people with my stories so they kind of need to be seen/sold.
Should I just wait?
Any advice on what to try and do here?

Hire a professional editor to edit your work (e.g. http://www.christianeditingservices.com/). Even those of us who write for a living sometimes miss things.

Regular publishers reject upwards of 96 percent of submitted manuscripts.

There are some publishers - such as Publish America - that will give new authors a shot that they would not likely get otherwise.

 

[KathyW]

You can also establish credibility as a published author by getting articles published in magazine first. Editors look favorably on this. Many publish short stories. Check out the Christian Writer's Market Guide by Jerry Jenkins. You should be able to check out a copy at your local library.