Tag: self-publishing

Neville the Devil

susanjeaton1 Comment

You might be hard pressed to think of anything worse that hearing a cat hecking (my Mum’s word for it) up a hairball somewhere in your house but you don’t know where.

I can tell you that being woken on what you originally considered to be a lazy Sunday lie-in by a cat hecking up his hairball right by your ear, is definitely worse. And I’d only changed the bedding the day before!

I’d had a busy week.

Madeley Carnival on the previous Saturday, Aintree ComicCon on the Sunday. This meant that I had to fit the weekend commitments in on the Friday before. Monday is Praise and Play in the morning, grandmother duties in the afternoon, Book Club on the Tuesday, Renegade writing group on the  Wednesday, catch up with my writing on the Thursday and so back to Friday with St Andrew’s Book Fair on the Saturday. I was considering going back to work for a rest but decided that having a lie-in in fresh sheets liberally sprayed with lavender was the better option.

Neville decided it just needed that touch of cat puke.

The Cat’s Home is too good for him.

~horrorstories, #horror, #scifi, #scifistories, #waterdragonpublishing, #cats, #coronabooks

Publishing

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I did say in my last blog that there were two questions I get asked. The second one concerns publishing.

Now that really deserves a complex answer because today there is so much diversity out there.

Publishing is totally different from when Enid Blyton was throwing out books about Noddy and naughty goblins.

Be cautious when googling publishers as they will fall into one of these categories;

  1. Traditional publishers
  2. Hybrid publishers
  3. Vanity publishers

Or there is –

  • Self publishing

If a company asks you for money in order to publish your novel then they are vanity publishers and other than removing your hard earned cash from your sweaty little palm they are not interested in your work. Please, don’t be tempted. Run a mile!

Hybrid publishers are useful if you want booklets associated with your business. Yes, you pay but you should receive a useful product with the cost offset by tax.

Traditional publishers no longer wine and dine their clients, nor do they arrange publicity. They will provide a finished article which satisfies you both and you will need to get together to organise publicity. You may get an advance and/or a percentage of the royalties. The main thing is you are not out of pocket. You pay nothing.

If all else fails you could try self publishing. There are a number of platforms out there. I would suggest paying for an editor if you’re not confident. I’ve seen some poorly presented pieces in my time.

However you chose to get your book out there please, please, please do you ground work. There’s no point sending a cosy crime novel to a company that specialises in hard science fiction. You will be rejected. Read some of their publications to get the feel of what they like.

Getting published is harder work than writing the book in the first place. What with …

  • Synopsis
  • Your bio
  • Tagline
  • Letter to the editor
  • Sample pages

… you need to make sure you present your work to its best advantage.

I’ve been lucky with Corona Books and then with Water Dragon Publishing.

My first story with Corona Books was pure luck – it happens. Water Dragon was researched and it paid off.

#coronabooks, #waterdragonpublishing, #horrorstories, #scifi, #scifistories, #horror, #psychologicalhorror.