Category: Getting Unpublished

It’s only a matter of time before self-publishing becomes the next traditional publishing, an outmoded, outdated form of publishing. You-publishing is the next wave of publishing. With you-publishing, you publish my novels and collections of short stories. You-publishing can be a smart choice for writers that are me. It’s cost-effective (for me) , low effort way for me to transition from the unpublished lifestyle. It costs much less than other methods of publishing, because you …

Moments that grip, surprise, twist, amuse, frighten, and seduce have no business in fiction. The unpublishable writer must consider half-baked, haphazard moments. The story won’t elevate to the level of unreadable unless it’s stuffed full of these moments.

• The moment when the writer settles on an ill-conceived, contrived concept.
• A strong deterrent in the first few pages of the group that discourages the reader from proceeding any further
• The introduction of an impotent, uninteresting protagonist

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The Deviled Egg Eyes of the Publishing Abyss Gaze into My Soul

’Twas the season to be jolly a short while back.

Dr. Zaius received Charleton Heston, stuffed by the finest simian taxidermist. When wrapped, it was certainly the most oddly shaped gift placed on the Retail Season tree skirt. (We didn’t have a tree this year, so we simply laid out the tree skirt, where the tree might have …

How Do You Astrally Project to a Fiction Writer’s Conference?
Cotton Underwear is the Key.

In order to complete my being publishable check list, I had planned to attend the Ann Arbor Book Festival’s Fiction Writer’s Conference on Saturday, the 14th. Unfortunately, I was a bit short on cash (or credit for that matter) as the conference approached and I had a decision to make.

Many a writer has had to starve for his …

Despite my best efforts to hide my contact form, visitors are still sending me messages. I received one particularly noteworthy message the last week of September. felt that it would be a of great interest to other visitors to this site. The message follows, courtesy of Ethel G–

I represent Nonpublishing Publishing House. We offer little or nothing. No rejection slips, only thanks yous for allowing us the opportunity to not publish your masterpiece.

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Snowflake-Like Fractal Cauliflower, Symbol of Fiction Publishing Methodology

The Snowflake Guy has a little quiz you can take to evaluate how far you are on your way to publishing fiction. (Is it just me or is pretty much everyone a novelist these days?) The five questions that determine your progress (with my answers):

1. How long have you been writing fiction seriously?
   Half a century, which is quite an accomplishment

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Relics of Franklin’s 1845 expedition, from the Illustrated London News, 1854

When I falter on my journey to publish some notable, award winning fiction that changes the world’s understanding of the written word and alters the cultural landscape forever, I recall the 19^th century voyages of Sir Franklin Scott. He made it his mission to find the Northwest Passage through the Arctic. Just as many publishing writers have submitted countless short stories or novels …

To refresh my memory on the submission guidelines, I thumbed through my 2000 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. (I don’t have a 2009 copy or 2008 or 2005, or anything else from this millennium for that matter. I have been out of the game you might say).

In a nutshell, this is what the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market (Kuroff, Barbara. Writers Digest Books) had to say in 2000.

That’s a good question. Generally, I have always tried to publish my fiction stories in literary magazines. To identify likely candidates, I relied on the Writer’s Market and the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, two books that catalog a large number of print publications. The Writer’s Market covers fiction and nonfiction publications. Some good information about the publications is included in each.

The trick is to identify what publications where you would want …