Publishing is the act of printing and distributing writing in physical or electronic form. It may refer to the commercial publishing industry, small press, self-publishing and on-demand publishing. This tag should be used for any questions regarding the publishing process in any of these forms.
7
votes
4answers
177 views
Is there a Market for Poetry with a Fixed Verse Form
I find that when I structure my poetry according to an accepted form such as a villanelle, sestina, or sonnet I am able to think more clearly because of the boundaries of the form, and believe my best ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Can a book be published by more than one publisher?
1) Some books are published by more than one publisher. For example, if you go to Amazon or Flipkart and search for 'The Interpretation of Dreams' by Sigmund Freud, you will see many of them from ...
10
votes
3answers
152 views
Do publishers really need to translate between UK and US English?
Is there really a need for a book to be translated from UK to US English? I'm nearing completion on my own great work, and just want to know if it is truly worth doing a British and an American ...
3
votes
2answers
120 views
How do I create a book on iBookstore without having a Mac?
I use Linux, and I'd like to format a book for the iBookstore. When I go to signup to iTunes Connect to upload my books, it
says:
3. Download iTunes Producer
Download our delivery ...
-1
votes
1answer
44 views
Forming a tagline for customers, drivers and software [closed]
We are designing brochures for attracting possible vendors to use our software platform to attract/retain their customers.
The kind of vendors here are the hardworking type, with not necessarily any ...
3
votes
1answer
157 views
Not happy with format of self-published book. How to proceed?
I currently have my book published on Amazon using createspace and Lulu (google weave of the ride). However, I am not happy with the quality of the product.
I don't want a glossy cover, bleached ...
2
votes
3answers
172 views
Fan-fiction and legalities [copyright etc.]
I contribute to a motoring website, well, one that's got Photoshop of cars, motoring history etc. - it's a small obscure site with only a few users.
Recently I've been learning InDesign and Quark ...
2
votes
2answers
110 views
When self publishing, are there benefits to making a company to represent your books? Is that then a publishing house?
Is it possible to create a company that acts like a publishing house?
I imagine registering a company and contracting the novels I write under its name, and then putting them on Amazon and ...
40
votes
13answers
1k views
What are good places to post your work where it will be read by others?
Seeing this site and reading some of my ridiculous stories that I wrote a while ago makes me want to start writing again. I know I'll be more enthusiastic if I have people reading my work and ...
0
votes
1answer
94 views
How to elegantly convey the finer nuances of language in written form
I am fascinated by the idea of how to convey, in the written form, as much detail of expressive nuance as you originally intended in your head (i.e. what you hear when first coming up with it). I ...
9
votes
3answers
163 views
What do publishers do for me?
I'm writing a book, and it's my first one. It seems to me that the following things need to happen to publish my book:
Finish the book
Design cover (a friend is helping)
Edit manuscript (help of ...
3
votes
1answer
79 views
Must one have a book cover designed before to publisher?
I have finished a fantasy novel I have been writing for the past few years and I am now in the process of meeting with representatives from publishing companies toward the goal of publishing my book.
...
3
votes
2answers
117 views
UK laws broken by piracy of novels
I'm preparing some briefing notes on various open licences and I'm looking for some clarification on legal aspects of standard practice in the UK. (If there is a better SE site for this question feel ...
3
votes
2answers
111 views
How should we go from Stack Exchange Q/A to publishable PDF with the least hassle?
Over on another site we're talking about taking some of our content (on a particular theme) and re-packaging it as a printable PDF. (The primary use case is paper.) This wouldn't be a straight dump ...
6
votes
3answers
251 views
How much power does the author have over an original work?
Some background.
I recently published a book and was asked to share the first 30 pages so the publisher could edit and send it to the distributor. I complied and asked to see it. When I saw the ...
8
votes
5answers
655 views
Do you have to be good at grammar to get published?
I am not very good at grammar. Is there someone who would go through and correct your grammatical mistakes, even if you are not good at grammar? Who would this person be?
-2
votes
1answer
99 views
Is there a way to ask online booksellers to pull pirated editions of my books?
Eight of my books are available on Google Books as 100% online, downloadable, but no Creative Commons licensing. Now I am starting to see them show up in bookstores, in versions I didn't have printed. ...
3
votes
2answers
73 views
Does submitting multiple pieces to professional magazines (and being turned down) hurt chances of later stories that may be better-written?
When I first started focusing on short stories, I submitted to a range of top professional magazines (Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, etc.). I wasn't surprised to be rejected, but now I wonder if ...
4
votes
1answer
122 views
How to get a programming book published
So I feel I'm a pretty good programmer in my area of expertise. Whats the process for writing a book about my niche and getting it published?
0
votes
1answer
85 views
What type of writing would this fall under?
Would this be considered prose, or poetry? The reason I ask is because someone had told me that I should submit it to a magazine but I don't know what kind, if any would look at it. I write it about ...
2
votes
2answers
102 views
How to Create Barcode from ISBN Number
I have published some story books for kids and I have already bought the ISBN numbers for the same. But I am confused on how to get those ISBN numbers as barcodes on covers of books. What is the ...
2
votes
2answers
65 views
Does inclusion of significant quotations from literature make a novel harder to publish?
I'm considering using quotations (a sentence to a paragraph) from various pieces of literature at the beginning of each chapter of my novel. The quotations connect thematically to the events of the ...
2
votes
2answers
54 views
Do different formats of the same book need to be registered separately?
We're self-publishing a book in both paperback and e-book format. The content between the versions will be identical except for some formatting corrections (mainly white-space) made for the digital ...
4
votes
5answers
286 views
How can I make a collection of essays / arguments more attractive to publishers?
I've written several essays and am still working on some that I would like to eventually get published.
The issues I cover are on a wide range of topics ranging from Scientology to Piracy to ...
10
votes
3answers
1k views
How to handle taxes for a self-published book
I'm thinking of publishing a book on kindle, but I don't currently have a business set up. Do you need a business to publish a book? I'm curious as to how to handle US taxes for the royalties. I ...
7
votes
2answers
183 views
Which free licence to choose for my book (manual)?
I wrote a 50 page manual that I plan to release for free. I do not mind if the book is copied, translated, printed, shared, ... I just want two things:
I am the only person who can sell a copy of ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
Self/vanity publishing a game manual
I'm writing a player's handbook for a game I'm producing. The game is fully open source, and the manual itself will be online. However, I would like to offer a hardcopy version of the manual for those ...
1
vote
1answer
29 views
Page numbers on colour plates
I need to insert a full-page colour plate into a document I am writing. The plate has been prepared in a different program. As colour plates, which I have seen in books, do not carry page numbers, my ...
9
votes
5answers
5k views
How does one go about publishing erotica, and how far is too far?
I write erotica, it started out as an amusement to see how far I could go, but it became a real passion after three or four stories. I have even published a few online and those stories have become ...
-1
votes
1answer
75 views
What are my chances of getting advance funding on a non-fiction book? [closed]
I'm toying with the idea of writing a (somewhat unconventional) popular science book. How easy would it be to get a publisher to fund the writing of it based on a sample chapter or two and an outline?
...
-1
votes
4answers
180 views
What genre appeals to the widest audience?
My writing is focused primarily on love stories, i.e. the romance genre, and I believe this reaches a relatively small audience.
Is there one genre that appeals to a far wider audience than its ...
1
vote
2answers
77 views
Can I use a different ISBN when publishing a co-authored book in two different countries?
I have what seems to be a rather complicated situation and need some advice.
I have co-authored a book with an author living in a different country. We began by using a publisher in her country but ...
4
votes
3answers
503 views
Best markup language for a little story?
I'm writing a story in plain text using Vim text editor. It doesn't contain big tables, images. However, there will be short listings of source code in several programming languages and syntax ...
7
votes
4answers
439 views
Should I care if my short story has the same title as someone else's book?
It appears to be a pretty obscure book. It's on Amazon, but there are no descriptions or reviews. From the cover, I'd say it was a kids book, which would put it in a different market.
Let's assume ...
12
votes
5answers
431 views
Can I self-publish, and how much would it cost?
With the barrier to having a publisher sign a new author seemingly high, especially without prior success or experience, are there any good author-funded alternatives out there to the repeated mailing ...
2
votes
2answers
157 views
How to publish public domain books?
It is known that the copyright permission is not needed for old books (usually 70 years after the author's death), because the copyright has been expired. However, I am not sure how easy a public ...
8
votes
5answers
428 views
Is it really so “impossible” to get published by a traditional publisher?
I was an avid reader in my early years (as in hard copy - books), and I still am (just now via computer)... and I never got wind of such difficulties in publishing, until now.
Is it like going up ...
20
votes
7answers
2k views
Do most novels not get published?
If a person writes a novel, grammar alright, decent story, word count, etc. everything okay,
Is it a crap shoot for that person to get published? Is it just like the lottery or maybe better ...
2
votes
1answer
304 views
How many short stories make a collection
I would like to know, from someone who has marketed a collection of short stories (or is otherwise knowledgeable in these affairs), about how many short stories a publisher is looking for to ...
1
vote
6answers
157 views
Where to publish poems
I'm looking for a site where I can publish my poems.
I'm not keen on rewards; I just need a place to publish it.
I've found poetry.com that seems to be what I'm looking for but they require a ...
4
votes
2answers
74 views
How to find an agent for a children's picture book?
I have written (and self-edited) a book, and need to figure out how to expose it to the "right" agents. I'm a little overwhelmed (and I'm sure I'm not the first), but I do think it is a unique story ...
7
votes
6answers
806 views
What are the advantages and disadvantages of digital rights management for self-published authors?
DRM (digital rights management) is being used in just about every electronic format, including files used in electronic readers. My question is whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for writers, ...
4
votes
2answers
95 views
ePublishing Conference Proceedings
We have an annual conference, and as part of this conference we have a curated collection of papers published. Circulation is pretty minimal, so we are working on getting out of dead tree land and ...
5
votes
2answers
80 views
ISBN - is it possible to have one and a title before publishing?
i am currently writing a book but would like to know if i can pre register an ISBN and Book title. I am little concerned someone might call their book the same as mine before i finish it. So i really ...
-1
votes
3answers
160 views
Which well-established vanity publishers offer publishing for money and how much money is enough?
I know that you need an agent to communicate publishing with big guys like Random House etc.
However, I also know that money can buy almost everything and surely can buy publishing of a book.
Maybe ...
4
votes
3answers
226 views
Can a literary agent be hired?
I've sent my manuscript to tens of literary agents. Strangely enough, I received no positive response.
My question: Can I hire a literary agent? If yes, how much it costs?
Are there other ways ...
9
votes
1answer
88 views
Where to find comparative information about publishers?
Is there any reference for comparing publishers (or at least major ones)? Writers choose a publisher based on fame or by chance, but is there any system for rank of publishers? Or providing ...
3
votes
1answer
163 views
How can a Russian writer get his work translated into English?
There is a famous Russian writer named Yuriy Mukhin. He writes books about Stalin and about alternative economic system. All his books are in Russian and have never been translated into other ...
2
votes
2answers
132 views
What determines a book's price?
Ideally, a book price should be proportional to its publication cost. Since some books and topics have potential for higher sales, publishers increase the price. What I do not understand is why a book ...
7
votes
2answers
163 views
Who is responsible for copyrighted materials (publisher or writer)?
Imagine that Writer A's book includes copyrighted material created by Creator B, and Creator B sues for copyright infringement. Will Writer A be held liable, or will the book publisher?
I think the ...
