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Post by warsparrow on Dec 11, 2014 18:26:47 GMT -6
Dear Mr. Warsparrow: Thank you so much for submitting your manuscript for review. I really enjoyed reading it and must say that you are a great writer. Unfortunately, I do not feel that your manuscript is a good fit for what CeJa Publishing is looking to publish, through the traditional route, at this time. However, there are other publishing options available through CeJa Publishing (Please see attached). Again thanks for your submission and rather or not you decide to use CeJa Publishing for your publishing needs, I wish you the best on your project. Sincerely Manuscript Review Team
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Post by willc453 on Dec 15, 2014 13:02:36 GMT -6
Didn't Stephen King have a bunch of rejection slips too?
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Post by papaof2 on Dec 15, 2014 13:59:21 GMT -6
Rejections aren't new. "A Wrinkle in Time" was rejected something like 27 times. The first Harry Potter book was rejected multiple times. Sometimes a good story just has to meet an intelligent agent.
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Post by mnn2300 on Dec 22, 2014 17:56:11 GMT -6
Hey, at least you submitted it. Many of us never get that far.
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Post by papaof2 on Dec 22, 2014 19:07:33 GMT -6
You can publish it yourself - or with a little help.
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) allows you to format and upload your books to amazon at no cost.
If you want a proofreader or editor, go to fiverr.com and see who's available. (You might find someone on this board whose work you're comfortable with and work out a deal with them.) People offer all sorts of services on fiverr.com, starting at something like $5 per thousand words. If you want someone to put the book in Kindle format, you can find that. Want cover art? There's someone who'll do that. Want a video promo? There's someone to do that, too.
If I were to put Accidental Family into book format, I'd take advantage of the skills of people I know - a friend of my wife with a Master's degree in education and works at a local university; a niece who teaches middle school. Each would see things from a different viewpoint and could collectively give me a good idea of appropriate age range (should it be 11 and up or 14 and up?). In the case of these two, payments would likely be dinner instead of cash - because I know some of their favorite places. I have a surprise reader who may be a resource: the receptionist at the dentist's office. When I mentioned that I was writing a book (it didn't start life as a book, but it's that length), she asked to read it. I gave her a copy in PDF format and I'll check back with her in January.
Who do you know that has skills you can use? Schoolteacher off for the summer and needs some additional income? If you garden and he/she does not, would they be interested in working for fresh produce? Retired schoolteacher? Retired pastor? Former politician? (some of them will be looking for work soon). If you have mechanic skills, trade them an oil or spark plug change for their time.
If you publish, be sure to tell the folks on this board. I'm sure some will want to post a review of your work.
There are a lot of 'rules' in formal publishing, such as a novel should be 75,000 to 80,000 words. Over 100,000 words will likely be considered too big unless you're an established author(J.K.Rowling, James Patterson, etc). Less than 70,000 words is too small for an adult novel but may be OK as a young adult book. You can search online for 'novel length' and find several sources with slightly different numbers, but these are an average.
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Post by kaijafon on Dec 25, 2014 7:18:30 GMT -6
awe, I'm sorry to hear that! But don't give up!!!
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Post by warsparrow on Jan 20, 2015 9:21:24 GMT -6
Sunday I got a 'Not rejection' letter. Basically it said we like your work. ..but it needs some serious editing. Reedit it and send it back.
Now I'm not good with written English, don't get me wrong I speak it like a native but i failed every English class I've ever taken.
They recommended a professional editor with more than a few published books under her belt.
But it's not cheap. I'm talking remodeling the kitchen or new roof on the garage money.
What to do?
I Understand That It Takes Money To Make Money sometimes. But even if I do pry open the purse strings and sell a few items, there is no guarantee my b
Manuscript will be accepted.
Ill post the letter if there is interest.
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Post by papaof2 on Jan 20, 2015 12:07:02 GMT -6
Excuse me for being paranoid, but why did they recommend ONE editor instead of giving you a list?
I'd suggest looking for a writer's forum and getting suggestions there (sorry, I don't have a list although I probably should, for future use myself).
Editors probably charge by the word/hour and editing would take several times longer than just reading, but my gut feeling is that it shouldn't cost more than $1200 (30 hours * $40/hour). If the going rate is much above that, maybe I should start a business ;-)
If they're just looking for "proper English", you might find a proofreader on fiverr.com much cheaper. If they're looking for checks on continuity, name consistency, time/date order, location and other "follow through" items, you may need a more expensive person. (Side note: in Tom Sherry's "Deep Winter" series, one of the soldiers is 'Annie', except when she's 'Amy'. He self-published and the books sold.)
Let us know your progress in getting published.
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Post by warsparrow on Jan 25, 2015 14:14:35 GMT -6
Dear Warsparrow, I am glad I could help. I look forward to receiving your manuscript. Have a Fantasic Day! Julie Hartwick Mythic Dragon Publishing (MDP) Submission Guidelines: www.mythicdragonpublishing.com/submission-guidelines.html Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MythicDragonPublishing Check Us out on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/pub/mythic-dragon-publishing/61/483/362/ -------Original Message------- From: Warsparrow Date: 1/23/2015 1:01:55 PM To: info@mythicdragonpublishing.com Subject: A thank you. I just wanted to write and thank you for your honest criticism and advice Upon completing my manuscript I was unhappy with the first chapter but was unable to comprehend a way to fix it, and thanks to your suggestion I make the changes you suggested as well as I am able and will be sending the manuscript to the editor you recommended. Thank you again. Warsparrow
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Post by freshwaterpearl on Mar 30, 2015 17:41:41 GMT -6
I went to Gold Leaf Publishing in Detroit. She read my book, made a couple of suggestions, that’s all. It cost me about $250. But, she did not have to do a rewrite.
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Post by headlesshorseman on Sept 23, 2015 7:23:17 GMT -6
When using KDP what format is the best for uploading the story? Do i need to convert it to Kindle first?
My wife wants me to publish the Slow Boat to TEOTWAKI trilogy. Split into 80,000 word books that would be 14 or 15 volumes.
At present i am proofreading / editing again.
thanks
hh
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Post by papaof2 on Sept 19, 2023 22:58:24 GMT -6
Probably late for HH but KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) accepts a number of formats including Microsoft Word (I'm still using Word 2003). They have guidelines for the formatting: first line of paragraph indented 2 character positions (that's a few clicks in Word) paragraph mark (return or new line at end of paragraph) and probably some others I don't remember (such as margin sizes). You upload the document and their computer does the formatting. You can use one of their generic book covers or make your own. You can pay someone to design a cover ("An Accidental Family") or use a public domain (royalty free) image ("The Waif") - I have a maybe a dozen CD's of images left from creating things for my better half when she taught 3-year-olds. Several of my books have a cover that was made from a picture I took ("The Recycled Homestead", "In the Dark", "Prelude to the Apocalypse", "The Coming Storms"). Go to kdp.amazon.com/ and sign up to be an author. Once you have a finished (and hopefully proof read by someone else) document, click the "+ Create" button and fill in the blanks. If you want to publish on paper, you'll have to do more work because each chapter needs to start on the right hand page so you must insert blank pages as needed to set that.
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