Any fellow independent writers on here? need advice pls

[littleL]

Putting this here as not sure which section to post it, sorry if wrong.

I’ve been writing fiction for a while now as a hobby but recently have been thinking about publishing some of it as ebooks . I’ve heard of Amazon Kindle and Smash Words. Can anyone recommend any others? Also I’ve got some technical questions about some of my writing, can anyone recommend a good forum where I can talk to other writers?

many thanks!

 

[Mazzy17]

Amazon Kindle is the only one i have heard about. If/when you do put your work on let us know the titles, i love a good read!

 

[kmbabycrazy]

I don't know anymore but i've been thinking of this too as I have been writing as a hobby for about 8 years xx

 

[kmbabycrazy]

Oh there's iBooks for Ipads xx

ETA: Try this website https://www.blurb.co.uk

 

[littleL]

Thanks Mazzy17, I'll keep that in mind!

kmbabycrazy, I'll check that out thanks! What sort of genre do you write? Long, short?
I've done both, I've not got any long ones finished but at the moment thinking about testing the water with some of my short ones.

 

[kmbabycrazy]

Thanks Mazzy17, I'll keep that in mind!

kmbabycrazy, I'll check that out thanks! What sort of genre do you write? Long, short?
I've done both, I've not got any long ones finished but at the moment thinking about testing the water with some of my short ones.

My current longest one is just over 22,000 words so not long novels though I am currently writing a longer one it's just not finished though. Romance mainly. xx

 

[Abigailly]

Thanks Mazzy17, I'll keep that in mind!

kmbabycrazy, I'll check that out thanks! What sort of genre do you write? Long, short?
I've done both, I've not got any long ones finished but at the moment thinking about testing the water with some of my short ones.

Can I have a nose and ask what genre you write?

I have a friend who writes for Mills and Boon (Harlequin Novels). I'm very aware of the reputation they have, however they're a very good company to have as your publisher if you're not wanting to take it all too seriously. When I say this, I mean they tend to be short stories (<50k words), they ask you to write a couple a year but each novel you earn between about £4k-£8k unless you're one of the bigger names or write a series E.G. Cindy Dees.

And now a days it isn't your typical 'Hero and Heroine fall in love, have sex and live happily ever after with a few break ups in between', unless that's what you really fancy writing... which is great fun
It's always romance but you can expand on it with the likes of the Intrigue series.

I can't help, in deatail, with anyone except M&B but I know little bits about the wider publishing world.

As for online communities, I quite like writewords.org.uk and writelink.co.uk

Please feel free to PM if you have any questions you think I may be able to answer.

 

[kmbabycrazy]

If it's romance and not too long you can write for Little Black Dress books too. The ones I've read are good and their criteria for their published work is on their website

Here's the link to their editorial guidelines https://www.littleblackdressbooks.com/submissionguide.pdf

 

[littleL]

Thank you for the info! Nice to know there are companies like that.

No it&#8217;s not romance I&#8217;m afraid. I do sometimes have a romantic interest in the story but it&#8217;s not the main focus. Hmm it&#8217;s hard to say exactly, it varies (eg one has paranormal elements to it, another is set in the future) but I think the main theme tends to be mystery. Not necessarily murder mystery but where there is a problem/puzzle, some clues and in the end it all fits together. I don&#8217;t have any series as yet.

When I say short though I mean not a novella size but for example one of them is 4.7 k words, another is 12K. I do want to finish my current longer one but at the moment LO keeps me quite busy

 

[Pandora11]

If you want advice/feedback on your work join authonomy.com you upload your work and others read, rate - with the intention of getting to the editors desk and having a real editor/publisher/agent etc read and review your work. It can take a long time, but it's the only place like it and it's run by Harper Collins.

 

[littleL]

If you want advice/feedback on your work join authonomy.com you upload your work and others read, rate - with the intention of getting to the editors desk and having a real editor/publisher/agent etc read and review your work. It can take a long time, but it's the only place like it and it's run by Harper Collins.

Thanks Pandora, I'll check that out.

My usual worry with uploading my work for free is copyright though. I know that whatever you write is automatically copyrighted to you, but are there any other ways of doing it legally? (sorry for the amateurish question, but I've never looked seriously at publishing before, it was only just a hobby)

 

[kmbabycrazy]

If you want advice/feedback on your work join authonomy.com you upload your work and others read, rate - with the intention of getting to the editors desk and having a real editor/publisher/agent etc read and review your work. It can take a long time, but it's the only place like it and it's run by Harper Collins.

My mum told me about this as friends husband is a writer but when i originally saw te tread i couldn't for the life of me remember what it was called xx

 

[Pandora11]

i think everyone has the worry of copyright, especially on a site like that, so some people only upload a certain amount of work, there is a minimum though. Also, in the help/support questions, there is something written about it is unlikely that someone would go to the trouble of stealing someone else's work for various reasons that i cannot remember right now.... most people on the site are writers, so i don't think it's too much of a problem. register see what you think and if you don't like it, you can take your work down.

It's a great idea, but there are tons of people who are playing the system, and you never know how many months/years it'll take to get to the editors desk but having a professional read your work is worth it.

It works like this (in a nut shell) you upload your work, you read other peoples, give them star ratings, backing(on your virtual bookshelf) and/or leave comments, then people do the same to you and your book climbs/falls depending on the activity.

It's great if you want to really see what people think of your work and fun to read other stories. Authors i like have been spotted on there, so who knows.

Good luck

 

[littleL]

Forgot to mention, I also recently came across Wattpad. Is that quite similar to authonomy?

 

[Pandora11]

That is similar, but more of a place to join with others and read/share whereas most people on authonomy are there to get noticed/reach the editors desk/get feedback/advice from experienced people. The rating system makes it competitive but you can find good support on there too.