Who'd be interested in WilliamPitt sharingsome tips on writing/publishing

[expatriot]

a book from the initial 'i am really gonna write this book this time' to 'hey, my book is on amazon.com!'

I wanna hear it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I can start with the usual

WRITE, WRITE EVERY DAY, at least 500 words a day....

I try more than that, at least 1500, but write, write every day.

[J B]

2. I still have writing aspirations. Any help would be welcome.

Not like I have the money to devote any time to writing instead of translating.. yet..

[supernova]

3. I'd enjoy that

though I've recently slacked off in the writing every day dept. Nevermind the time I spend at DU! :spank:

[liberalhistorian]

4. As a free-lance writer with many book ideas of my own,

I would very much appreciate hearing any advice he has to give!

[PunkinPi]

5. I would!!!

:)

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

6. Definitely

I'd be very interested in something like that!

[WilliamPitt]

7. It'd be a short book

1. Get pissed off enough to do something.

2. Write between 1000 and 5000 words every single day, without exception.

3. Build a body of work. Improve.

4. Put up a website.

5. Get on 25 Yahoo lists that target Democrats and Liberals; target your writing at these lists to get the word out.

6. Get gigs at other websites to write.

7. Get approached by two different publishers.

8. Put a book out, then another, then another.

9. MOST IMPORTANT: Find a resource like DU where data comes like the Mississippi River, and you have thousands of people who vet the material and analyze it with you.

The end.

:)

[Fredda Weinberg]

9. "Get approached by two different publishers."

Not exactly the way I remember it happening ...

[WilliamPitt]

15. Quite correct

New #7: Have someone help you get connected with a publisher who then goes completely haywire and screws up everything she puts her hands on because she is a vindictive and mentally disturbed lunatic. Lose all sense of gratitude for that initial assistance after several months of personally damaging hassles that can be chalked up to nothing more than incompetence and a mulish desire to reinterpret reality on the part of said person.

New #7.5: Have second publisher contact you out of the blue.

New #7.75: Be incredibly suspicious for the rest of your career of anyone who wants to 'help' you. Be sure to do background checks on any such person before allowing them to 'help.'

Better?

[J B]

12. I'll have to deal with the web site part soon then.

It's been coming for a while, but I'm in a cash crunch for about 50 days. Once it ends I'll be in great position though.

[roguevalley]

8. SURE

spill. :)

[boilerbabe]

10. I'll read what you have to write

I have no drive to write anymore..but I would love to read what you have written...gladly will volunteer my proofing skills for free. (for what it is worth) and then the rest is up to you....If you have a manuscript you would like to send to me, I will gladly read and give you my input!!

[Kellanved]

11. One more question:

Any plans to publish those books in Europe /the UK ?

[Interrobang]

13. How do you guys keep up on markets?

I write a lot of stuff that seems pretty well unplaceable -- all my reject slips say variations on a theme of "doesn't fit the format." I also don't have the money to buy sample copy after sample copy of every little mag out there, and I can't seem to break into the bigger mags (the ones I have read) without more street cred than I've got.

[Robb]

14. I'm not of Pitt's stature

But I can address this one: get anywhere. Seriously. Write for your freakin' Tinytown Weekly that pays $5/article. Collect a bunch of those, and send those clips to NotSoTinyTown Daily, who pays $6.

Accept it will take forever, because it does. And eventually you've got enough regional clips a national editor will take a chance on you. When she does, you hit the rest with that. And that feeling rules.

Same thing with books. I got my first book published on a smallish press, and now when I approach editors I can say not only did I actually finish a book (most people who start writing a book don't finish it), and go through the hoops to have someone else pay to publish it, I've got a 97% sell-through rate. Never mind how few copies went to press!! :)