Welcome To Trafford Publishing - The Self-Publisher's Publisher
anyone familiar with this place? and how do you suppose
that within days of announcing on my blog [which
boasts a readership of six, i think] that i had
finished my book i was treated to flashing banners
for this site such that i had to click on it?!

is it a google thang? you thank?

one thing about this i feel very strongly about:
don't sit on it. there are, basically, as i see it,
three options, from which i MUST choose one:

1. try to get a mainstream publisher to accept it.
the odds are very long, but then if it DOES happen
the benefits are humongous: they pay the writer
instead of the other way around, they have networks
that can distribute the book throughout the country
and even the world, etc. There is - or do i imagine
this? - to my mind, a sort of validation of the
quality of the writing that is accorded simply
by virtue of having found a publisher. and last
but not least, the manuscript would be edited by
a professional.

2. publish it myself. this option has one
gigantic benefit: there is no waiting around
for the rejection slips, and it is for sure
that the book will be published. the down
sides are simply the opposite of the upsides
to mainstream publishing.

3. contests. i have the latest copy of poets and writers magazine here, and
quite a few back issues. contests run year round -
most allow multiple submissions which, and i
might be wrong about this, most publishers do not.
usually the prize includes having your work published.

i perceive a couple cons with this route. for one thing,
almost every contest any more requires an entry fee
[some call it a "reading" fee but let's be realistic,
for most - not all! - the fee is the only way their
venture makes any money]. at the present time i haven't
paid my rent for this month, so i can log that out easily
enough. another down side is that the prospects for the
book reaching a wide audience, while probably somewhat
better than for a self-published book, are dim. and last
but not least, and this is just an opinion i formed after
attending a writer's workshop in Taos, NM, in 2003: many
of the contests are sponsored by academic institutions,
and the odds of winning are probably stacked in favor of students,
alumni, and staff.

so. once a route to set out upon has been decided,
the choices only get more difficult, of course.

know any good literary agents?

to deb, CC, Kaveri, Yvette, ili, and especially my angel michele, thank you - thank you - thank you
- posted by barbara @ 8/11/2005 06:39:00 AM