[Stylist] Questions about Creative Writing Terms

[Shelley Alongi]

Hi Sharon, 

Publishing is getting your work in print or ebook format these days through a major distributor. There are people on this list who have pitched their work to publishers and can better explain the process. It involves writing letters and presenting samples of your work. You can publish your own work through self-publishing web sites such as http://www.lulu.com, Ingram Spark, Amazon which currently used Kindle Direct publishing and Create Space which prints paper backs and will soon offer both ebooks and paperbacks through their services. There are sites I haven’t tried such as Book Baby. Smashwords.com will publish work in ebook format. You write and edit your work. You do all the work yourself. I have two different people that edit my work. Then you go to any of the sites and upload your files, choose a cover, Lulu provides templates. Also, draft2digital.com provides templates. You can upload your own cover art. You upload the files, write your descriptions, and the web site workers distribute your work to sellers. For a price they will do the work for you, but it costs a lot of money so I do the work myself and work with someone who does my art work for me. Basically when you self-publish you’re running your own business. You also do the promotion and let people know you have written aaa book. I have self-published four books and I am working on a fifth book. There are many self-published authors on the list. You can order author copies of your work in hard copy from whichever web site you choose at a discount and sell them yourself or send people to to the sites where your books are for sale. Each web site in my experience asks you to purchase a hard copy of your book to proof.  And then you go online and accept the proof. You can proof the PDF file also, but it’s always wise to have the hard copy in your hand to make sure spacing and chapter positioning and things like that look good on the page. They provide your book in traditional format so it really does look like you wrote a book. The site we use the most is draft2digital.com. It is easy to upload the files and they will create the ePub docs for distributing to sellers such as Apple, Barns and Noble, Kobo, and some library sites where people can check out ebooks. Whichever site you choose you do the work. They will issue a standard copyright. But you do the title page.

If you want to copyright your own work you can look up the US copyright Ofice online They have several circulars on how to do it. I have to research this more. You send the book to them so there is a record of your work with he Library of Congress. By the way, when you publish your book you are assigned an ISBN number so you can sell your book. 

That’s just a primer. Some people here have their work published by DLD books. They use amazon as their seller distributor. I published my first two books with Lulu.com but the man who uploads the files didn’t like that web site so we switched to draft2digital and use Amazon for paperbacks. Draft2digital is nice because they provide links where people can go to see all the places your book will be for sale. It’s a constantly changing scene. This division helped me get started with self-publishing. Some people think it’s a good idea, some prefer a standard publishing house already established. The choice is your’s. 

Shelley, Queen of Bells  Out! 
First Vice President, NFB Writers’ Division 
Editor, Slate and Style 
Email: Queenofbells at outlook.com with submissions 
List of Self-published Books 
Christ Crush: Poems and a Story 
Angel Hug 
Brave Pilot 
Trespasser
Purchase E-books on iBooks 
Purchase Angel Hug, Brave Pilot and Christ Crush as paperbacks at http://www.amazon.com 

Purchase Trespasser
Http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Queenofbells712 

Visit my Facebook page 
Http://www.facebook.com/shelley.alongi 

> On Oct 8, 2018, at 12:21 PM, Sharon Hooley via Stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi again,
> 
> I have some questions about the different kinds and  the processes of writing.  Does anyone know of a good web site where I can learn about these things and perhaps a glossary of  terms, or is there anyone who wouldn’t mind explaining  them to me?  I’ll list the things I think of:
> 
> What is the difference between autobiographies and memoirs?
> 
> what is publishing, exactly, and how can I publish my own work instead of having someone else do it?
> 
> How do I copyright my own work?  Is it just a matter of writing the words, “Copyright 2018,” for example, or is there something more I must do to make it legally binding?
> 
> are there any characteristics of a novel besides dialog, actions, thoughts and feelings of the characters involved?
> 
> I would greatly appreciate any help I can get.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> 
> Is it hard to communicate, even with hearing aids?  Visit http://cochlearamericas.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site
> http://writers.nfb.org/
> Stylist mailing list
> Stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Stylist:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/alongi.shelley%40gmail.com