want to publish my own mermaid book and suggestions.

[Rain Hauger]

So I want to publish a small book about teenage mermaids. I've wanting to be a write since I was a little girl. And I was wondering if anyone had any idea on how I could get published or raise money to put it together. I'd really appreciate the feed back and help. Thank you to my whole mer-family!

[Spindrift]

Have you written the book yet? You should talk to Alveric. He just got his book published.

[Rain Hauger]

i have started writing it but have not finsihed it yet! it will not be too long probably a about 300 hundred pages
or so

[Alveric]

Best thing is to write it first. Then edit it. Look out for spelling and grammar errors first, then style errors. Then have someone you trust to be brutally honest with you read it. Make more corrections and revisions. You can probably concentrate more on catching style errors now, like repetitions. I revised and rerevised but a couple of repetitions still got through . Somewhere along about then you should look for a publisher. For a first time author I would recommend a small publishing house that concentrates on your genre (If it's mermaids, it must be fantasy). Or you can do some form of self-publishing, which is what I did. It is easier to get accepted, you also have complete control, but you also have to bear a lot more responsiblity for editing, correcting and cost. Print on demand revolutionized this process. It reduced the cost part dramatically and you don't end up with a garage full of books you have to sell.

First and formost though is write, write, WRITE.

Let me know when you're done. I'd like to read it.

Alveric

[Alveric]

Oh, one more thing. Don't be upset by rejections. They're going to happen. Even famous authors get rejection notices occasionally. Strangely enough, some of them are rather nice. One I kept because it gave me some suggestions I used later.

As for critics, well .

Alveric

[Rain Hauger]

thank you Alveric. I am hoping to have it done edited and in book form by august cause i might be selling them at mer-palooza. I was thinking of going the route of stephen meyer and selling to friends and family and people in my community and hoping to get a good following. it a simple book about a teenage mermaid who gets the oppritunity to go to school on the mainland so she can learn adapt to human life. and it follows her and the troubles she goes through as the strange new student!

[Alveric]

A fish out of water story. That should be a fun read.

Selling to friends, family and community (including mer-community) is pretty much what I'm doing. I hope it's a good idea.

Try to make sure it's easily available, i.e. found on Amazon and Barnes&Noble and can be had on Kindle and Nook. That way, when you get a following your book can be easily purchased.

Alveric

[Mermaid Momo]

have you thought of http://lulu.com ? and thats a good idea for selling it in the community and family first (i'll take one) and if you ever want an art piece for the cover,let me know, i would love to work on it. :3

[Rain Hauger]

have you thought of http://lulu.com ? and thats a good idea for selling it in the community and family first (i'll take one) and if you ever want an art piece for the cover,let me know, i would love to work on it. :3

Yes i would love an orginal art piece please you can PM and that would be amazing and for the artwork of course a complimentary first print when it's done!
and thanks for the advice i will try it lol I just need to get a fire under my tail so it can be ready by August for mer-palooza!

[Rain Hauger]

so. I would like to put out there I have never read Forgive my fins. someone suggested i should so i can get an idea of a teenage meremaid, don't think I need it, but am always open to suggestion. and I love reading mermaid books, so any who I had down to my library and check out a copy, and low and nehold this mermaid book is based florida and she goes to seaview high or something like that. so since none of you have read my book so far i'll let you in off the coast fo florida is where mt meremaid's pod live and she ends up going to seaview high! wellthat is a co-winky-dink now isn't well i suppose my pod with ahve to move now won't they lol!
hugs and fishy kisses ><> <3 <3 <3

[Rain Hauger]

so due to my computer crashing i had to restart my mer-book. i decided to write a chapter a day in order to have my book finished and readay for mer-palooza.
*here is a sneak peak at the first page lol*
Chapter 1
　
I watch from a distance, always from a distance, as the young humans gather in there groupings and chat of their days activities.
Oh how I wish I could be apart of their conversations. To know what they were planning to do that day. To talk to them of my nails and hair.
I lifted my hand out of the water and looked at my brown hair. I picked up a salty wet strand and examined it. The human female’s hair was much nicer, and on occasion I could here them squeal about getting it wet when the males tried to splash them.
They had such nice hair and tanned skin. Oh how I wish to sit with them and eat their food. Talk with them.
We would talk about the upcoming social gathering, and we could exchange voiced opinions on the males that throw the odd shaped ball around. And giggling, that would be part of our conversation too!
I took myself back to when I was just a guppy watching the same humans but much smaller then. I had watched them play and dig in the sand, watched them jump up and down between ropes, and play on the steel skeleton in the mock of a ship.
I wished back then the same thing I wished now. I wanted to be apart of them.
Even after many, many seasons I still felt the same, and I believe many more seasons from now I will still feel the same way.
The first strike of rain brought me back to the here and now. The water was gray and murky, unlike it’s usual blue. The clouds over head were grey and glum.

[Alveric]

Hope you didn't lose much. Frustrating when that happens. I try to keep a hard-copy, two computers and a memory chip to keep that from happening.

I tried Lulu but it seemed complicated, not beginner-friendly. A lot of choices, but you kinda have to already know what you're doing.

Interesting so far.

Alveric

[Rain Hauger]

yay thank you! yeah I uasually do I had it copied on a hard drive and decided that i needed to take it off to put something else on my usb temporarily but then i was struck down be the evil hand of the computer god!

[Mermaid Momo]

you should try google documents. you can work on the story even if you dont have your computer. and it puts it in pdf format when you print or save it so you dont have to go through the trouble

[deepblue]

Ah, good luck to you! Sounds like a fun subject, of course. I want to recommend a couple of sources to look into for the crafting of your book- the writing itself. I believe in self-publishing for lots of reasons, but you'll want to write well or no one will be able to enjoy it. (Example: A book by Hans Holzer's daughter comes to mind... a fascinating story to tell, but written so poorly and with no editing, at least half the people who pick it up simply can't read it through. Her Amazon reviews show this.)

Writer's Digest is an invaluable resource for tips and hints for both writing and publishing.
Writer Beware helps you avoid some of the pitfalls of the industry
And
Rachelle Gardner is a literary agent who posts really good tips on writing and publishing.

[AniaR]

I agree with Alveric and everything he's said. I just published my own book and went with self publishing. Many of the selfpublishing websites have AMAZING tutorials you can watch and read to learn the ins and outs. I also took some writing classes and read a few books on writing. I also had 4 editors help me out.

[deepblue]

Hey Raina, where'd you find your editors? Were they friends or? I'm asking because I'm finally writing a book that's been forming in my head, and while I plan to self-publish, it's been a long time since I wrote more than 30 minutes of words... I'm going to need editors.

[AniaR]

3 friends, 2 of whom could be considered professionals, and then my partner Sean as the final pair of eyes. There are services you can hire through the self publishing websites, but they're 300$+ for basic stuff. I don't make a load of money on my books, but I did credit everyone who helped and send them free copies

[deepblue]

Cool, thanks... I'm thinking I probably know some English Majors who would like to make a little money. Maybe I'll ask them. Because that price is not in my range.