You pull out an old board game, fruitlessly search for the missing directions, and just sit there, frustrated, not even being able to find the "Go" square on the board. Have you reached the point in trying to become informed on how best to get your written work published that this is what you feel like? You had thought that the hardest part of being a published writer was to write something that others would want to read. But you think you’ve done that now, and it’s only beginning to dawn on you that you haven’t even started the race to the game’s "you win/you’re now published" square. Or you may have already made a few false starts, having just dropped in on the game board where it seemed convenient, but you have found you have no idea even in which direction to start off—while all around you those who seem to know the rules and strategies of the game are racing for the finish.
If you are looking for a book that will guarantee your manuscript will be published if you simply faithfully follow the seven-step formula of the book’s specific "rules," then Finding Go! Matching Questions and Answers in Getting Published is not the book for you. After years of working in the publishing industry and submitting works for publication ourselves, we can clearly attest that there are no magic formulas or set "rules" that will inevitably lead to getting published, and that no one can guarantee you will get your manuscript published no matter how divine it is.
What we have found, especially in years of participation on Internet Web site discussion boards, is that there are many, many more questions floating around on both general and specific and simple and complex issues related to the submissions, publishing, and marketing of written works than there are ready—and accurate and useful—answers. At the same time, we’ve found there are good answers available for most questions about getting your work published. These answers are relatively accessible both through the liberating presence of the World Wide Web and through the burgeoning of the availability of self-help books,
Finding Go! stems directly from the basic questions of where to begin, and, although it does give some initial advice, its emphasis is on leading the questioners in a practical, no-nonsense way to the resources that will provide full, comprehensive, and updated answers. This book is not, by any means, exhaustive in attempting to cover either any and all questions that possibly could surface about publishing or any and all resources available; it rather covers questions actually being asked and provides hooks into the database of discussions on these issues. Some of the actual questions being asked are general and some are quite specific. In fact, some questions are really "in the weeds." But they were questions someone actually had and needed answers for—and the answers to their questions often illuminate other similar questions that aren’t specifically addressed here. In looking through the resources available here, you will see that the procedures you should follow on the way to getting published are far less stringent and far more based in simple common sense than you might have imagined. They are certainly less illogical, uniform, and absolute than various myths floating around writers’ Internet discussion boards make them out to be.
This book contains some one hundred and seventy-five questions concerning procedures for getting published. All of the questions have appeared on various Internet Web site discussion boards and were posed by actual writers researching the publication process. Many of these received responses at the time by this book’s coauthors, former news agency executive and current book publishers’ copyeditor Gary Kessler, who also is an author with works published by various types of publishers, and author, editor, and author’s representative Carol Kluz. But all of the questions have been further researched and matched with links to resources that provide helpful and comprehensive discussions on the issues raised.
The book starts off with a short, overview chapter of the whole range of the publishing process from getting the work written to marketing the published version. From there the chapters run the gamut from helpful book publishing-specific tips on writing and categorizing of manuscripts, to preparing manuscripts for submission to agents and publishers, to formulation of organized strategies for submitting the works to agents and publishers, to how best to protect the intellectual property rights of not only your own work but of the already-published work you wish to quote as well.
To help the author understand what happens after the book has been selected for representation by an agent and/or for production by a publisher, the book moves on to demystifying contracts, describing the processes involved inside the literary agency and publishing house, and helping the author to understanding the all-important marketing process. A final chapter highlights the importance of networking in both getting the work into publishable shape and getting it into the hands of readers. The book also provides an extensive glossary on terms that probably are quite remote in meaning to the author but that are used widely within the publishing industry in its daily business. You no doubt will find considerable repetition in this book. Our goal is to make the information herein as readily available to the inquiring writer as possible, not to win a literary prize; this is a resource tool.
Finding Go! will not directly lead you by the hand to getting your work published—and makes no claims that the process is this easy. A reality of the publishing business is that authors themselves need to become well informed about the industry, how it works, and where trends in the industry are going. They also must become well versed in the art of selling themselves and their works—to agents, publishers, and readers alike. Finding Go! can help you to this position of empowerment by giving you some basic tips and pointing to resources you can use to become fully informed and current yourself on just the types of real questions that real people are asking about how to successfully maneuver through the process. Given the dynamic nature of the World Wide Web, some of the Internet links given herein are transient, but new pages are opening every day and usually can be found through simple searches and through hyperlinks from other similar Web sites.
Delving into Finding Go! is even better than finding the lost directions to that old board game. This book provides connections to those who are continually reinventing the game. Better than that, it provides connects to those who have actually played the game successfully and who not only can help interpret the changing rules of the game for you, but who also can help you find strategies that work best for winning the game of getting published.
