Ah, the writing journey. It's a nebulous thing with no rules and no right or wrong way to do. You just have to start. But often, that's easier said than done. So, writers stumble along, making mistakes and learning the things the hard way on the path to discovering what worked for them.
What if there were a resource available to take a lot of the guess-work out of the process? Maybe you're just starting your journey—you've got an idea, an outline going, and you're ready to sit down in the chair and start fleshing out the story. Or, better still, maybe you're actually done with your story. It's been beta read, it's been critiqued, and maybe you've even had it edited. Congratulations—you've accomplished something a lot of people say they want to do, but rarely ever finish. You wrote a book! That deserves some serious celebrating. But once that's over with—what now? You didn't write a book for it to stay on your computer. You want to make it into a tangible thing and get in front of as many readers as possible. But where to start?
Maybe you've started submitting your story to journals or publishers, but you're not sure if they're the best fit, or reputable, or an all-out scam. Wouldn't it be great if there was a resource available that could help you figure out where to submit your writing, and whether or not you need to find an agent? Something out there that could provide you with information about reputable publishing houses and how to contact them?
Enter Authors Publish Magazine.This online magazine is an absolutely invaluable resource for writers, no matter where they are in their publishing journey. Whether you're publishing your first book or your thirtieth, you can find and mine incredibly useful information from this site that can help you make decisions about what to do next with your writing and where to take it.
The best thing to know about Authors Publish is that it is completely free. A wealth of information that is available to you at absolutely no cost! Best of all, you can sign up with your email to receive updates when new content is posted. Let's explore some reasons why Authors Publish should be bookmarked in your favorites.
Resources for all kinds of writers
Maybe you're not a novelist—maybe you're a poet, or a short-story writer, or an essayist. Authors Publish still has you covered. Since writers aren't one-size-fits-all, neither are the resources in the magazine. Despite the differences among types of writers and subject matter, Authors Publish provides the rundown on a variety of places to get your writing in the hands of those who want it. The best part is, the hardworking people behind the blog make vetting these journals and publishers a priority. So, when you read an article like this one, or this one, which suggests places to submit your work to, you can rest assured these places are legit and reputable, and you won't be wasting your time. Additionally, the kind of work journals or publishers are looking for—and whether they pay—is included, as well. That way, if you see a call for romance submissions, you can read on to see if your YA paranormal romance is a good fit, and which publisher listed might be interested (and bonus: whether or not you can score an advance if accepted!).
Publishers are vetted for legitimacy
As a writer, your work is precious. It costs time, effort, and maybe even some blood, sweat, and tears. So, why would you give it to just any place, especially a place that might not publish the genre or subgenre you write in? Too often, new writers are so eager to find a home for their work, they don't take the time to research publishing houses that end up accepting their work or indicate an interest in it. Not every publisher is equal, and there are a variety of potential issues that can arise when writers don't do the (often exhausting!) legwork of researching each house—issues with royalty payments, or rights reversion, or even whether or not their work will be published just digitally or digitally and in hardcopy.
This is yet another reason why Authors Publish is so great. They do this very important research for you, which is a major time-saver and provides you with lists of publishers with all the pertinent information needed at your fingertips. So instead of spending hours of time conducting research to find legitimate publishers best suited for your work, you can spend that time crafting the perfect query letter.
Variety of content
In addition to offering information on a wide selection of publishers and open calls for submissions, Authors Publish also offers plenty of articles on other subjects that are extremely important to authors, like marketing. There are also tons of how-to articles—how to submit? How to promote? How to get published? How to leverage social media? These, and many more, are just as valuable as knowing which literary journals are having a themed submission call, or which Big 5 publishers have imprints you can directly submit to.
These how-to articles teach you the basics and the foundation of how to enter this career field and then—most importantly—be successful at it. The best part? It's all free!
If you are okay with shelling out a few dollars, the site also offers links to books, like:
- The 2018 Guide to Manuscript Publishers
- The Six Month Novel Writing Plan
- Guide to Manuscript Submission
- 8 Ways Through Publisher's Block
- The Author's Publish Compendium of Writing Prompts
- Submit, Publish, Repeat: How to Publish Your Creative Writing in Literary Journals
- Get Your Book Published
- Self-Publishing Success: 8 Case Studies
All of these books are available on Amazon in the Kindle Store, and have collected a total of five hundred reviews (and counting). Most of the eBooks are offered for free for a limited time. The site always has one free eBook on offering for new subscribers, as well.
Between the free and low-cost content, authors are armed with an impressive arsenal of information to launch and maintain successful writing and publishing careers.
Blog run for authors, by authors
Do you ever find it a bit annoying when people who have no idea what you're going through try to give you advice? That's because…they have no idea what you're going through! For advice to be solid, profound, and resonant, empathy and similar experiences are a must. If you're struggling to find just the right publisher for your mafia crime thriller, you might not want to listen to your friend at work who has never written a book, much less queried one, who tells you to "just send it everywhere!" For one thing, queries are time-consuming, and for another, that would be a waste of your precious time.
So, who better to give advice and insight to authors than other authors? Being a writer with the aspiration of then becoming a published author is very, very hard. The writing process itself is challenging enough, and it's a discipline that writers work hard at every day. Then, finding the right publisher or agent is an entirely different process, but one that's also extremely important.
It's hard to take advice from someone who knows nothing about what those processes entail, isn't it? But the folks at Authors Publish love writing and fully believe in supporting writers—for free—which makes the advice they offer in their articles all the more profound and solid. They've been there, done that—so you know you can trust them.
You can write for Authors Publish
Another awesome feature of the blog is that they're always looking for writers with advice to share, which is a major part of the overall online writing community—authors supporting one another and offering insight, advice, and information on all of the various aspects of the publishing industry. This also goes back to the previous point—more experienced authors offering advice from the standpoint of, presumably, having already gone through something. Do you have valuable insight to share about marketing or the how-tos of writing based on your own experience and research? Have you had a particularly good experience with a publisher? Have you stumbled upon some calls for submission you think the writing community would benefit from? Check out the blog to see how you can submit your writing.
In conclusion, Authors Publish is a truly valuable resource for writers of all experience levels, in every part of the journey. From vetted, reliable publishers open for submissions, to articles on the craft of writing, to how to establish a social media presence, to marketing information, this is a one-stop shop all writers should spend time perusing. Subscribe today to start receiving weekly email magazines, and you can always access old issues archived on the site.