Trying to publish my own book but...

[Eponine]

I take back what I said about welcoming the fl00b.

[Relic]

I take back what I said about welcoming the fl00b.

You still haven't answered all his questions.

1)How do you double space in Word?

2)Do you have any book ideas?

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

I for one can't wait to read this book upon its inevitable publication. Especially the chapter wherein our intrepid hero goes hunting and kills him/herself a young wolf :P

To actually answer the OP: Unless you intend to just print the thing off when you say publication, don't worry about formatting it correctly. If you actually get chosen to be published by a real company, they'll typeset and format it for you. I think even vanity publishers will do that much (though naturally you'll be paying for it).

[Cantabile]

You still haven't answered all his questions.

1)How do you double space in Word?

2)Do you have any book ideas?

1) There's an alignment and spacing section. Choose "double space" for the spacing.

2) Fantasy dwarf erotica. No, really. Game of Thrones will come out soon, and all those single ladies out there will fall in love with Tyrion. Currently there's not much being written in terms of fantasy dwarf erotica novels, so you'll be able to scoop up the entire market. Don't keep all those young lonely maidens waiting with only HD pictures of Peter Dinklage's rippling pectorals and copies of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to get them through the night. Get started.

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

Check the guidelines of whatever agent (or, in the rare case, publisher) you're submitting to, too. Several actually specify to leave it left-justified, but all will have their own requirements for how to format.

[Seventh Pup]

I keep reading this thread title as "I'm trying to punish my body but..." I was a little let down. :(

[Young Wolf]

I for one can't wait to read this book upon its inevitable publication. Especially the chapter wherein our intrepid hero goes hunting and kills him/herself a young wolf :P

Im still a bit hurt that my honest attempt to help by handing out a certain author's private email was met as being "sarcastically humor". Last time I ever try to steer a fledgling author in the right direction.

[Spastic Plastic]

Follow your dreams, OP. If you want to publish your own work, then do it. Nothing's stopping you. Don't give a fuck what these negative nellies are telling you now. Self-publishing is the way to go. With a little luck, you could be the next Robert Newcomb, or even the next Robert Stanek.

[Lord Godric]

Example:

Hello

Hello

Hello

Hello

See how the "Hello" words are straight on the right? Take a look at a book and look at the right, the words end exactly in the right place. How do I do that?

You need to have every line say the exact same thing. Using your brilliant example:

Hello

Hello

Hello

Hello

So if you can just write an entire book repeating the same line over and over, you'll be golden.

[Cantabile]

Follow your dreams, OP. If you want to publish your own work, then do it. Nothing's stopping you. Don't give a fuck what these negative nellies are telling you now. Self-publishing is the way to go. With a little luck, you could be the next Robert Newcomb, or even the next Robert Stanek.

Do you really want the board to be responsible for the next Stanek?

[Ebenstone]

Wow. Just wow. That's what I've been doing wrong this entire time. I'm trying to get someone else to pay me to publish my book. I didn't realize that self-publishing is "where most writers start out as."

[The faceless others]

Good plot ideas? If you're looking for something original, try doing some world building first. And if you're complaining about hero vs villain unoriginality, every book has conflicts, only good authors handling with these makes the story interesting.

And please guys, let us not be the ones responsible on creating a new Stanek, one lunatic is too much. :D

[Kosciuszko]

I don't know. I thought Stanek was quite brilliant, certainly on par with Tolkien and clearly the successor of the genre as a whole.

:trollface:

ETA: /notices Daniel Abraham lurking and remembers to get back to A Shadow in Summer.

[The faceless others]

The advantages of getting a publisher over a self published author is:

1. The publisher will be the ones who will proofread and format your work.

2. The promotional of your published work will be handled by professionals. (Stanek?)

[Whitebeard]

Honestly, take a book writing class at your local college. You will be down $200-500 bucks, but will acquire and develop skills than will last you a lifetime.

[Corvinus85]

I need help. I ran out of ideas, had so many and wrote like seven books, but I stopped on them all for several reasons.

1. The ideas weren't original, hero vs villain stuff.

2. I don't know how to properly format my books.

First, #2 should not put you down. The story matters first, formatting can come later.

In terms of ideas, just because you have hero vs villain stuff, it doesn't mean it's completely unoriginal. It depends on how you dress it.

I, too, am trying to write books, and have often stopped because of similar reasons, but not because an idea was unoriginal, but because the feel of the story was too close to other books, and that's because I tend to get too inspired by the books I read.

[Procrastimancer]

Write in size 12 new courier, left aligned, double-spaced, with a half inch first line indent. Edit. Try to land an agent. Try to get someone else to publish your book and pay you.

I agree with the OP though... Self-publishing is where many writers start out... only most stay in self-publishing and the really successful ones sometimes manage to have sales all the way up into the double digits. <_<

[Kosciuszko]

^

Burn.

[jurble]

Has the fl00b truly come?

[Salome the Persian Witch]

I take back what I said about welcoming the fl00b.

:lmao:

How do I make a request for an emoticon that hits its forehead, and shakes its head in disbelief?