Here I am, coming back to Hive after a long hiatus. We’ve all gone through a lot in the last year, spending it however we could. I focused on family and finishing my master’s degree. I graduate in July with an English and Creative Writing degree.
So, I’ve been learning a lot, writing a lot, and planning a lot. Part of that planning is working to get my short stories published.
I’ve found great resources on where to submit, which I’ll write up someday soon. But I’ve also found a big stumbling block: most places won’t accept previously published work, even if it is your own personal blog. That’s a bummer, because some of my favorite story ideas came from freewrites. And I enjoyed posting, sharing, and commenting with everyone here.
But now, I have to keep all my freewrites hidden away in case I want to build a story on the idea, or enjoy what I wrote so much I use some of it directly (with editing, of course).
I’m now working on my thesis, a fantasy story I’ve been working on for almost two decades (time to finish, right?), but I still need to work on my shorts too. I also want to get back to posting here and sharing some of what I’ve learned about writing in the last couple of years.
I hope I can offer some useful information my fellow writers here can use. I’m also excited to get reading some of the amazing things people post here, freewrites included!
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Very good to know. I once looked into lulu.com for self-publishing, but I hear ya on the 2 decades thing. I started in 2008 and stopped a couple years later. I got about 110 pages into my book before stopping.
About ten years ago I signed up with another company like Lulu to publish the non-fiction story of my brother's murder. I paid over $1800 for a package, but then decided it was too soon to publish it. My family wasn't ready for it, so I needed to rethink how I approached it. Though they finally refunded my money, it took a long time and a lot of effort. And I still get spam calls from them and a few other self-publishing types trying to get me to buy their packages.
I know now none of that is necessary. Self publishing is easy and there are many ways to do it. I've used KDP and then services like Draft to Digital to have a wider distribution. I pulled the sci-fi book I had published this way because I knew I could do better, but when I publish again I'm going to do it myself again (actually through the publishing company my daughter and I have started, which is an easy thing to do in my state).
The point is there's no excuse for authors not to publish now if they want to. No need to find an agent, or send queries -unless you want to. I know some who really want to go traditional and that's fine too.
Trying to get individual short stories published is different. I'm still at the mercy of the editors of the magazines!
And 110 pages is awesome! Does it nag at you to finish? A little each day or week can finish it up in no time!
Thanks for the comment @bobthebuilder2! Feels good to be back.
I'm thinking it'll be about a 400-500 page book when I finish it, but my time is mostly spent between finishing my masters, keeping content flowing on YouTube for additional income, and taking care of my large family. I don't even get to watch movies, that often. I just started paying someone else to edit my videos, so I'm gaining some time back. I will finish the book in a few years, I expect. School is a drag when it comes to time... I'm curious about self publishing via digital to draft or whatever...I also want to do the voice-over for the audible version.
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Congratulations, and welcome back. I understand about not publishing all your work on Hive. Good luck with your thesis and other projects.