Publishing

Submission is a Numbers Game

When I first started submitting my work to agents and publishers a couple of years ago, my writing coach Annalisa Parent told me that it is a numbers game. I didn't understand what she meant. However, I did submit 75 times from the beginning of May last, and managed to get two short stories published, as I mentioned here and here. I had been submitting before, but it was somewhat haphazard and sporadic. Annalisa told me that I should strive to get 100 rejections before I could start to analyse what I needed…Read more

A Few More Publishers

Some time ago, I self-published my self-help book "Unleash Your Dreams: Going Beyond Goal Setting" on Smashwords. Unfortunately, the automated analysis program called "The Meatgrinder" had problems with my formatting, but did not tell me exactly was wrong, nor how to correct it. After I discovered their book about reformatting, I was able to get everything right in a couple of days. My book is now also available from the following suppliers: Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/682994 Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1177089529 Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940164771447 Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/Search?Query=9780992744120 Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/search?query=9780992744120 It will also be available from Gardners Extended Retail…Read more

Yet Another Interview

I mentioned some time ago, in the post Another Interview, that I was interviewed by my friend Janine Bolon, a writer from America. We talked about being a writer, and what that can entail. Well, a few weeks later, we got back together again and had another chat, this time about my book Unleash Your Dreams. Here is the link to our conversation.Read more

Killing Time in Cambridge

This is not part of my publishing career, but I would like to promote a novel written by a friend of mine, Philip Cumberland. It is a cross between a time-travel adventure and a police procedural, with intense descriptions of local colour. The premise is fascinating, and the execution extremely well done. The tale gripped me from the beginning because of the interesting, quirky characters, like Arnold, Sylvia... and, of course, Marvin. Their interactions were believable, and the character-building using dialogue was credible. The world-building, basing itself on the real Cambridge and the…Read more

Publication!

Yay! The second book with one of my stories was published today. I had pre-ordered it and noticed it on my Kindle Fire at two minutes past midnight. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MBMW6GB Oh, and I received my complimentary copy of the other book to publish one of my stories a couple of days ago. My story is published! Both can be found on my Books page.Read more

Another Short Story

I discovered this evening that the other short story I submitted to a publisher has also been published, although they gave me no notice of the fact. This one is pure science fiction. You can find it at What Lies Beyond: Sci-Fi Stories of the Future.Read more
A Short Story is Published

A Short Story is Published

As some of you may know, I've been submitting my writings, both long and short, for some time now. A few weeks ago, two publishers each accepted one of my short stories for publication in their anthologies. One of them, titled "Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun", a romantic horror story. It will be coming out on the 24th of this month for the Amazon Kindle, with a paperback version to follow in the new year. If you are interested in pre-ordering, it is available here: of Silver Bells and Chilling Tales. Since…Read more

Another Interview

I just received some links to an interview I did with an American friend who has her own podcast. The discussion was generally about writing. I thought people might be interested to hear what we talked about. Podbean: https://thewritershourcreativeconversations.podbean.com/e/stephen-oliver-on-reprogramming-your-mind/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/743kfTq81cl8zehJ67FCtF Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/the-writers-hour-creative-conversations/e/74333204 Radiopublich: https://radiopublic.com/the-writers-hour-creative-convers-8QMzmO/s1!abe12 Spreaker: https://www.spreaker.com/user/12807063/stephen-oliver-on-reprogramming-your-min Backtracks: https://backtracks.fm/discover/s/the-writers-hour-creative-conversations/5805f4772e3bbc2f/e/stephen-oliver-on-reprogramming-your-mind/bcbb29e13520f590 Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/us/show/1513512 iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stephen-oliver-on-reprogramming-your-mind/id1523697787?i=1000495495371 Tunein: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Education-Podcasts/The-Writers-Hour-Creative-Conversations-p1346601/?topicId=158139916 I will be taking part in another interview with her specifically about my book Unleash Your Dreams next week.Read more

Submissions

I've been thinking a lot recently about submissions to agents and publishers, given that I'm sending out three different books and a whole bunch of short stories to them. I have come to several conclusions about how much work is involved, what information you need to know, and how much preparation you need to undertake. I'll call the agents and publishers AP's to shorten the article. I now have around a dozen different versions of my manuscripts on the computer. Some AP's want double-spaced, others 1.5 lines spacing. Some want Times New Roman,…Read more