I was curious to know if there are any published authors on this site that may be willing to lend me their advice, I'm beginning the final revision on some manuscripts of mine and i was interested in available publishing opportunities and recommendations. Perhaps someone could share some personal experiences with me and maybe give some pointers on how to get the most out of a potential contract?

Many thanks
Kirinak

Hi Kirinak!

Well, I'm technically published. I revoked my novel from the virtual shelves a while ago to do a major revision because I felt I published prematurely, but I still did it!

I didn't go through all the channels, of course: I self-published. For an amateur author, I think self-publishing is a great way to get some work out there. It depends on your goals, though: if you just want to see your work in print and sell copies to dedicated fans of the genre, then self-publishing is perfect.

I used a website called http://www.lulu.com, which is very robust. You get full control over the layout of your interior, your cover--everything. They use a print-on-demand service so you won't make a lot of money from sales, but they do offer to sell through some online booksellers as well as their own store. You might want to check it out.

If you do choose to self-publish, before you let a single copy be printed, make sure you have someone (other than yourself) read the whole work! It doesn't have to be a professional editor, just someone who will enjoy the story and can pay close attention to it. Sometimes what makes sense to you in your head doesn't translate well to paper. They can even catch slight continuity errors that you may have missed (which is what happened to me). Also, spelling and grammar errors are embarrassing, so best not to let anyone see them in an actual book, right?

So if money is not your primary concern, and you just want to get something out there for people to see and learn about you as an author, then self-publishing could be great for you.

I don't have anything published in the way of fiction or any other writings that would be of genearl interest to this particular community. I was a newspaper/radio/television journalist for a number of years and now write a great deal of legal discussions.

Not quite published but getting there!

Currently in my second round of discussion with a publishing agent for my (hopefully) novel series. I say second, because when I was in my teens I was approached to turn my original short story I had published in a collection into a full book, however that fell through when a wave of data loss resulted in 2 years work down the drain.

So, fingers crossed. :|

Edit: On Fiend's point, I completely agree! If I was not already in discussions with publishers then I would whole hearted self publish, by doing so you can get your name out and step into book publishing (hard copy) at a later date. By being self published to a degree of quality you can show possible investors/agents in your to-be-published novel that you won't be a bad investment/risk for them to take when considering which round of 'authors' get published next.

Generally to get published you will approach an agent with your pitch/mock-up/first few chapters along with a cursory letter of introduction, from there what you have sent will be reviewed by the agent and if he/she deems you have potential over the hundreds of others he/she will contract with you. At this point you are expected to write the full novel while he consults with publishing bodies, generally if an agent accepts you, you will get published assuming YOU hold up on the agreement. So by already having material to point to and go, "Look, I'm already successful as a writer!", or "Look, I can demonstrate my ability with this!" then you will be far more likely to be chosen over the many others who will contact the same agent.