It seems like there's just no way for a guy like me to get ahead. I've just come off a major search night looking for publishers, and the results aren't looking good for my novel right now. None of the mainstream publishers are taking "unsolicited" proposals or manuscripts, and all the other publishers that seem to be promising are one form of vanity publishing or another, which won't work for me since they all want money up front to publish. Literary Agents, with whom contacting a major publisher would be possible, won't promote an unpublished author either. Those are the three main avenues that were open to me, all of them are closed until I can figure something out. That means the novel I have written, completely finished and ready for publishing, will just be another file on the hard drive for the forseeable future. My one question is simply this: How does an industry founded on exclusion of the little guy stay ahead of the game at all? Maybe I should stick to drawing pictures.
I updated my list of art projects, it's not any shorter if you notice, it's actually longer this time. Seems I just can't get away from adding more work to my load. I'm going to have to put a stop to that. I can't keep up with myself and that's bothering me cause I don't like to be overwhelemed with work for a passion hobby of mine.
- Username Inspired Image
- Lizardman Soda Jerk
- Art Piece for Nephew
- Art Piece for Other Nephew
- Art Piece for Niece
- "Surprise" Art Piece for dA
- Chinese Ink Art Piece for Sister's Friend (I'm still learning how to do this artform)
- "Surprise" Art Piece for TheO (Not telling :-ţ)
- Requested piece for friend
- Requested piece for another friend
Long story short, it's going to be one heck of a weekend.
Comments:
Yensid:
Is there a difference between being down and creative bends to a passionate artist? I don't think there really is because how we create reflects upon our personalities and our moods. An artist who's trying too hard and just not motivated to do the work really feels that lag. and if that's not enough, this novel thing is eating at me a lot too. To get this far and run into a brick wall is very discouraging, and it hurts, so my writing will probably suffer for a while becuase of that, and maybe my art will pick up again, I don't really know.
To be honest, I'm not completely in on the joke myself, but it's funny none the less. The concept is really putting characters into unlike scenarios, like I did with Yahiko and the Boy Scout uniform. It's kind of an absurdity visualized.
Please do, I've put the link up in my intro area so it's not hard to find.
sailorXena:
Yeah, I'm back, or trying to be at least.
japanese kitten:
Just been feeling the pangs of laziness really. It sure is a lot of art, and I hope to get it all done in reasonable time. I just have to make myself sit down and do it.
Publishing isn't going to happen anytime soon.
Magnus Lensherr:
Oh that's the bare minimum, of if you do it yourself all the way, and that doesn't count stuff like marketing/promoting the book (advertising, sending copies to reviewers etc). The worst case scenario I came across yesterday was a frightful $4000 (Tate Publishing for the record - since they go out of their way not to have that info posted on their site). If I had that, I'd already be published. Traditional publishers don't charge the author anything, the trouble is, as I stated in my content up there, they don't take works from the average Joe on the street, they only take works brought to them by literary agents, literary agents don't promote manuscripts from authors who aren't published yet either, they like to wait till someone has at least one credit under their belts. In publishing there two main ways to go, the traditional way, then there's vanity publishing (the ones that cost the author money). Vanity Publishing is broken down into Subsidy Publishing, Self Publishing, and Publish On Demand (POD).
Well, the art is coming along, that's about all I can offer on that.
hells light:
It's hard to tell the difference between a caffeine headache and a migrane, in any case I don't do headaches very well, they really mess up my perception.
That's good. It's always a great feeling to do something and feel it was well worth the time and effort.
Iruka Sensei:
Yeah I've been busy, but getting nowhere as usual.
That's the tip of the iceburg it seems. And, well, it's not really going to be much of a seller at all for now. I just don't have the heart to keep plodding away at trying to find that magic publisher who'll put it out there without me having to pay for anything up front. If I ever do get it published, I'll be happy to sign copies for my friend here on MyO.
the real yojimbo:
If I wanted to, what's the most delicate way to put it, half-a** the whole thing, that would be an option that would get me laughed out of any legit bookstore. The problem is not with presentation of the manuscript, the problem is with getting the book produced for the market in market friendly terms (having the ISBN, proper Copyright, Library of Congress catalog info, etc). It's not all that easy to do that as a single person.
timechaser:
I can imagine the drive is tough, that's all I can do since my amaxophobia keeps me from driving.
Hopefully you'll find out what's wrong too.
I'll probably end up buying from there myself since I'm in the pergatory of cutural void that is WV. People look at me weird when I brew sun tea here on summer days.
Yeah, I'm falling behind in keeping up with people, it drives me nuts to not be able to do it, but it's tiring at the same time. As for the novel, I pretty much covered all that.
kitbug69:
As often as I've tried to fall off the edge of the planet, this thing called gravity keeps pulling me back on.
Busy or not, I'll certainly try to be on here more often than I have been. Maybe I need a major rest to get things back on track I don't know.
You're probably still out as I'm posting this, but hopefully you'll see it. May you and yours have the best fortunes and good health.
Alphonse122:
Yeah it is, but I've seen worse numbers. Thanks but that's not looking like it's going to happen any time soon, it's a lot but I want to get it all done.
scorchbird12:
The ones I can put up here, I will, the ones that I can't will probably be up on my dA account since they take more kinds of art over there.
The foundation for the site is up (link in sidebar), but it's still massivley under construction so it's a long way off from being done.
Sure is a lot, to someone who doesn't have a dime to begin with, pretty much any amount is a lot. It's a back-burner project for now though, I've exhauseted myself trying tofind that publisher that's not a scam or vanity outfit, but got nowhere. Maybe in a couple years if I hit a windfall of sorts I'll be able to try again.
I'm not ignoring the rest of you comment, I just don't have anything to respond with.
Shireishou:
I figured you were having net troubles, that happens. I've had them myself in the past few days. You come by when you can, that's enough for me.
I need all the luck I can get, thanks.
BASH:
Being busy happens, look at me. I'm not on like I used to be either.
If it ever comes out, my first announcment will be right here on MyO.
Kiki-tink:
I think I am coming down with something actually, I'll have to rest up and see what happens from there.
twilight samurai:
I try to get around when I can, it's not as often as I used to, but it still accounts for something right?
I'm not doing as well with things as I'd like to be, but c'est la vie.
AngelBest Dream:
You probably didn't miss much, I haven't been updating all that regularly myself.
Right now, the book is going nowhere, and that's where it will sit till I get the enegy to try finding a decent publisher again.
Nothing Witty to Say
