I never dreamed of being a writer until life gave me a story that has to be told. To put it briefly my wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1985, when I knew nothing about the disease. As her care partner I learned fast and as time passed I thought that I knew everything that a person could know about the disease. I learned even more in 1993 when I was diagnosed with MS myself. I'm not aware of that happening to anyone else so I felt that my perspective of MS as both a care partner and patient would be beneficial to the entire MS community. I decided that I want to reach a much largerr audience and raise public awareness of the disease so I wrote about the first 50 years of my life. My life was a common one until MS surfaced but a common life will appeal to the general public because it will remind people of their own life. I'm trying to decide whether I should try to find an agent, approach publishers myself or to self publish my story and I'm looking for advice. This story would be rejected by publishers as not believable if it were submitted as fiction. I wish it were fiction but every word is true. I'd like to find an agent to work with because this business is new to me and I'm quite handicapped but it seems that agents are only interested in authors who have been previously published. Should I waste my time submitting to agents and publishers or should I just self publish? I really can't stand submitting through snail mail because its very hard with my disability. I'm very confident that this story will sell and wonder if its common for a publisher to take on a book after it has been self published. I've rewritten the manuscript at least a dozen times and I'm anxious to get it out of my hands so I'll stop working on it. I've been told that its very well written but I've found myself to be my harshest critic and I always think that I can say it better. I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels so I want to get rid of it. Any advice will be very much appreciated.
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rtilryarms
Good Luck
You will get very helpful advice from the experts here. I am just responding to wish you well on this venture. MS is a life changing experience.
It changed my life in 1989 when my wife suddenly woke up one morning and could not move a muscle. I became an instant caretaker. I never gave one thought of ducking my responsibility. And with an infant too.
The diagnosis was a long process of elimination.
Be strong man and write that book!
You will get very helpful advice from the experts here. I am just responding to wish you well on this venture. MS is a life changing experience.
It changed my life in 1989 when my wife suddenly woke up one morning and could not move a muscle. I became an instant caretaker. I never gave one thought of ducking my responsibility. And with an infant too.
The diagnosis was a long process of elimination.
Be strong man and write that book!
chrdana7
1989 was a bad year for me too. That's the year my wife really got sick. Like you I didn't run but stayed to take care of her and our kids. Even after I was diagnosed with MS in 1993 I didn't run but now that I need help I'm alone. I've written the book and I'm ready to approach publishers.
rtilryarms
good dedication
Dedication is the only important thing in life in my opinion.
Stick around. Someone will help you here
Dedication is the only important thing in life in my opinion.
Stick around. Someone will help you here
aka eraser
My sympathies for your difficulties chrdana. There is no pat answer for your questions but I'll make a couple of suggestions.
Agents are in business to make money. If your book has the potential to sell well, you may be able to land one. My hunch is though, that you would be better off finding a small, legitimate publisher who will accept unagented submissions.
Check the bookstores and/or libraries for books similar to yours. Make a note of the publisher's name and contact info. Then check online, or in Writer's Market (also available in stores and libraries), for submission guidelines for those publishers. Follow them "exactly."
Before submitting it wouldn't hurt a bit to have your ms proofed by an unbiased reader or three. Check to see if there is a writing group in your area you might join and have the ms critiqued. There are also many online writers groups that offer critiquing. (Posting a full length ms isn't practical, or desirable though; but a sample chapter or 2 may lead to valuable pointers.)
The most powerful, compelling story ever written may not be read by an agent/publisher if there are typos, syntax or grammar errors.
Work hard on a query letter. Most publishers/agents don't want a full ms initially. You need to whet their appetite with a short, one or two page query outlining your book and why a goodly portion of the world should want to read it. Get your query proofed by peers too before sending.
Review past posts on this board. Check the article archives at the Absolute Write web site as well as others. If you check back a page or two in this Newbies thread you'll find a FAQ where the urls for other helpful writing sites are listed.
Publication via a traditional press is most often a long, arduous process with no short cuts. Landing an agent certainly helps in most cases, but wooing one can be as difficult as landing a publisher on your own. Beware of sharks when it comes to agents. Check the Bewares board here for tips on who/what to avoid.
From what you've outlined about your life you appear to be a determined man. That will stand you in good stead during this process too.
I wish you luck to go along with that determination.
Agents are in business to make money. If your book has the potential to sell well, you may be able to land one. My hunch is though, that you would be better off finding a small, legitimate publisher who will accept unagented submissions.
Check the bookstores and/or libraries for books similar to yours. Make a note of the publisher's name and contact info. Then check online, or in Writer's Market (also available in stores and libraries), for submission guidelines for those publishers. Follow them "exactly."
Before submitting it wouldn't hurt a bit to have your ms proofed by an unbiased reader or three. Check to see if there is a writing group in your area you might join and have the ms critiqued. There are also many online writers groups that offer critiquing. (Posting a full length ms isn't practical, or desirable though; but a sample chapter or 2 may lead to valuable pointers.)
The most powerful, compelling story ever written may not be read by an agent/publisher if there are typos, syntax or grammar errors.
Work hard on a query letter. Most publishers/agents don't want a full ms initially. You need to whet their appetite with a short, one or two page query outlining your book and why a goodly portion of the world should want to read it. Get your query proofed by peers too before sending.
Review past posts on this board. Check the article archives at the Absolute Write web site as well as others. If you check back a page or two in this Newbies thread you'll find a FAQ where the urls for other helpful writing sites are listed.
Publication via a traditional press is most often a long, arduous process with no short cuts. Landing an agent certainly helps in most cases, but wooing one can be as difficult as landing a publisher on your own. Beware of sharks when it comes to agents. Check the Bewares board here for tips on who/what to avoid.
From what you've outlined about your life you appear to be a determined man. That will stand you in good stead during this process too.
I wish you luck to go along with that determination.
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