Wednesday, July 28, 2010

I've got a book published!

It was a dark and stormy night. A shot rang out. A woman screamed... So begins the beginning of Peanuts' beloved beagle, Snoopy's, book; and, usually the sign that the following tome will be a bad one, at best.

I remember all we use to deal with were "vanity presses", you know, the Who's Who of everything? You remember the letters, the ones that stated, "you have been selected, you are among an elite few, etc. etc. etc." All you have to do is submit your information, and by the way, if you want a copy of the title just send $39.95, or better yet, get an engraved collector's edition for $69.95. People would submit their information to these publishers, get their book and see themselves in print. "I'm in 'Who's Who'! they might proudly proclaim. But, the bottom line was that it did not make a hill of beans difference to a future employer. I must admit that I had been tempted on more than one occasion by the flattering offers.

Now our egos can be stroked on a different level. We can all have our books published. Just type in the search "publish my book" on Google or other search engines and see what you will find. Amazon.com even offers a self-publishing option. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for encouraging budding authors. And, we have heard of how a typed out short story distributed among friends has let to best sellers, the one that comes to mind is The Christmas Box self-published in 1993 by Richard Paul Evans for his children and later to become a bestseller plus a movie.

Besides encouraging people to "write", self-publishing does preserve their writings in a more permanent form. For public libraries there is a new challenge. What do we do with all the gift books donated by local authors that were self-published? Librarians have criteria for selecting library materials including fiction and non-fiction works. Some of the books donated by local authors are complete with grammatical errors, run-on sentences, sketchy or obscure plots, flights of fancy, etc. But do we refuse them? In a simple word, no

We try to place all donations by local authors in our collection. In the library cataloging record known as the MARC record (machine readable cataloging) there is a line where we can insert information that this book is by a local author. Some libraries put all their "local author" titles in the same location -- shelved together. We interfile our authors' works in with the popular fiction and non-fiction.

I would never discourage anyone from writing. Self-publishing (an option where the author has to pay up front in most cases) allows for instant gratification and few if any critiques. Being picked up from a major publishing house is the ultimate goal and dream of most authors. The 2010 Novel & Short Story Writers Market and the 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market provide information on where and how to sell your fiction, your children's stories and illustrations. Both are available in the 808 section of the non-fiction. The 2006 Guide to Literary Agents is found in the Reference Section under call number 070 GUI.

Visit your public library often. Read often. Write often. Be inspired. If you need help in getting pointed in the right direction, just ask. Until then, see you at the library!