So, You want to Be Published?

Title: So, You Want to be Published?
Date: May 26, 2006
Thought: Writing makes me feel good. It satisfies a spot in my soul that would itch wildly if I didn't write.

Jog: So, you want to be published?—well of course you do. If you didn’t, you wouldn't be in here. Now don’t get me wrong, I know it may not be the primary reason why you’re here, but, I believe, if you write, you want to be published. Now, I looked up the definition of ‘publish’ in my handy, dandy Webster’s New World Pocket Dictionary, which has the bare essential of the definition, and I found the meaning to be, “Issue a printed work for sale.”

That definition falls a little short in my opinion. There are untold writers who could care less about receiving money for their work; they simply want to see their words in print in a public forum for all to see. So, does that mean if you don’t get paid, you're not published?—probably so. Now, before you protest, let me confirm that there are many ways to be paid. The publication can pay in copies of the issue, they can state the payment will be zero and provide all the perks of paid works, you can be paid to write as a vocation, such as a reporter, or the publisher can, of course, send you money. All of these forms require a contract of sorts to be executed prior to publication. The contract is the qualifier. There is no publishing without some kind of formal agreement.

That means, if you're in the habit of sending a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, you are not considered to be published when it appears in print. If you write your thesis on politics and Xerox 200 copies to be distributed, technically you haven't been published. If, however, I pay you and then Xerox and distribute it, I suppose you could be considered to be published. It matters not that I'm not a respected publisher. Publishing doesn't necessarily have anything to do with quality, for either the author or the writer.

Basically, we all realize there are currently two methods of being published. We can sell our work to someone who will publish it, or we can publish it ourselves. The question becomes: how important is it for me to have someone buy my work and publish it? To many purists, it is all important. Why? I have no idea. It doesn't guarantee any measure of quality, for I've read reams of stuff on the best seller list that is, in my opinion, just junk. Remember, the large publishing houses aren't concerned with literary quality or even literary ethics. They simply publish to make money.

On the other hand, anyone with a couple of hundred dollars can send in a manuscript to any one of a multitude of self-publishing concerns and get their work published. It doesn't matter if the twenty-five copies which were sold were bought by the author for his best friends; you’re published. I recently read two novels that were self-published. The writing in both was horrid and the stories tedious and incongruent. I closed the covers mid-way through and haven't been able to return to them. On the other hand, I know there are authors who have self-published quality work. We will not likely see them on the Best Seller list. Their receipts are modest. Now, both methods are valid examples of publication.

I am fortunate, I've been paid very modestly for my work and subsequently been published. I've also been approved for submitting a novel for self-publication by a respected self-publisher. (There are those who contend that ‘respected self-publisher’ is a contradiction of term. I disagree.) I’ve come to the place where it doesn't make a difference to me. I write for myself and those who profess to enjoy my writing. My fan club is very, very small. But that doesn't matter. What matters is how I feel about my writing, and why I write. Writing makes me feel good. It satisfies a spot in my soul that would itch wildly if I didn't write. It pleases me to have other people read my work. It doesn't matter if the audience consists of other writers of Writing.Com or if they are unknown individuals who obtain my work from a published source.

Finally, publication of my work brings with it a sense of mortality. Some day I'll be gone. That’s the way it is with us fragile humans, if you have noticed. My impact on this world is temporal. I cause waves in my little pond of life as I interact with others. When I'm gone my ability to cause waves will cease; that is unless I've written words which remain after me. For years, as long as the words exist on the page, there will be an opportunity for me to make waves in the little pond of life that goes on after me. Perhaps it will be my grandchildren’s grandchildren—perhaps it will be total strangers.

It pleases me to think that the things I write will be useful beyond this life. Perhaps that is just an ego trip—maybe so, but it is part of why I write. And that is why I try to write the best I can. I strive to use complete sentences and proper grammar. I try to polish my literary skills; for there is a chance, my work may at sometime be published. And, if I place the words on the page in proper order, if I write them just the right way, it may once again stir the waters of life’s pond and send some ripples along the way and touch someone else.

Word Count = 972