# This thread is for those who want to be published. Tell me WHY you do.



## The Backward OX

I’m simply curious, regarding the different reasons that people seek publication.

If you consider it a silly question, you might enjoy yourself more in another thread.


----------



## Bilston Blue

Personal satisfaction and pride, a sense of achievement. The feeling of being recognised, or of one's work being recognised. For me it's not about earning a living from it, though if it ever happens that would be nice (and I know that's a cliche). Also, I suppose it's a journey of learning, improving, of making mistakes, and publication is the goal at the end of the journey; but then that first publication would probably mark the start of a new journey.


----------



## Bloggsworth

For exactly the same reason that when I played rugby I wanted to be picked for the first XV, or when I worked I wanted clients to buy my designs, it validates your competence. To write poems only for your own consumption is literary onanism, you can then tell yourself that you are the greatest lover poet in the world.

I "do poetry" at college on Friday mornings and yesterday had a perfect illustration of why writing in isolation is not neccessarily the best way to improve (There are, of course exceptions, like Emily Dickinson). Three of us were having coffee, one of whom had missed the last two weeks and asked about the newcomers in the group; when it came to the other regular talking about one of the newbies I heard "I don't like all this sexually confessional poetry, quite frankly I don't want to hear it and it generally doesn't make good poetry anyway..." Hold on a minute! Last week I heard him telling that particular poet that his poem had "Strength and a vibrant....."

When showing or reading your poems to friends or acquaintances they tend to be too polite - I would dearly like to tell it as it is, but people "_don't like it up 'em_" as Corporal Jones used to say! So, if you send your poetry to someone you have never met, and who has never heard of you, and they consider your work good enough to publish in their magazine or anthology, then you have an independent judgement - That said, there's not much point in sending a sonnet or villanelle to a Slam Poetry Magazine.... Or don't go onto the rugby pitch wearing pads, a box, carrying a bat and wondering where the stumps are.


----------



## Kyle R

Because, until I'm published, I don't consider myself worthy of touting the title, "Writer". And I desperately would like to be able to call myself such. : )


----------



## shadowwalker

Validation. Pure and simple. As mentioned above, someone I don't know from Adam and who _knows _what they're talking about saying "This is good."


----------



## Foxee

There is no point in me arranging upwards of 50,000 words in a pleasing format and sweating my guts out getting it revised so that it tells a really good story in order to say 'hooray!' and then leave it on my hard drive. If I do all that I'd like other people to read it, to enjoy it, and to pay me for giving them that experience.


----------



## philistine

Bilston Blue said:


> Personal satisfaction and pride, a sense of achievement. The feeling of being recognised, or of one's work being recognised. For me it's not about earning a living from it, though if it ever happens that would be nice (and I know that's a cliche). Also, I suppose it's a journey of learning, improving, of making mistakes, and publication is the goal at the end of the journey; but then that first publication would probably mark the start of a new journey.



Pretty much this.


----------



## thinkingaboutit

At one time I would have said validation, and I guess I still have that reasoning on an emotional level. I'm trying to purge it, though, for a couple of reasons. We've all read published works and thought, "This is crap! And they rejected _my_ work? Seriously?" I don't necessarily have any more respect for an editor's opinion than anyone else's.

Also, feed that impulse and you're not satisfied; instead, you just want more. Before I got a piece published, I was convinced I'd be happy if I could just become a published author. Nope. Then I just wanted to be published in better journals. Now I want to be published in even better journals. I had a book published by a little indie publisher, and as soon as my swoon wore off, I wanted sales. (Still waiting.)

So my rational, practical reason for wanting to be published is to be published more - and more, and more, and more - and to eventually become able to support myself and my family doing something I love. I want to make money. It doesn't have to be a lot relative to other fields, but I want it to be a lot relative to the_ poetry_ field. Nice dream, right?


----------



## patskywriter

I want my book to be published for the same reason that I put out a newspaper every month. I have 'invaluable' information that I want to share.


----------



## Grape Juice Vampire

I want to be published so I can hold my book in my hands and say I did it. I reached my goal, achieved my dream. I'd like to live off it, but I could honestly say I had an accomplished life and die happy, just from getting this book in print.


----------



## Daesu

I want to be published because I want my story read. I’m sure everyone feels this way about their novels, but I truly believe in the message that is being promoted in what I’m writing, and I hope that I can reach not only youth, but adults. There are certain things in society that bug me, and I hope that someone reading my story can start to see things the way that I see them.


----------



## Hawke

I suppose it's like carving your initials into a tree. To say: I was here.


----------



## WriterJohnB

For me, it's an ego thing. I went through most of my life depressed and with little self-worth. When I finally got help (drugs) to keep me from being so low, I felt good enough to start writing again after giving up on the idea in my teens. When my first poem was published and went on to win fans and a minor award, I felt even better. I submitted more and the editor suggested a children's poetry book. More stories began to be accepted, more minor awards, and then I got an unsolicited e-mail asking the use of one of my stories for a textbook anthology to be used in a university class on writing Gothic and horror. A small publisher accepted one of my novels. Then it happened again with a different publisher. When I couldn't get anyone interested in a niche book I had written, I self-published it through create space. Now I have 3 self-pubbed novels and 3 from small publishing outfits.

There's nothing wrong with self-publishing these days. The internet has changed the playing field. I'm even prouder of my self-published books because I personally took care of every aspect: editing, cover, formatting, layout, etc. 

I don't make much money at writing and that's okay. It's a great hobby and, if I should hit the big time, the best thing wouldn't be a life-style change but that I'd be able to "play" at my hobby full time. I just gave away over a thousand kindle novels and it's great to think there are that many people reading about my characters, settings, etc. The best thing about it all is that I feel good about myself and nobody can take that away. Instead of the depressed introvert I once was, I feel completely comfortable talking to anyone about anything, and I can try to make an influence on society as an author by writing about social injustice, etc. I've gotten "slammed" by reviewers now and then and, yeah, it hurts. But I now have the self-confidence not to judge myself based upon the opinions of others.

Take care,

JohnB


----------



## alanmt

Because it would be cool.


----------



## Potty

This is going to get flamed but... I'm in it for the money, pure and simple. Yes I enjoy writing. I enjoy it enough to dedicate several hours a day to it. I also enjoy a beer but, belonging to that class of people, I don't see the point of drinking unless I'm going to get shitfaced.


----------



## Kyle R

:coffeescreen:

Nothing wrong with wanting monetary compensation for all your hard work. And writing is, as I'm discovering, very hard work indeed!


----------



## Sunny

So when my book is in print... I can take it and shove it in the faces of all the people that said I couldn't make my dreams come true... the ones that said I was living a pipe-dream and should let it go. 

I'll wrap my book up in some printed articles that rave about how awesome my book is, and I'll send it to them as a birthday gift, and I'll make sure to sign the author's signature page in big, bold, permanent marker ... "Booyah, Beyotches! Pipe-dream that!"


----------



## Terry D

Validation . . . ego . . . I don't know what to call it for sure, but I know that I want what I write to affect people.  I don't want to change their lives -- I don't believe I have anything that valuable to say -- but I want to take people on a ride.  Like an old time county fair where you buy your ticket (my book) climb aboard the Tilt-A-Whirl, sit down on the tacky seats and get spun around for a while.  When you're done you might be a bit queasy, but there's a smile on your face, and you can't wait 'till next summer rolls 'round and the carnival comes back.

I had some feedback from one woman who read my first book; she told me she planned on reading it while she did her laundry one day, but had to put the laundry off because she couldn't put the book down.  I changed her day!  That's what I want to do.


----------



## BabaYaga

Sunny said:


> So when my book is in print... I can take it and shove it in the faces of all the people that said I couldn't make my dreams come true... the ones that said I was living a pipe-dream and should let it go.
> 
> I'll wrap my book up in some printed articles that rave about how awesome my book is, and I'll send it to them as a birthday gift, and I'll make sure to sign the author's signature page in big, bold, permanent marker ... "Booyah, Beyotches! Pipe-dream that!"



I was going to say the same thing, except today I feel like taking my big, hardcover book and _smacking_ them in the faces with it, never mind shoving it.  Or maybe I will shove it... but not in their faces. 

No I just gotta write the thing and make sure it's long enough and heavy enough to crack skulls. And here I was feeling uninspired.


----------



## Sunny

BabaYaga said:


> I was going to say the same thing, except today I feel like taking my big, hardcover book and _smacking_ them in the faces with it, never mind shoving it. Or maybe I will shove it... but not in their faces.
> 
> No I just gotta write the thing and make sure it's long enough and heavy enough to crack skulls. And here I was feeling uninspired.



In the case of shoving it where the sun doesn't shine? I hope for you... that it's a really BIG novel. I hope the word count is HUGE! Lol. 

Inspiration.... it comes in all forms! Perfect how we grab onto it from nowhere isn't it!?!? :-D


----------



## Gamer_2k4

I want to be published because, like so many others have said, it's simple validation.  It doesn't matter if my friends say my story is good.  If a publisher says it's not worth publishing, then it's not a good story.  It's that simple.

At the same time, I also want to leave my mark on the world in some way.  I want to have my name on something, and right now, it seems like a book is the best way to do that.  I don't care about the money, really; that's more of a perk.  The important thing is the recognition.


----------



## Kyle R

My motivation has changed. See my avatar.

I want to get published, and have my book made into a movie, and have crazy fans yelling "zOMG zOMG!" and I want the t-shirts and lunchboxes and action figures and spin-off cartoon shows and Japanese investors opening Theme Parks based on my writing. 

I want astronauts to read my books in space, and decide they are so monumental that they deserved being placed on new planets instead of national flags.

I want alien civilizations to discover my space books and set about reanimating me by locating my DNA so that they can fawn all over the zombie-clone version of myself as it writes more books for them.

Now first I just need to figure out what to write about.


----------



## Terry D

KyleColorado said:


> My motivation has changed. See my avatar.
> 
> I want to get published, and have my book made into a movie, and have crazy fans yelling "zOMG zOMG!" and I want the t-shirts and lunchboxes and action figures and spin-off cartoon shows and Japanese investors opening Theme Parks based on my writing.
> 
> I want astronauts to read my books in space, and decide they are so monumental that they deserved being placed on new planets instead of national flags.
> 
> I want alien civilizations to discover my space books and set about reanimating me by locating my DNA so that they can fawn all over the zombie-clone version of myself as it writes more books for them.
> 
> Now first I just need to figure out what to write about.



Does this mean I don't have to worry about the damned penguins anymore?


----------



## Kyle R

Lol!

But you must, Terry! Only _you_ can save the penguins!


----------



## josh.townley

I've got to this point in my life without really knowing what I wanted to do. I drifted along through high school, had an interest in science so I ended up studying it at uni (for 8 years), and got a decent job out of it. I'm not passionate about it, though.

There are things that I love to do, like drawing and painting, but I'm happy to keep them as hobbies. I never really felt the urge to become an artist.

Now that I've discovered writing, though, I know that it's the only thing that will make me happy. Because, by comparison, no other job will ever be interesting enough. I enjoy writing and telling stories too much to keep it as a hobby, and life is too short for me to dedicate to something I'm not passionate about. I am very single-minded, and once I decide to go for something, I make it happen. If my writing isn't good enough yet, I'll just keep working until it is.

That's why I need to be published.


----------



## Bloggsworth

As an addendum, I can now leave this thread, as I have had 4 poems accepted for publication...


----------



## Olly Buckle

In order to have a product, I had various stories on hard drives and sheets of paper and I wanted it all in one book, as a product. An unexpected result is that people who are creative and read it treat me slightly differently, I am 'in' now. Creative people see themselves as different, but of course receptive and creative people are complementary.


----------



## raunch30

mostly for the love of it and because i have so many ideas, but also because i'm good at it and think i deserve some recognition. a life of hardships teaches you a lot, i have always been a follower of other people and a people pleaser; but but to this extent i have never actually achieved anything that is just for me, then bang! I wake up and its another day, and it seems like another year has whizzed by. 
so its about making something of my life, a wanting to leave my fingerprint behind perhaps. knowing that people can learn from or enjoy something i have created gives me a buzz. its the sense of satisfaction i have searched for my entire life.


----------



## Jon M

For the drugs and the sex.


----------



## philistine

Jon M said:


> For the drugs and the sex.



LOL

That reminds me of the line uttered by Connery in the film, _Finding Forrester_:



> Women will sleep with you even if you write a _bad_ book.



My body is ready.


----------



## JosephB

I don't know about the drugs, but there are a lot easier ways to get sex. At for least for some of us.


----------



## Jon M

philistine said:


> My body is ready.


This is something a 40 year-old fat guy says while pinching his nipples. Hahaha


----------



## Bloggsworth

I don't believe in life after death, I don't believe in reincarnation; if there is a ghost in the machine it is quieted when we die. What lives on of us is forgotten after one generation. The only immortality I can hope for is that something of what I did, wrote or made lives on; should, in one hundred years time, a high-school student be asked to open his anthology of 21st Century English Poetry and read one of my poems I would be, as Barak Obamah recently said, chuffed to bits...


----------



## Olly Buckle

> I don't believe in life after death, I don't believe in reincarnation; if there is a ghost in the machine it is quieted when we die.   .....   should, in one hundred years time, a high-school student be asked to ..... read one of my poems I would be .... chuffed to bits...


 Now that is an oxymoron.

How about simply for the craigh? "Look what I did!"


----------



## Bloggsworth

Do you mean that ersatz Irish, 2nd half of the 20thC, word craic?

_The spelling craic has attracted some criticism. English language specialist Diarmaid Ó Muirithe wrote in his Irish Times column "The Words We Use" that "the constant Gaelicisation of the good old English-Scottish dialect word crack as craic sets my teeth on edge." In his Companion to Irish Traditional Music, Fintan Vallely suggests that use of craic in English is largely an exercise on the part of Irish pubs to make money through the commercialisation of traditional Irish music. Writing for the Irish Independent, Irish journalist Kevin Myers has criticised the craic spelling as being "pseudo-Gaelic" and a "bogus neologism"_


----------



## felix

I thought for a long time that I wanted to be published (and by this I mean a healthily successful title) as supplementary income, and to prove to myself and those close to me that I could. The narcissistic part of me (from my head to my knees) squirmed at the prospect of being seen as something of a more a rounded individual, and the possibility of being seen as 'impressive'. 

I still think that, but most of all, at least at the moment, I want to the published to free myself, to push back the worries of the price of living and the nine-to-five, and universities and debt. I just want some time, a year or two to sit in a small rented place, fairly nice, with a small study, perhaps overlooking a small stream, and to have the freedom to write, to throw a ball against a wall for two weeks straight, or to do nothing at all. Just to be at peace, for even a small time, and see who I really am. Once published I wouldn't have the pressure to write to prove anything, I wouldn't have the pressure to hurry to meet deadlines to pay the bills, I could just see what happened. 

And the best part of that fantasy is that I know that I would only need it once, for a mere year or two. And then I'd be perfectly happy to leap back into debt, deadlines and contrived plot lines.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Bloggsworth said:


> Do you mean that ersatz Irish, 2nd half of the 20thC, word craic?
> 
> _The spelling craic has attracted some criticism. English language specialist Diarmaid Ó Muirithe wrote in his Irish Times column "The Words We Use" that "the constant Gaelicisation of the good old English-Scottish dialect word crack as craic sets my teeth on edge." In his Companion to Irish Traditional Music, Fintan Vallely suggests that use of craic in English is largely an exercise on the part of Irish pubs to make money through the commercialisation of traditional Irish music. Writing for the Irish Independent, Irish journalist Kevin Myers has criticised the craic spelling as being "pseudo-Gaelic" and a "bogus neologism"_



That's the one, my battery is f*****d and as soon as my missus pinches the power lead for her computer mine goes into hibernation, then spell check switches off, not on 'word' only on here. If it is something important I type it into word first, but then I lose all the bold, italics and paragraph spacing when I bring it back here. Soon I will get fed up with it and ask Ox where the switch is again, funny how I can remember stuff from forty years ago but not last month.


----------



## Bloggsworth

Get a new battery.... or a new wife - A battery would be better, you can switch it off more easily*















*There will be letters.


----------



## Jeko

I'd like to get published so that my work goes beyond words on a page for more people than just myself.


----------



## iykewifey

Bilston Blue said:


> Personal satisfaction and pride, a sense of achievement. The feeling of being recognised, or of one's work being recognised. For me it's not about earning a living from it, though if it ever happens that would be nice (and I know that's a cliche). Also, I suppose it's a journey of learning, improving, of making mistakes, and publication is the goal at the end of the journey; but then that first publication would probably mark the start of a new journey.



You read my mind....

Exactly my thought.


----------



## Bilston Blue

> That reminds me of the line uttered by Connery in the film, _Finding Forrester:Women will sleep with you even if you write a bad book._
> 
> 
> 
> _My body is ready._
Click to expand...

Philistine, your body may be ready, but is your book? Without your book your body is nothing.  :icon_compress:


----------



## starseed

Because I need to put my stories out there so the world can enjoy them. Because I need the money so I can support myself and do what I was born to do.


----------



## Cefor

I want to be published because I'd love to have a book (even if it was just one) that people read and then go to their friends, "Here, read this, it was pretty good." Afterwards, they'd get together to discuss characters, plot and what they think will happen next. The way I do with most of the authors (contemporary, of course) that I read now.

I wouldn't even need to be world-famous... but famous enough to have a bunch of people like my books and talk about them and argue over who's right about which theory. That'd be cool.

Also, money, it'd be great - what's the point in lying? - and then again, I'm pretty sure I'd be happy without a load of money coming in off my books either. 

Man, just to be published.

Oh, don't forget the validation that you guys have mentioned, too. Sometimes it's so damned hard to believe my friends and/or family members who say, "Yeah, it was great... now where's the rest of it?" I'd much prefer an editor to say, "Yeah, it's great... now let's publish it."

If anyone comes into this thread with a "Well, as I've already been published... I think that...", I'll kill you.

I jest... but seriously, don't.


----------



## felix

What kind of money do people aspire to get from writing? Enough to cover the cost of living at a steady pace? Comfortable living? Millions? What's your ideal?

I thought that I might be attracted by the idea of being rich for a while, but now I think that I'd hate to get rich through my writing. I think that if I can pay the water bill every other month through my writing then I'll be exactly where I want to be. And if it comes down to being able to pay the water bill every other month and having no validation or paying the water bill once a year and getting one or two emails from people who read my work and enjoyed it, then I'd take the latter any day. 

But that's just me. I may come back tomorrow and say that I couldn't live without a gold statue of me in the courtyard, overlooking my grounds.


----------



## GSBAINS

For me, I would like to be published so I can tell the story, after reading many novels in the same genre as mine, I found that my work was definitely different from the others. 

Possibly as other do, I see my novel more as a movie than a novel, but the idea must manifest in one guise or another ;-)


----------



## RopinWrite

For me, it is because I see so many books that writer's attempt the get the "cowboy" and horse thing right, but they all screw it up one way or another with hokey things that could never really happen and it drives me crazy. I would like to see mine get published for the simple fact that I live horses every day, they are how I make my living, so I stay true to how life with horses really is, and while it's not as sappy as people might think, life with horses do have their good moments. I spend about an hour, maybe 2 a night writing before bed. I use things that have either truly happened to me and my herd, or to friends and their herds, not things that are a tad bit unbelievable, or just sappy.


----------



## starseed

felix said:


> What kind of money do people aspire to get from writing? Enough to cover the cost of living at a steady pace? Comfortable living? Millions? What's your ideal?
> 
> I thought that I might be attracted by the idea of being rich for a while, but now I think that I'd hate to get rich through my writing. I think that if I can pay the water bill every other month through my writing then I'll be exactly where I want to be. And if it comes down to being able to pay the water bill every other month and having no validation or paying the water bill once a year and getting one or two emails from people who read my work and enjoyed it, then I'd take the latter any day.
> 
> But that's just me. I may come back tomorrow and say that I couldn't live without a gold statue of me in the courtyard, overlooking my grounds.



I've never had money. So "any money" would be riches to me, lol. Seriously, anything I could live on I'd be happy. And I could live on very little.


----------



## Gamer_2k4

felix said:


> What kind of money do people aspire to get from writing? Enough to cover the cost of living at a steady pace? Comfortable living? Millions? What's your ideal?



A supplement to my normal income is fine.  The absolute ideal is enough for me to quit my job and never work again, but an extra, say, 500 bucks a month would be awesome too.


----------

