# Hello



## fisaffie (Jun 25, 2016)

Hello,

I am new to this forum, and have no idea where to start, nor which group to join. I want to introduce myself and then discuss the ongoing problem I have with getting my first work, my autobiography, "White Zulu" published. Actually, it's a lot more complicated than that and I would be very grateful to anybody who would be able to guide me to the right group so that I can get started. 

Regards, Fi


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## fisaffie (Jun 25, 2016)

I was born in 1950, and brought up on a remote cattle ranch in the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. My parents had wanted sons with the rather Victorian idea of having them take over the ranch in due course, but they had four daughters and then threw in the towel.

As each girl was born she was greeted with utter dismay and "Oh God! I suppose we'll have to try again." They could not contemplate the idea of five daughters, so that was that. My mother's only passion was gardening, in spite of all the obstacles like baboons, monkeys, bush pigs and every other creature that either ate her plants, or trashed the vegetable garden, and as a result, we girls were handed over to the Zulu tribe who lived and worked on the 5000 acre ranch to be raised while our mother turned her attentions back to her garden.

We grew up with our first language being Zulu and learned all the traditions, superstitions and ways of the tribe. They taught us how to track game (including our resident leopards) smoke wild bees out of their hives to get their honey and we learned all about the flora and fauna in that glorious paradise.

I was sent to boarding school when I was 12, which was a terrible culture shock as it was the first time I had worn shoes or spoken English, and spent six miserable years there. After that I went to finishing school in Switzerland where I learnt all the bad habits a young girl of 18 should not even know about, especially being straight off that remote farm and an all girls boarding school.

At the age of 19 I met a young Scottish man, in Durban, married him at 20 and went to live in his parents' Castle in the Scottish Highlands, overlooking Oban Bay. My book is finished and for the past eight months has been with the publishing house, Austin Macauley.  In all that time, all they have achieved, is to do poor proofreading job on it, and design a book cover, which is still not to my satisfaction.

I only went with Austin Macauley, because I lost my agent, a very good one, due to her ill-health and could not find another one anywhere. At that stage, in December, 2015. I had nowhere to turn, but go down the route of "co-publishing" in their words – sharing the costs of what might be a risk. But I have been bitterly disappointed by their lack of service, the time it's taken to get this far and wondered what thoughts anybody out there had? Or has anybody else had dealings with AM? Or even had a similar experience to mine? If so I would be very keen to hear about it.

I now live in the UK, and have been here for the past 15 years. I have also written two other books (also autobiographical) as well as a sequel to "White Zulu", and have two other books in the pipeline.


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## Deleted member 56686 (Jun 25, 2016)

Hi, Fi. There will be some people responding in time, I promise.


In the meantime, welcome to our home. You can find a lot to do here. Maybe you'll find interest in our writing discussions or even our lounge. You can even do a critique in the creative threads that are open to you if you'd like. Once you have ten valid posts anywhere except for the Word Games and Procrastination central, you will have more forums open to you where you can post your own creative works. You will also be able to choose your own avatar and signature.

And don't forget to check out the Publishing forum. That sounds like the place to go to get your question answered. If it's about an actual writing question then you can try our Writing Discussions. Anyway, it's good to have you here


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## PrinzeCharming (Jun 25, 2016)

Hey Fi, 

Welcome to Writing Forums! I'm Anthony, the New Writers' Mentor. As soon as I opened your PM, I have noticed you answered your own question already. You demonstrated both creating threads and replying to comments. I am proud of you! We will have a moderator condense both comments together to keep everything organized. I will reply to your PM with a list of groups and brief explanations. When you write, 'group,' do you mean 'thread'? I can also suggest a few of those as well. We have a lot to offer at Writing Forums, especially when you reach ten valid posts. It's a security feature to ensure you're real and ready to contribute. 

My parents were born in the late 1950's. I have never been to South Africa, but the History of South Africa course during my undergraduate years was intriguing. Due to the course, I am now familiar with the Zulu tribe (as well as the other tribes I have difficulty pronouncing). I am pleased to see you're here and ready to engage. Do you write poetry? I could send you a few links to those resources as well. Explore the forums, engage with our community, and excel in all your writing endeavors. If you need anything, you can continue to reply to those PM's. 

Have fun! 

Thanks.


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## Carly Berg (Jun 25, 2016)

Welcome, fissaffie. Your autobiography sounds quite interesting.


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## Rookish (Jun 25, 2016)

As someone currently living beneath the Northernmost cliffs of the  Drakensberg range, I wish you good fortune with the publishing process.
I have no experience with publishers or their methods, but I do hope someone here will have the advice that you seek.

Your life sounds very interesting and if your book does get published, I may purchase it out of simple curiosity. 

Your boarding school anecdote reminds me of my father.
He  also encountered a language barrier upon attending an English boarding  school in what once was Rhodesia. After being away from home for semesters  at a time, his mother-tongue became muddled with that of his educators,  leading to a child who was at times bilingually incoherent. These  mix-ups were usually quite humorous in the way he recalled them.     

Best wishes, Rook.


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## Rmand (Jun 25, 2016)

Hey fi, nice autobiography, I really wish you great luck and success to manage it to be published, I'd really love to buy it soon and welcome


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## Harper J. Cole (Jun 26, 2016)

Hi there *fisaffie*,

I had a search on the name of the publisher you mentioned. The results were a bit concerning ...

*Link*

*Link*

We have a sub-forum that specialises in discussion of the publishing experience (*link*); that might be the best place for further discussion.

I hope that you find your answers here!

*HC*


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## Bard_Daniel (Jun 27, 2016)

Welcome!

Once you reach 10 posts that you become a full member and can edit your   profile picture and signature. There are also Writing Contests and the Mentor Directory here up for grabs.

See you around the forums and all the best to you!


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## fisaffie (Jun 28, 2016)

Hello Anthony,

Thank you so much for your very warm welcome, it is most appreciated. I am absolutely new to any forum at all, so will probably be making all kinds of blunders. But thank you for the compliment, I can assure you it was purely a fluke. I am assuming that a thread is within a group? Or to be more precise, a group produces threads of posts?

I can assure you I am very ready to contribute. Basically, I'm marking time while my first book, my autobiography White Zulu, goes through the interminable process of being published. I was never warned that it would take over six months. Sigh!

I have actually finished second book while I was waiting for the first one to be signed off as ready for publication. And that still hasn't happened yet. So I really need somewhere to occupy my overactive brain and join up with like-minded folk.

 That's really interesting that you found the history of South Africa, so intriguing. It is a very strange, wild and beautiful country with enormous social problems. I can answer and discuss any questions you can possibly pull up about the Zulus, as well as other tribes (there are 11 of them) and also the history of South Africa.

My ancestors on my mother's side stepped off the 'Dromedaris' in 1652 with Jan van Riebeck, and was one of the very first settlers in the Cape. I am directly descended from a Hendrik van Kleuten, a French Huguenot Boer (farmer).

Sadly, I'm hopeless at poetry. I've only ever written one poem, which I'd rather like share. But in my case, I can only write autobiographically, and what I have experienced myself. 

Please do send me a few links to those resources as well. And in the meantime, I will explore the forums, engage with the community and hopefully make some good friends.

Thank you so much again for all your help.

All my best,
Fi

Hello Daniel,

Thank you so much for your warm welcome and most helpful suggestions. I look forward to seeing you around the forum as soon as I have got my feet under the table, so to speak.

All my very best,
Fi


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## fisaffie (Jun 28, 2016)

Hello Harper,

thank you so much for your prompt and most helpful reply to my post. It is as I feared! Austin Macauley is a dud publisher. Regrettably I had no other choice at the time as my very dear literary agent had retired due to ill-health, and 2014 onwards was a very bad time for writers looking for publishers. AM was the only one I could find.

Almost the minute I had signed their contract. I began to have bad experiences with ignored emails, holding onto my work for months on end and only rushing back to me when prodded several times. The proofreading was shoddy and the cover design even worse, as they hadn't read the remit. When asked them to make the tiniest change, they have now made two other additional changes which I am not happy with. Sigh!

Once again thank you for all your help.
All my best,
Fi


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## TKent (Jun 28, 2016)

Welcome to the boards! And while you've been given some great links regarding feedback on AM, I will say that 6 months is not long in the publishing business. You can typically expect 18 months or more, depending on how many rewrites it takes to get an accepted manuscript. One of my dear friends' nephews was just signed with a traditional publishing company and the book release is planned for 2018. Smaller presses sometimes can do it in less than 18 but you need a 'minimum' of 4 months from the time you have your advanced reading copies ready to when you publish to have time to secure reviews and market properly. In the publishing world, patience isn't just a virtue, it is a requirement


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