Looking for advice on publishing
 

I thought about posting this in Tilted Literature, but it isn't really literature. I need to know if anyone has had any experience publishing their work. Here's the story:

My wife wrote a romance novel about a year ago. I've read it, along with my mom, aunts, and grandmother. And some close friends. Anyway, I'm not a fan of romance novels, but I liked this one. I mean, not just "yes, dear, that's nice" kind of like, I'm talking really liked it. We looked into getting it published, but nobody will even let us submit it to them. Nobody takes unsolicited manuscripts. You pretty much have to be a published writer to get published. Catch 22 and all that. We tried Harlequin, but they have a very specific formula for their books, and her's doesn't match their style. To match it, you'd almost have to take an existing Harlequin and change the names. A friend of ours got his book published, but he had to pay for it himself. I think it cost him about $300, and it seems to me that it's not really like getting something published. I mean, anybody with $300 can get anything published, that's not much of an accomplishment. So, does anyone have any advice?

Well, if it's her first novel, publishing it yourself might be a good idea. I'm not too sure drawing parallels with the game industry is spot-on here, but anyway. As far as my knowledge goes, nothing looks better to a publisher than a completed product, be it a game or a book.

I'd say get it published by your friend. That way, in the future, your wife can say that she has already been published for a reference to the bigger publishing houses.

Vanity publishing is just that, you get an ISBN number, you get a certain number of printed books, it looks really cool, but it's just that -- vanity publishing.

If I was really serious about getting published, truly getting published, and not just the thrill of seeing your name on a book in the library, I'd go to the smaller publishing houses, forget Harlequin, Silhouettes, and the big ones. concentrate on the smaller ones. She won't get a tens of thousands in a signing bonuses (or maybe she will) but she might get honest assessments of her work.

That's absolutely fabulous advice. In addition to that be persistent if you believe in the work! The chaps who wrote the "Chicken Soup for the _ _ _ _" series started by knocking on about 100 publishers doors while trying to get their work published. They have since gone on to be one the most published books in recent history and the rest as they say is in fact history. They now have more money than your favorite local diety.

If you're going to shop it, shop small places. If it's anything like music, make sure you're getting paid upfront. I've seen a few great artists go bankrupt before the age of 20 because of bad contracts.

Try to find an agent to represent her?