For the Writers...

[shanendoah]

I know there are a number of people on this board who are/want to be writers. For those of you who may write short stories or flash fiction (or really anything shorter than novel length), Duotrope.com is a great way to look for markets for your work.
You can search via genre, length, payment options, etc.
You can then track your submissions via Duotrope. That information then lets them tell other people how many manuscripts get submitted to publications, how long it takes them to respond on average, and roughly what percentage of what is sent in to them gets accepted. Obviously this is not perfect as not everyone uses duotrope and not everyone who does use it tracks, but it's still nice information to have.
You can not submit via duotrope, though. They have a link to the publisher's submission policy with every listing they have, so it's not difficult.

If you are looking to submit novels, the only open submission policy I'm aware of is for sci-fi/fantasy with Tor/Forge. But you can find their submission guidelines here:
us.macmillan.com/Content.aspx?publisher=torforge&id=255#ctl00_cphContent_ctl30_lblQuestion
Tor.com also accepts open submissions for short fiction www.tor.com/page/submissions-guidelines

[Wisconsin Beth]

A Doxie book has been requested too. and

Edited - it's been requested on the last Doxie thread, not by any publishers...

[reader79]

Hey, if someone was willing to pay Lena Dunham $3.5million for her still unwritten story, there is hope for us all.

[kgb18]

Thanks for the tip. I have a friend who has published a lot of flash fiction. I've been thinking about trying my hand at it. I get paid to write, but news stories. I need to flex my creative writing muscles a bit.

Actually, my friend who writes the flash fiction used to be a news reporter and is now a professor. She has been working on a book and just got signed by a publisher. I'm so excited for her. She's writing a true crime novel. It's a fascinating case. I have a true crime story I'd like to write.

[savecents]

Great tip! I've been trying to do brute force searches, individually looking up each publisher and it is a mess... each place is so specific. This is a great resource!

[InsertCoolName]

I know that someone, or perhaps a lot of someones here could write a great book about a certain....topic/person.

What would the genre be though?

[Wisconsin Beth]

Oct 16, 2012 12:46:27 GMT -5 InsertCoolName said:

I know that someone, or perhaps a lot of someones here could write a great book about a certain....topic/person.

What would the genre be though?

docu-drama?

[shanendoah]

the genre will depend on what story you want to tell. Mostly I think it's chick lit, but from what I understand, there was recently a discussion that could turn into a dectective style story.
But no matter what, you slap "based on true story" on the cover to generate buzz

[Wisconsin Beth]

Oct 16, 2012 14:27:56 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

the genre will depend on what story you want to tell. Mostly I think it's chick lit, but from what I understand, there was recently a discussion that could turn into a dectective style story.
But no matter what, you slap "based on true story" on the cover to generate buzz

[InsertCoolName]

LOL

I think it would also make for great TV series. Reality. Totally would do better than Housewives of....

[Ava]

I have a question regarding this topic.
If I write a novel and submit it to a publisher, do I need to get copyright before submission?
Couldn't they technically "steal" my novel from me?
But getting copyright for an unpublished novel, that maybe nobody would want to publish seems expensive and complicated.

[shanendoah]

You don't need to "get" a copyright for your work. Your work is automatically copyrighted. The publisher isn't going to steal your novel from you because you have the records that show that this is your work. But if you feel like you need to have that (c) at the bottom, well, just add it. That is all you need to do.

Some people choose to get Library of Congress numbers for their writing. My MIL put together books of her poetry and submitted them to the Library of Congress for a number. You do pay for that (not much) and it made her happy. No one ever published her work that wasn't one of those pay us to publish your poems places, but it made her feel like her work was protected. Now that she has passed, we have all the documentation around those books.

Hope that answers your question

ETA: If a book is being published, the publisher takes care of the Library of Congress number- that includes self-publishing, as your ISBN (bar code for selling the book) is or refers to (don't remember exactly how that works) the Library of Congress number.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I think LC is Library of Congress number.

[shanendoah]

Beth: You are right. If someone gets an ISBN to sell their book, then with that comes a library of congress number, even if you don't know what it is. You can get an LC number for things that aren't published, though, as my MIL did with her poetry.