Publishing: Read Before You Send Us Work, Please

Records, publishing, shop etc.
Post Reply
User avatar
ravanwin
Posts: 5060
Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 8:08 pm
Location: edinburgh
Contact:

Publishing: Read Before You Send Us Work, Please

Post by ravanwin » Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:14 pm

Dear Writers,

The Forest Free Press assists in publishing Lo-Fi chapbooks for sale / giveaway. We feel that the publication of chapbooks to be an important step in a writer's career and we whole-heartedly encourage writer's to contact us. If you are looking for assistance in publishing your work and in getting it seen by a wider audience than the forest is keen to assist. However, we ask that you read the following advice.

Firstly, if you are still "drafting" than do not publish anything in any form whether it is through self-publishing or publishing via the forest in this small scale way. You should look at publishing things when they are ready and you are proud of them.

We also highly recommend you solicit other opinions of your work (not, however, from the people you expect to publish you... to those people you send a finished project). Seek other writers and meet every week to discuss your work in a highly critical fashion. It can be painful, but it is necessary to create good work. There are many ways to go about this.

1) the old fashioned way

post notices in the forest, the elephant house, wherever you hang out. Meet up at a cafe or in someone's flat. Bring copies of your work. Sit. Discuss.

2) the internet:

yahoo certainly will have many .yahoogroups dedicated to writers and writing. Find one. Seek community.
Also magma.com and poets.org have vibrant bulliten boards where people can have their work looked at by other writers. I would recommend sending some of your work there and reading other people's work who post on these forums.

3) pay someone:

this is not recommended. but the service is available. the East Anglia University runs the most reputable service and, at £90, is cheaper than actually going to university. Still, I'd wait until you've tried option 1 / 2.

If you still want the aid of the forest in publishing, that is GREAT. The Forest will not green light every project presented to us but we are keen to help as many writer's as possible reach a larger audience.

There is the belief that it is good to get all content out and into the world for people to see and read. Ultimately, the writing is your baby and you can do what you wish to it.

These are just suggestions...

The Forest offer to allow the use of our copiers to produce a small chapbook stands.

Post Reply