Writing Group Presentation, Part 6, Final Installment

Here's the final installment of the Writing Group Presentation, and possible my last post of 2014. See you on the other side of the year.

Part 6: Publishing Group Projects:

In this  modern world, writing groups can rather easily self-publish the work of members. We did this for Louisiana Inklings. And there are good sides and bad sides to doing so.

We first did an ebook only for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook, then created a printed version about a year later through Create Space. Here are some points to remember if your group decides to do this:

a. First you need an editor. Since I suggested the idea of publication for my group, I agreed to edit it. I’d had more experience than anyone else. I wanted to publish something from every member, but in no way as a vanity project. I wanted only quality writing.

Members selected their best stuff, although I made suggestions. All material had been through group review. Then I edited. Authors were informed of changes I wanted and could respond. Some pieces went through more revisions than others. This was by far the hardest and most time consuming part of the process. Just creating a uniform style for the publication was a real labor. I made a lot of notes. Your editor needs to have a lot of patience and pay close attention to detail.

b. Next you need a “process.” Self-publishing an ebook, a print book, or both, is a matter of following the guidelines. If you can follow the instructions to put a piece of furniture together, or to cook a complicated food dish, you can self publish. And there is a lot of helpful information available. I used Create Space for our Louisiana Inklings anthology and have been very pleased with it. They do a good job of walking you through the process. For specific questions about this you can email me at kainja at hotmail dot com.

Thanks for putting up with this rather long series. There is more on the topic of writing groups, and all other aspects of writing in my book, Write With Fire. If anyone would like a signed copy of Write With Fire, or the Inklings anthology, email me at kainja at hotmail dot com. The price would be 14 bucks for Write With Fire, and 10 for the Inklings anthology, plus whatever the mailing costs would be, which are usually a couple of bucks. By the way, both covers are courtesy of Lana Gramlich.

          

Now, any questions? 

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