My dad has a decent collection of short stories he has written over several decades that I want to combine in kind of an anthology of his work. I was planning on going on like Blurb.com or Lulu to self publish it, and maybe even have it listed on Amazon for fun. On Lulu they sell ISBN. Or I thought about actually sending it to a publisher to get published. But since his stories are very niche, I don’t know if there’s publishers that will pick up his stories.
Anyway, my question is… Years ago he may have had some of these stories published in magazines. He never got paid, but it was like Deer hunter magazines that he sent to. They liked his story so they published it. No money was exchanged. I’m wondering if the magazine would have the rights to these stories or can he still do what he wants with his stuff?
All of his work is printed off from the printer or in the forms of old emails. It be fun to see it edited, formatted, and all together in a collection so that’s what I’m doing for him right now. I’m just wondering how far I can attempt to go with his stories.
And yes he knows I’m doing this. I got a stack of papers I have to retype because the digital copy of many of these stories are lost and only thing that’s left is what he copies with copy machine.
Categorized | Affiliate Marketing 101
Publishing Through Publisher Or Self Publishing My Dad’s Short Stories…?
Posted on December 29, 2010.
You can actually try both depending on your means.
If you don’t want to make money, there’s no point in going to a publisher. They used to be the only way to get a book printed. Now, anyone can get a book printed; all they offer is established networks of contacts and techniques to get your book sold. If that doesn’t interest you, you can do a much better job yourself.
Pizzagirl,
Magazines usually by the rights to stories in what is called FNASR, which is First North American Serial Rights. This means that they have the rights to publish the story FIRST and let it run for the entire month. After that, the rights revert back to you dad.
Get a copy of Writer’s Digest for 2011 and check through for literary agents who represent anthologies. Contact hunting magazines (for instance) to see if they have any record of his stories. Perhaps your dad remembers who he sent them to. Field and Stream for example.
Just remember that they are HIS stories and not yours. You have to be up front with these literary agents and publishers.
Good luck!
PJ M
I’d go with blurb.com if I were you. That’s what I’m planning on doing (I don’t care if I don’t sell alot, I’m too attached to my story to let it get too far out of my own hands. My username is Purple_Wolf, check my profile out if you wish).
But for the heck of it, why not send it in to a few publishers first? See what they say, maybe you’ll strike some luck. And if not, you always have the other options.
Good Luck.
I’d buy it just because you did this for your dad.