From Blogger to Author

hi Mehroo,

from a layman's perspective what I feel is, you should only think of publishing your material if you can read it more than a few times with unspoiled eagerness after writing... get it read by your trustworthy associates and see if they find your chapters equally interesting... I'm sure, some expert will come soon and reflect over your case... Good Luck...

Hi Anunoy, thanks for your feedback. Yes friends always say it is great and stuff but i need an outsider probably a professional to read and tell me where I stand what is missing etc....so which is why i would like to move on aheda and find someone who can help out.

Mehroo, take a look at this. 

And coming to some advice from those who are published, there are a few members here who have a published novel / novella / short story like Suresh. May be, they can give you some advice. 

wow, yes thanks Ranjith, this is very similar to what i am looking for! Just that they need fictional stories though mine are all personal, but I will do a search based on my needs and see what i find online. I will also check with Suresh. Thanks for the suggestion and do let me know if u come up with anything else.

Anyone got a story published in Readers Digest or in Chicken Soup out here?

Yes friends won't be neutral... you may strike some humble deal with bloggers (not so acquainted with you) online to read a chapter or two of yours for honest feedback, in return of a review of their blogs on your site... just an idea though... and for knowing the appeal of your work, you need no pro... after all your work will be read by 99% non-Pro'z only.... for technicalities of publishing you may seek Pro's help... Go ahead...

That's great.. exploring the bigger world :)

Try Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, where you can publish your articles/books/novels and earn from it. Also they are published around the world reaching out millions of interested people..

Let me know when you get started, would love to read some.. :)

As people here have suggested Amazon Kindle is easiest unless you want to go knocking doors of publishers for a long time. The most difficult aspect about self publishing is promotion of the books. Some of us are thinking over how we can do this effectively and help others do the same too.

On of the things we have come up with is a Facebook Page to promote books of bloggers called "The Indian Bloggers' Books and Reviews ". You can look it up on Facebook.

Uhm. Well, yes. I started blogging almost 4 years back and now I'm a National Bestselling author of the novel, The Other Side of the Bed. (You can google it :) ) Also I'm a contributing author to one of the anthologies. My next novel is due next year and yes, I even published a collection of poetry at Amazon Kindle.

Getting your blogposts publishes would be very tough - until and unless they are short stories (which again is not accepted by every publisher). I would rather suggeest you to develop a strong plot, or firstly strong characters. Writing a novel is a tough job - it requires patience. But I'm sure you will get through it!

But before you start, I would like to add that writing a novel is just 25% of the entire work, the harder part comes after that - making proposals, query letters, finding a right publisher, organizing a book launch and ramdom book giveaways. The process never stops. Nevertheless, it is all worth the pain. When a 50 year old man comes to you and says "You have changed my life" or when you recieve an email from a stranger naratting their entire lifestory and how because of your work they didn't give up. That makes it all worth it :)

Best wishes!  If you need any help, you can let me know