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June 30, 2008

Author offers tips on getting published

Misty Watson

The course literature has been taking for hundreds of years is changing, one author says.

More people are self-publishing and they are exploring new genres, said Anthony Grooms, an author and professor of creative writing at Kennesaw State University.

Grooms, 53, author of “Bombingham” and “Trouble No More,” spoke to the Creative Scribes Writers’ Group at the Creative Arts Guild Sunday afternoon and read members excerpts of his work. The group, which meets next on July 8 at 7 p.m. at the guild, is geared toward writers who want their works published.

“If you are lucky a publisher will publish (your works),” Grooms said. “If you are really lucky, someone will read it.”

Many writers are now turning toward self-publishing because it’s hard to sign with a publisher, said Grooms, who has a master’s of fine arts in English from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Grooms is not against self-publishing since many famous writers in America, including e.e. cummings, are self-published. But he warns writers to make sure they are doing everything right.

“You need a good editor,” Grooms said. “You need someone who will tell you if a sentence doesn’t fit or if there needs to be an apostrophe ‘s.’ Self-publishers make mistakes by not consulting an artist about book jackets. The cover sells books. And self-publishers have trouble getting it distributed, though Web sites are making that easier. Major presses have distribution powers.”

Blaire Adams, who heads the writers group, says she thinks writers should self-publish.

“Some people look down on that, but I don’t because it’s hard to get published,” she said.

Grooms said it is easier to get nonfiction published because it’s selling more. So many people are turning to creative nonfiction, also called literary journalism. Books in that genre tell true stories, but they read more like novels.

“It’s easier for would-be novelists to publish memoirs,” said Grooms, who “Readers like memoirs. We, as Americans especially, have an interest for the truth and facts. People are interesting. People have stories to tell.”

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