Bill, I haven't been to a meetup yet, but I will respond to your 
concern about sounding know-it-allish and say that nothing could be 
further from the truth.  I consider myself a sensitive individual. I 
have several ideas/works in the hopper at this time, I have 
read "publishing for dummies", etc., and as I've worked in the legal 
profession as a reporter and an assistant, "cynical wariness" is my 
middle name.  What I find in scarcity is real information, and that is 
what I hope to gain by joining some of the writing meetups in this 
area.  As well as criticism, harsh, productive, thought-provoking, ire-
producing, or otherwise, and perhaps along the way, some 
encouragement.  
Kimberly
ps = are you published if a radio host read your anecdote on their 
radio spot, and several of your friends called you to say they'd heard 
your "essay"?

----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Ferris <[address removed]>
Date: Monday, May 21,[masked]:21 pm
Subject: Re: [writers-498] question for fellow writers
To: [address removed]

> First off, I'm an unpublished novelist myself, so take the 
> following advice with however much salt you think it warrants. 
> Without having read the essay in question, this sounds sketchy to 
> me. Publication is a difficult enterprise, and as such there's no 
> guarantee that paying for these services will get a person 
> anything more than a form rejection from literary agents. That is, 
> you stand to spend a lot of money, after which you still can only 
> sit around and hope that someone wants to represent your 
> manuscript. 
> 
> I'm leery of publicists working with unpublished writers. If you 
> don't have a published book, you really don't have anything to 
> publicize. According to what I've read about agents, the best way 
> to get one is to write a dynamite book, then hook them with a 
> dynamite query letter. 
> 
> Publishing is rife with scam artists who misinform writers that 
> it's impossible to get published unless you give someone lots of 
> money for stuff you don't need (publicity) or stuff you can get 
> for free in any decent writing group (editing and critique). I'm 
> certain there are many reputable freelance editors out there, but 
> there are enough predators where I wouldn't want to chance it. 
> 
> This is a great post on Neil Gaiman's website regarding literary 
> agents: https://www.neilga...­-
> wanted-to-know-about­.asp
> I also recommend visiting Preditors & Editors 
> (https://www.anothe...­), a great listing of 
> who's reputable and who's not. Finally, Miss Snark 
> (https://misssnark....­) is a great blog by an anonymous 
> literary agent, discussing publishing, query letters, and landing 
> a literary agent. Be forewarned that a lot of the advice is in the 
> form of ridiculing reader questions, but there's a lot to be 
> learned by reading through the Snarkives. My apologies if all this 
> information was common knowledge, or if I came across as an 
> obnoxious know-it-all. Like I said, I'm not published, but I've 
> tried to educate myself about publishing the last couple years, 
> and I found these resources very helpful.
> 
> Thanks,
> Bill
> 
> 
> jud nirenberg <[address removed]> wrote: Fellow writers;
> 
> I've read an essay on the Internet suggesting that if one is 
> willing to pay 
> for the help, some literary publicists can help pre-publication 
> and even 
> help to approach agents. Has anyone used a publicist to get to an 
> agent?
> Any advice welcome.
> 
> Jud Nirenberg
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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