How to Publish My Son's Short Story

Updated on February 25, 2015
W.S. asks from Pomona, CA
8 answers

Dear Moms,

My son is 10 years old. He likes to reading and loves to create stories on his own. He wrote a short story about Gazalla . Do you have any idea or tips where I can send his story to publish? Any local paper or any organizations that may be interested in children's creative idea?

Thank you

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B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Google it.
There are lots of different ways to go now.
It might be easier to publish it as a e-book - there's a way to do this through Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/mm-summary-page.h...

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A.L.

answers from Las Vegas on

you may want to get it copyrighted first and then send it out.. My son at 11, got something he wrote copyrighted, you have to go through a long process and pay a fee (you can check out the gov website at copyright.gov and see if it's something you are interested in doing.. otherwise, if you get it published, you run the risk of someone else coping it.. that said, my son got his work copyrighted then he wanted to find a publisher... WOW.. .unless you are a big name writer, they want a fee... and a big one. so he did amazon self-publish.. now some say, hey that's not really publishing, but if you can't afford a high price publisher,then it's a great alternative. Also, many papers and or magazines do seek out childrens' work..but again, you may at least want to get something copyrighted..
as for sales of my son's book.. he sold a few on Amazon.. but more amazingly than sales, he has walked into bookstores and asked them to carry his book.. (this is with the small business owners) most being amazed at how young he was, gladly accepted his book on consignment or gave him money upfront. more than sales, it's been a great learning experience for him in terms of navigating the publishing and copyright system.. and learning that IF you want to get something done... if one door closes, find another and another.. crawl through windows if you have to.. his tenacity has amazed me..
also, check out your local library and local cafes.. sometimes, some have standup reading night, kinda like comedy night but for short stories and poems.. see if they offer something for kids.. .
check out the library as well..often they have great resources.. good luck

3 moms found this helpful

J.S.

answers from St. Louis on

You may want to google fan fic and Godzilla. That is the proper place for what he is doing which is fan fiction. You cannot publish your son's version of copyrighted material.

2 moms found this helpful

D.B.

answers from Boston on

Most publications don't take unsolicited manuscripts anymore. If you really think something has commercial possibilities, you are better off getting an agent and then enduring the long process of submission and rejection. I wouldn't think a 10 year old would be able to endure that.

If you aren't trying to make this a commercial success (which one story is unlikely to be), you should talk to your local quick printer to find out the costs for 1-5 copies. Perhaps you just want to give a copy to Grandma and Aunt Susie. It's probably not going to be worth it to print just one story though, so consider having him do several. Then you can put together an anthology.

Years ago when my son was in 1st grade, the parents used to create books for the kids by typing out their stories, leaving space for them to illustrate the pages, and then creating covers out of thick cardboard covered in wallpaper remnants and held together with sticky tape (like duct tape) in different colors. If that would be a fun project for you and him, you could do that at home.

2 moms found this helpful
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H.W.

answers from Portland on

You can always do some online research for "self-publishing", which is really your best bet if you are wanting multiple copies of something. Otherwise, you might just type it up in Word and put it into a format so that he could illustrate it if he wanted to.

Publishing written work can be a pretty arduous process, and if the characters aren't his own, you open yourself up to copyright infringement. I'm assuming you are talking about "Godzilla" (Gazalla does not show up on any Google search) which is not in the public domain, but is held by Legendary Pictures. The best bet is to have your son just share the story privately with friends if that's the case.

Or you could go to the local copy shop with the story formatted on a USB and they could likely print it and comb-bind it if you are looking for something more finished. Good luck.

2 moms found this helpful

T.F.

answers from Dallas on

You would need a copyright and the book would go through a web check to ensure validity and uniqueness.

Along with other good ideas you have received.... speak with the school librarian to see if she has any input. I know our schools bring in authors, some new so she might have some insight.

If everything pans out, be ready to spend some money because publishing companies are picky and this is not an easy task.

Another idea would be to have a print shop print it for you so he sees it in print as long as all copyright laws are followed.

1 mom found this helpful

S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

go to blurb or lulu.
khairete
S.

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B.P.

answers from Kalamazoo on

Are you looking at self-publishing or getting published by someone else?

My daughter loves to write and we self-published one of her stories through createspace. I think there are many different options to self-publish but I don't really know about them - we just went with createspace because she had earned a free book and then we ended up buying more. It ended up not being very expensive.

What she really wanted though was to be published in print by someone else (validation from someone besides Mom and Dad that she was a good as she would like to be a writer). A lot of places you have to pay to submit, and while some of the them may be good, a lot are not and it can get expensive. After a lot of research she ended up submitting a story to the magazine Stone Soup. She did end up getting her story published (in the March issue - she was so excited!) and they even paid her $40 for it. No cost to submit - look up submission details online. They take submissions up to age 13. There are some other good ones out there too, but they were too young for her but might work for your son. The Cricket family of magazines might be one of them.

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