new author new book how to get it out?

I'm writing a memoir. Im 20 years old, I've been a heroin addict for 4 years, when i was 19 i moved to hawaii and got heavily into meth, i lived in hawaii for 2 months and its more then enough to write a book on....it might sound bland, but more happened to me there then ever in my life, and a life as an addict has alot to talk about.

I was wondering how to sell the idea. I have 10,000 words written so far, and i was wondering how to get anybody to read it, or anyway to get an advance to finish the book.

Sorry, but it's just not that compelling a story. Less Than Zero is an antique and we see the same story (with more glitz and glamor and sex) about starlets and athletes all the time.

What I'm saying is, if you are a good writer and have a cool story, there's a chance, but "I was a teenaged junkie" is not going to wow anybody.

And getting an advance to finish an incomplete novel, even if it's dynamite, is NOT going to happen. Seriously. Forget it.

If you want people to read it, for feedback there are sites where you can post short exerpts (like this one, actually), or you can get more formal peer evaluation on something like Zoetrope or Authonomy.

The western wortld is in a recession that is predicted to last two more years. Thousands of workers have already lost jobs with more to follow. The majority of folks are less concerned about other people's problems than they are about their own.

In times of a boom economy, books about suffering are extremely popular because they reinforce readers' feelings of comfort and financial security.

During hard times, readers prefer to read stories that will make them laugh or smile, and are less interested in stories that will make them cry.

You are only twenty and it is a memoir. Write it all down and seek a publisher in five years time. There might very well be a market then, especially if you have pulled yourself out of your present situation and built a successful career.

So, are you crushed yet, Kar?

Look, if you're really a writer, you will keep at it and have the same shot at success as any of us here.
Don't give up on your book because it sounds like it won't sell. You learn by doing.
DO try posting some scraps for feedback. DO clean them up utterly as far as grammar and punctuation goes. Otherwise people will just talk about that, rather than the story and writing, and will not take you seriously.

Good luck

I'm not crushed, and will never be. It's a great story. I posted the first part of it in the 'books' section for feedback. Sure the replies are a little discouraging, but I know its a brilliant story. Plus there are plenty of books about addiction but few with addicts so young and even fewer with meth as the primary drug.

It's not a recovery story, there is no happy ending. Besides it being about addiction, I guess its just as much about true crime. What I had to do to get it, and the community I did it in, being Maui, a very small community where you see the same people over and over again.

Quote :

I think the odds of you finding a publisher until the work is completed will be seriously reduced by the fact that you are still using; especially a publisher who will offer an advance. Drug addicts are not known for their reliability or their honesty, but I bet you know that already.

There is the added concern that anyone who buys your book is helping you feed your addiction.

I SERIOUSLY doubt that would be a factor. Beleive me, "still a junkie" would be a plus.

The advance thing isn't going to happen no matter what. Beleive me on that, too. I wonder if even established authors with series get advances on unfinished work any more.

All this lifestyle stuff, though, has little to do with the problem: which is producing a book anybody wants to read.

Taken from Irvine Welsh's official site:

"Digging out some old diaries, Welsh did a draft of what would become Trainspotting. Welsh published parts this from 1991 onwards in DOG, the West Coast Magazine, and New Writing Scotland. Duncan McLean published parts of the novel in two Clocktower pamphlets, A Parcel of Rogues and Past Tense: Four Stories from a Novel. Meanwhile Kevin Williamson, a member of Duncan McLean’s Muirhouse writers’ group, published sections of Trainspotting in the literary magazine Rebel Inc. Duncan McLean recommended Welsh to Robin Robertson, then editorial director of Secker & Warburg, who decided to publish Trainspotting, despite believing that it was unlikely to sell.
When Trainspotting was published in 1993 Irvine Welsh shot to fame. According to Lord Gowrie, the chairman of the panel, the novel was rejected for the Booker Prize shortlist after offending the sensibilities of two female judges. Despite this unease from the critical establishment, Welsh’s novel received as many good reviews as ones swathed in disgust and outrage - establishing a tradition that continues to this day. Harry Gibson’s stage adaptation of the novel was premiered at the Glasgow Mayfest in April 1994 and went on to be staged at the Edinburgh Festival and in London before touring the UK. In August 1995, Irvine Welsh gave up his day job."

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If you haven't seen the film or read the book, kar222, I strongly suggest that you find a copy of the book or watch "Trainspotting" on video.

Here's a trailer for the film:

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Not my cup of tea, either, JoElle. Welsh sent parts of the novel to magazines: DOG, the West Coast Magazine; New Writing Scotland; Clocktower pamphlets, A Parcel of Rogues and Past Tense: Four Stories from a Novel; Rebel Inc.

Whenever a writer is successful, hopeful writers assume it was easy for them (difficult for most writers but somehow easy for those who succeed).

Irvine Welsh is a graduate with a master's degree and had been writing and sending out his work for years before his first full-length story was accepted for publication. I would not have taken the risk and neither would you but Secker & Warburg did and it paid off.

Although they did not expect the novel to sell, the response from the magazines probably suggested that it would.

The importance of sending out parts of the novel to magazines lies in these words: "Duncan McLean recommended Welsh to Robin Robertson" because a recommendation will get you places you cannot go without recommendation. You have to work yourself into a position where someone of influence is willing to make that all important recommendation.

I think there will be some people interested in your story such as drug addicts, people that read this kind of non fiction and maybe social workers. Even if it has been done before, what book hasn't been done before. Look at all the books that come out on sexual abuse, child abuse and neglect and other non fiction memoirs. I am no expert on publishing but the story, though its about drugs and as other members say its been done before, each story of a person's life is different. And if you have something interesting that happens within your story, it could have a chance of getting published. Or be able to attract an interest from a publisher.

I feel compelled to respond with a different slant. Please seek help for the addiction. I hear your voice telling me you want to share your pain; but you don't have to be in pain to become a great writer (some say it helps; but it is not a requirement).

You can reach out for a support system, just as you have reached to this forum for writing;eliminate the substances and look back with even more wisdom and insight on the pieces of your young life worth telling.

You are a valuable person with a lifetime of potential and obviously the capacity to hear information and apply it immediately (your response to some of the posts here regarding your writing as an example.) Take that intelligence and quickness and value your health and well-being sufficiently to find new choices that enrich your life, not take from it. Good luck to you in the choices you make.

Kar,
Write it. Put your heart into it. Don't worry about how you are going to sell it. The publishing industry will not give an advance to a new writer. Very few good writers ever get one.
May I suggest you write two books, side by side. Write your story, and write a second for parents and friends of those who have gone under the barrel. They need help as much as the victim who is addict.
"How to deal with the addict in your life."
Most of the members on this forum will be glad to help. And yes, it should also be a recovery work for you...clean for ever only means one step away from being dirty again. One day at a time.

Kar go to Authonomy. Its a site run by HarperCollins and is for aspiring authors to try to get noticed. You post a minimum of 10,000 words, which you have, and then other writer, agents and publisher can look at it; then give you there thoughts. Best of luck.

Kar, are you still with us? If so, I have a comment. If you don't respond I will figure I just missed you and this thread.