Have you been published?

Articles for a medieval recreation group newsletter in 1979-1980 (I also helped put out the newsletter).
In my RL profession, beginning in 1985 and regularly since then, including in the journal Science. All nonfiction.
 
Just curious. Lots of advice being given, but are there many actual experienced published writers. You do not even have to be earning money for your writing or published many. All it takes is for a person independant of you liked what you wrote and circulated it for others to read. Circulated could be printed, electronic or verbal.
I am no writing guru but have read heavily (read 2 novels per week average for over 25 years, watched little or no TV for years). 'So what' you say, and I agree.
Not to boast, as I have very little to brag about, my first publication was when I was 14 in (just counting school years) todays year 9. My english teacher thought my essay in mid year exams was good enough that he printed it in the school magazine. I will say the kudos for that was so overwhelming the crickets could be heard from 500 metres away.

First pub by those criteria: short story, high school magazine, like you and with about as much applause. Since then: occasional paid columns and articles in hobby publications (maybe a dozen all up?), couple of patents (technically could be considered self-pub but I'm gonna count them, since my employer asked me to do 'em), PhD thesis, half a dozen academic papers and a few bits in school textbooks.
 
I don't remember the year, but it was after several years of trying that a publisher finally published Tails of The Pussycat lounge (Yes, Tails.) The novel sold and I now have some 216 published books.
 
Yep, published first in 2008, last in 2014. But hey, still working at it. I'll make my millions. It might be one dollar at a time, but I'll make em.
 
*Pounces and hugs*

*Composes himself*

Ahem... Good to see you :D It's been too long.

Yep, published first in 2008, last in 2014. But hey, still working at it. I'll make my millions. It might be one dollar at a time, but I'll make em.
 
First time was an article in the January 1967 issue of a now defunct amateur radio magazine. I think I was paid $40 a published page. That lit a fire that never went out. I've since been published in other electronic magazines, motorcycle mags, car mags and one article in a sailing mag. (They would be called books in that industry, but too confusing here). I've also had over 25 car, motorcycle and bicycle books published, all of which are long out of print, but an appropriate search on ebay would bring up a lot of them.

Lots of scripts for training videos, too. Several hundred at least for Asian car/motorcycle companies here in the U.S.

It doesn't matter what it is, or how long you've been doing it, when it first appears in print or comes out of a professional meat puppets mouth to video, it is a thrill like no other.

Started writing fiction in 2002 when I discovered Literotica. It's been an on again off again hobby since. I have no illusions or interest in doing it for money. Keep your hobbies as hobbies.

rj
 
Only downside back then? You usually didn't get paid until publication. This would have been in the late 80's & early 90's.

Yea, that was common in the magazine industry for decades before that. We would scour the Writer's Market and other sources looking for magazines that "paid on acceptance". You could wait for a very long time for "paid on publication". I had articles sit in a file somewhere until they became too outdated to publish at all. A few I pulled back when I found a better home for it.

The advice at the time for freelancers was to keep writing and submitting until you had absolutely no idea how many manuscripts were out there.

rj
 
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