Do you trust the advice about writing from YA.?

I mean, only a couple of people here are verifiably published authors, and yet so many more act like they have all kinds of experience. I even saw a few that claim to be editors working for a publisher, but we just have to take their word for it.


For example, one person claims that publishers won't touch a submission if the author got a copyright for it on her own.


I've never seen any such warnings from publishers. But that's just an example, not what I want to focus on here.


So, how do you feel about the YA 'expert professionals' when you don't really know them?Do you trust the advice about writing from YA.?
i read the advice and figure out for myself if it agrees with my experiences and the advice offered in legitimate advisories such as writers market.





Some seem to have axes to grind. There are an equal number of proponents for and against self-publishing, for example; or for and against hiring an agent.





The important thing is to know what you're doing, whatever you do. Otherwise you can lose not only your money and integrity, but you could lose your work.





There is good advice and bad in this as in all other things. Sometimes people trot out their favorite answers, sometimes they are ignorant, and other times they are wrong, for whatever reason. (I've posted a wrong answer a couple of times, not in this forum, but in others, and it was because I believed I was right. It takes someone else pointing out and explaining where I'm wrong for me to know, but learning is ALWAYS good.)





However, it is doubtful that anyone is going to be discovered on Yahoo answers, and if that's where you're looking for success, you will be disappointed.





Do independent research. Then ask others.Do you trust the advice about writing from YA.?
I think you have to go with the old adage, ';Trust No One.';. The way forward is to verify the advice and I'm sure that legitimate publishers would have a track record that can be verified in some way, if you suspect someone of not being who they purport to be, then you can report them.





Have a luck at this:





http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
its a risk you have to take when posting on yahoo answers, but really what purpose would it serve for anyone to just post things that were incorrect? and if it was, arent the odds that someone else would correct it?


and as to individual posters, even if their profile is hidden, you can see other questions that these people have answered or posted, so you can usually get a general sense of how reliable they are from that- just check how many best answers they have had, what subjects they seem to stick with, things like that
Publishers won't touch an author if that person *did* get a copyright on her own. (Hello? Amateur hour?)





Seriously, there are a lot of people (including myself) whom know a lot about writing and the industry.





We don't need to be *published* in order to make ourselves to be credible sources.
Some of the answers are obviously junk but not all of them. I'm a writer who hopes to be published someday so I've done a little research on the subject. And I like to tell aspiring authors to pick up a copy of ';Writer's Market'; which has tips from real, published authors.


If you don't believe I'm a real writer, check out this page: http://www.elfwood.com/libr/a/d/adelheid… It has chapters of some of my works in progress.
just because someone says the are verifiably published dont mean they are.





if you dont want to take the risk of being fooled..do your own research
I agree that you have to be careful when getting advice off of Y!A. It's a crapshoot, as my grandfather would say. A lot of the advice is sound, and some of us get our information from literary agents' blogs, SFWA, or from writing advice articles from authors such as Flewelling.





Not everyone will be right. To use your example, some publishers don't want your story if you've already copyrighted it because then they would have to have you sign over those rights to them. It's just a pain. Others don't care.





In general, I've noticed the best advice is properly formatted, with good spelling, grammar, and fully-realized thoughts. It tends not to gush or pander.





Whenever I get advice from Y!A, I go out and research it a little. Sometimes the advice wasn't sound, sometimes it was. The thing is, I got a place to start researching and looking and I usually end up more knowledgeable about something that when I started.
I just recently started answering a few questions here on Yahoo (kind of a random thing; one happened to catch my eye). I suppose you could call me a YA expert -- I've been a YA book reviewer since 1998 and I run one of the largest YA lit sites on the Internet (Young Adult Books Central -- www.yabookscentral.com ) and my first book is coming out in September 2008 (';Sucks to Be Me'; from Mirrorstone [a mid-size press that distributes through Random House]). You can find out more about me at my site. My name is Kimberly Pauley (you can google it). I also majored in English and specialized in adolescent lit in college. I've also had short stories and poems published (but those were mostly not YA related).





I'm not sure if you're talking about someone specific or what kind of questions you've been asking or what kind of advice you've been getting, so it is hard to answer your question. As the YA Books Goddess, I get (egad) more emailed questions than I can count every week from people who want to get published. I've put together a page on my site with some generic advice. You can find it at http://www.yabookscentral.com/cfusion/in…





Okay, all that said...any advice that you get from any source (verifiable or not) should be taken with a grain of salt. Use common sense (and also do your own research). Who knows why someone is responding to a question...you hope that everyone is altruistic and has the best intentions, but that isn't always the case. So take the pieces of advice that make sense to you (and for you) but leave the others (and research, research, research).





I personally would rather get advice from verifiable sources -- people that I know or people that I can verify are who they say they are. That's not to say that I haven't gotten some excellent advice over the years from other sources...it's just that advice is much easier to believe when it is from a source you trust. But that's where the common sense part comes in.





Not that, of course, you know me from a hill of beans. :-) But that's why I tried to give you the info up front about who I am in real life. You can even feel free to email me at the email address on my website ( kim@yabookscentral.com ). I do my best to answer all questions that come in there.





Now then...the only other specific question I see is you asking about is that someone claimed that publishers won't touch a submission if the author got a copyright for it on their own. I'll tackle that one a bit.





First off, the minute you write something original, you ';own'; the copyright on it. It's your work. However, you can take that a step farther and officially copyright it (I'm talking here only about the U.S. of course...copyright laws are different in different countries). However, the only authors that tend to do that are the unpublished ones...what I mean here is that it is the mark of an amateur and if you make a point of it in a letter to an editor or an agent it will simply serve to highlight the fact that you are unpublished and may give them a foul taste in their mouth. They won't turn you down simply because you went ahead and got a copyright...but they might turn you down because they see you as an amateur. If you are sending your work out to reputable agents/editors (which is what you should be doing), your work will NOT be stolen. It is the non-existent crime that newbie authors always worry about. It just doesn't happen.





You should check out http://www.sfwa.org/beware/copyright.htm… for a really good article on this (and if you're a fantasy or sci-fi writer, you should also check out that organization).





So, the real danger is appearing unprofessional. That's far more a kiss of death in this business than anything else. You can keep that from happening by doing your research and joining organizations that will help you out and attending conferences and basically learning as much as you can.





For instance, if you're interested in writing YA fiction, you should check out the SCBWI (www.scbwi.org), the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. It's a private org, but very helpful.





Anyway, I know that was kind of long, but I hope it helps you.





(Edit: LOL I just realized (doh!) that by ';YA'; you meant Yahoo Answers...I've got ';Young Adult'; stuck on the brain, I suppose...anway, the advice still applies in general to writing any kind of fiction, so I do hope it helps. Non-fiction is another story, but it sounds to me like you're talking fiction anyway).
Laska,





I answer these questions with the same list that I've made up some time ago. Like I tell everyone who wants to write either a novel or a short story.





Go to the library or their favorite bookstore and pick up some books on publishing, writing, formatting manuscripts, etc... This is the best way to actually see who is whom on YA.





I know you're not asking to be published, but I'm going to give you that list anyway. Check it out and go to any bookstore or the library and see if it doesn't ring true:





Read on:





Writing a book takes more than just sitting down and putting your idea into words. There are a lot of things that you have to consider.





Keep an eye out for spelling and grammar errors. When typing fast with fresh ideas in our heads, we tend to forget ourselves. Check and recheck your work. Editors are very expensive these days.





You’ll need to know how to write an effective ‘query letter’ to a literary agent. The letter will also include a synopsis that will hold the interest of the agent, and want to make him or her ask for the first three chapters of your work. Never send a manuscript to a publisher or literary agent without querying first.





You’ll need to know how to format your manuscript. This includes the fonts (size and type) that most agents, editors, and publishers want. These are usually Courier New and Times New Roman (12 pt). Short stories and novels are formatted differently. You will need to follow submission guidelines just as they are laid down for your submissions. Anything less will result in your manuscript sent back or destroyed unread.





You will need to know what Point of View (POV) is. Know how to write in First Person Point of View. You’ll need to know the can and can not of each.





Do you know how to write dialogue? How to format dialogue? This is very important and allows the author and his/her characters to communicate with the reader. Remember dialect as well. Dialect is how a person speaks. Your characters may be highly educated or dumber than dishwater. ‘Ain’t got none’ is highly acceptable when used properly by a character who is even less than street smart.





It’s a good idea to know some of the publishing laws. The use of names and places.





These include


o Delivery Of Satisfactory Copy


o Permission for Copyrighted Material


o Grant Of Rights


o Proofreading and Author's Corrections


o Advances and Royalties


o Author's Warranties and Indemnities


o Copies to Author


o Option Clause





Learn how to get a ‘word count of your work. Some novels have a prologue and an epilogue. You’ll need to know how to write them and why they’re used.





Know what the word ‘genre’ means. Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction; These are all genres.





One of the most important issues in manuscript submitting is the proper ‘page set up’ for your work. This includes margins, indents, and paragraphs. Most editors will want to see your manuscript double spaced. This allows the editor to use his/her proofreaders marks between the lines. Most margins will be one inch all around with a ragged right margin and an even left.





Are you prepared to do a lot of ‘research’ involving your work? Remember that many professionals such as, doctors, lawyers, nurses, public accountants, judges, architects, bricklayers, engineers, and police officers read, too.





Do you know what a sub-plot is? This is a plot that comes ‘under’ the main plot. The hero may be after the vampire, but the mob may be after the hero as well. This is a sub-plot.





Can you take rejection and constructive criticism? If you’re easily hurt in the feelings department, then writing may not be your forte. Critics will tear you apart or build you up. The best writers in the world “King, Patterson, Koontz, J.K. Rowling, and many others” have been torn up one side and down the other. You can’t please everyone.





If you decide to hire an editor, remember: Your manuscript will be double spaced, which means there will be twice as many pages. A 600 page novel could cost you around $1800.00, some even more depending on what the editor charges per page.





These are the things you must know to work at your craft. But don’t let these things deter you from writing. There are books in libraries and bookstores that can teach you all of these things. Buying these books (if you want to be a serious writer) is the best thing to do. Why? Well, because you can use a yellow marker to highlight all the points of interest. Then you can use the front of the book to make page references to those markings in order to check back on them at a later date, when you need to.





You’ll need to get a copy of Writer’s Market for the current year. This has literary agents whom you can send out query letters to. Some of them allow email queries. They also have a website. Google: Writer’s Market.





I wish you the best of luck!
On the other hand, some times it's better to have an anonymous source to talk with. A lot of aspiring writers are insecure about their abilities and feel silly asking people they know about publishing. So by posting on Yahoo! Answers they do get decent feed back without ';exposing'; themselves, which is nice for a beginning author.





I read a lot of responses to the questions that ask for advice (and answer them, too) and a lot of people know what they are talking about when they answer. It's completely evident when someone does not know what they're talking about, the answerers know that as well as the questioner.





So for that reason - I would trust the advice given on Yahoo! Answers.
The technique advice offered here is no substitute for a real classroom, or how-to books, or a face-to-face coach, even if all the advice is good. I suspect 90% of the questions come from people who are not destined to be writers. The other 10% are born to write, and they can't be stopped by bad answers.


It really takes direct research (i.e. contacting publisher, agents, etc.) to know what to do.


YA is sometimes helpful for avoiding what NOT to do, before it's too late.


And it takes a while to figure out which people have solid information.


There are a few that act like they know things, but give bad advice, then are usually shouted down pretty quickly.


I think most are what they claim to be.


There's one top contributor here whose real identity I happen to know, and is leading people to believe that she's published. I couldn't resist running her real name through Amazon and Barns%26amp;Noble. I couldn't find a single book by her. Still, her advice is usually spot-on, so I don't think she's doing any harm.