AboutD. Patrick Miller Expertise I am an independent self-publisher who sold three projects to major New York houses before starting my own company. I provide editorial services to a major literary agency in Manhattan and work regularly with authors at all levels of expertise. I can answer questions like these: What does "independent publishing" mean? Should I publish myself or use a service like XLibris? What is "print on demand" publishing? How do I publish myself on the Web? What are the best resources for learning about publishing? How do I find a literary agent? What are my chances of getting published by a major New York firm?
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Expert: D. Patrick Miller Date: 4/21/2008 Subject: getting published with no money
Question First, I would like to know if it's possible to get published with absolutely no money, and second---what is the fee for filing with the Library of Congress---thank you
Answer Jack -- That depends on what you mean by publication. There are a number of websites that accept articles for posting without charge. If you're talking about a book, the closest you'll get to free publication is Amazon's CreateSpace program (www.createspace.com) that prepares books for publication at no set-up fee if you can provide the finished type and cover artwork. And the book is made available on Amazon. You still have to pay for the printing of the books at a certain percentage, and of course editing, type, and design all cost money unless you know how to do it yourself.
The classic way to get published without spending anything is to sell your work to a publisher, of course, who either pays you an advance or at least royalties upon sale.
For general information on all the routes to publishing, see my free online guide at
I am not sure what you mean by "filing with the Library of Congress" because that could mean copyright or cataloging-in-publication data. I'd check with their website to research the particular services you're interested in:
