I just wanted to say hi to my fellow writers.  For the past year I've been working on a narrative nonfiction book about my experiences as a certified veterinary technician. I've reached the stage where I'm sending out query letters and proposals, but I have to admit I'm scared to death.  I have no previous experience in getting things published and it is hard to find advice specific to narrative nonfiction.  I'd love to hear anyone else's stories about finding agents or publishing houses.  Or if anyone else is trying to make the perfect proposal or query letter maybe we could exchange tips or just commestriate about how hard the dang things are to write?

I dont know much about it myself except for research. A few tips I heard was to always get at least one person to proof read your book bwecause sometimes publishers will just toss them out if they see a lot of errors. Besides that it seems to be a hit and miss.. just try and try. You could also self publish there are a few sites online that do it for you. Then you just need to find small book stores in your area to put your book and and go from there.

Wow! I know nothing about writing a book.  Have you thought of getting warmed up by submitting some short articles for publication?  You can submit articles of around 400 words to sites like Helium, Bukisa, and Associated Content and earn a few dollars here and there.  You can also receive helpful comments (and some not so helpful) about your articles.  Factual articles about pet care seem to always be popular and get pretty good pageviews.

Read carefully the terms when you submit to be sure whether you retain rights to republish your article.  Some sites share rights with you, while others offer you options such as giving them exclusive or non-exclusive rights to your article.