I would like to publish my compositions but where do I start?

Carine

New member
Don't know if this is the correct forum to ask this question. If not, please feel free to moderate. :)

I have been composing piano pieces for my students for several years now which is very enjoyable and educational. Recently, I tried to get my work published but found no on request because the publisher I contacted already had a sufficient amount of piano literature. Can you give me advise? Do you have experience in getting your work published? Did you face any difficulties? Should I contact as many publishers as I can?

Also, I can imagine there are other ways to get work published these days. Are there any websites where composers can upload their work and musicians can download the compositions for a small fee or something?

I am looking forward to your response. Thanks! :)
 

wljmrbill

Member
Sure Jean-Paul can help you out as he publishes his works...I want to say Lulu.com does this.Good Luck I am sure you probably need to be able to upload the music/score to whoever.
 

Ian Moore

New member
If you are committed to selling your music, you will have to consider many things. Who is your audience? Who will buy it? I think this is the first step. You may have to spend a considerable time building an audience for your music. It might take months. It might be longer. When you are sure you have a fan base. Then you need to consider how you can convert your music into cash. You would have to consider how many scores you can realistically sell. It is usually a tiny percentage of your fan base(this is what most publishers expect). They would only take on someone who they know they will get a return from or someone they know will grow commercially. Taking a risk with a complete unknown would be financial suicide.
Perhaps the best option is self publishing. Build up your fan base and release it to them directly. If your music takes off, consider a distribution website and then if all goes we'll take it to a publishers. With solid evidence, you stand a better chance.if it doesn't work out, then you will have built a good fan base and sold a few scores along the way. There's no harm in that.
 
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