Book Publishing – What Is The Secret To Getting Your Book Published?
As a three-time published author and creative writing teacher I get asked a lot: “What is the secret to getting your book published?” Many of the interrogators are disappointed, some even disbelieving, when I tell them there is no secret. Getting published is about three key elements and none of them are a secret but all three play an important role. Book publishing requires a combination of luck, timing, and talent.
I know too much about the publishing game (and it is a game as much as it is a business) to discount the importance of luck when it comes to getting your book published. I have watched a lot of authors come and go. I have watched a lot of would-be authors do everything right to exploit their talent and then fade away into oblivion. I have watched a select few authors make mistakes and still come out with successful careers. While luck isn’t everything and should certainly not be a key part of your publishing and writing strategy, you need to allow for an element of luck — whether it is bad or good.
Timing is a crucial part of becoming a published author as opposed to being simply a writer. You could have the best book idea in the world and the most incredible writing talent but if you are delivering a book too similar to one they just bought or published then your timing is bad. Likewise, you could have a good book that hits the publishing house just when they are on a buying freeze and your book could languish for weeks or months — or simply be rejected. The difference between timing and luck though is that you can control your timing much more than you can manipulate luck. Here information is the key. The more research you do into your market then the better able you will be to work timing to your favor. I have a friend who made her first sale by carefully researching the market and delivering to her chosen publisher the perfect idea at the perfect time.
Of course talent is important to getting published and becoming successful. You need to be a talented writer and possess the creative genius to create characters and plots that make for great reading. However, I save this element for last as without luck and timing then all the talent in the world may not be enough to get your published. I think in the end a talented writer could find a publisher but it would be a long arduous process and most writers become discouraged and quit before achieving their goal.
It is possible to become a published author. New writers are getting published every year. It is not easy to get published but a combination of luck, timing and talent can help you get your book published. While you cannot control your luck, you do have the power to control your timing and talent. Work on gathering information and work on your writing. You can succeed at book publishing.
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How does the process of publishing a book work?
Assuming I can write a 300 something story, what steps would I then take to attempt to get it published and sold in bookstores?
How does publishing a book process work?
I have sort of a medical from experience book. Telling my story and how to help others who are going through what i did.
Best option, is to research agents who handle self-help type books. Submit your querry/proposal and any other materials they ask for in their submission guidelines.
Next best option, is to go to the book store and look for books similar to yours and find out who published them. Research whether or not they accept unsolicited manuscripts, and if they do, submit your manterial as per their guidelines.
Another option, if the medical condition has a national organization and they publish personal essay type work, contact them about yours.
Last option, self publishing.
First of all, write, write, write. Though it varies from genre to genre, the average first time novel is 80,000-100,000 words (judge your novel’s length by word count rather than page count because page count varies depending on font size, page size, margin size, etc., but word count is a constant).
Once you’ve finished your first draft completely, put it away in a dark draw (or if you’ve typed it then don’t open the file) for at least two months. And when I say don’t look, I mean it. Think of something else. Start another story. Just forget about your first draft until those two months have passed. Then – and only then – get it out or open up the file and read through it. This way you’ll be looking at your novel with fresh eyes. I guarantee that you’ll spot some errors, inconsistencies, characters that were introduced into your novel and were never followed up, plotlines you meant to develop but forgot to do so and general parts of your novel that make you question your sanity when you wrote it. But that’s okay. That’s what redrafts are for. Print out your novel if you can and make notes in the margins where you need to edit the story. Do as much of the editing as you can and then get someone else to look at your story. If offered the choice between a prospective novel with near perfect grammar but an average plot, and a novel with an excellent plot but poor grammar, many publishers will choose the former. Therefore, you need to ensure your work is as perfect as you can make it before you send it off.
Once you’ve done as much editing as you possibly can, you should consider finding an agent. I would recommend finding an agent rather than approaching a publisher yourself as many publishers don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. Plus, it’s an agent’s job to get your novel published – that’s how they earn their own money – so who better to try selling it to the publishers than someone whose job is to do that exact thing? Check out this site for some useful information on literary agents: http://www.spacejock.com.au/LiteraryAgent.html
Your agent will use their inside knowledge to find the best publisher for you. Some publishers specialise in certain genres, for example, non-fiction, fantasy, horror, etc., therefore, if you send a fantasy novel to a non-fiction publisher you’ll probably be rejected. If you don’t get an agent then you can find out what publishers’ specifications are on their websites. If you want to find a publisher yourself then look at some of the publishing houses on your favourite books and research them.
Remember: you do NOT pay the agent or publisher – they get a cut out of what is earned when your book is sold. If an agent or publishers ask for money to market/sell your book it’s probably a scam.
Self-publishing or vanity publishing is another option, though I wouldn’t recommend it. Self-publishing is where the author publishes their work themselves rather than have a third party, like a publishing house, do it for them. Vanity publishing is a form of self-publishing in which a publisher contracts with an author regardless of the quality and marketability of his or her work. Both of these cost the author money as they have to undertake the costs of publication, which can run into thousands of pounds, then have to market the books themselves. The upside to vanity publishing: they’ll publish your novel, regardless of whether it’s rubbish or not. The downside: you could find it very hard to get your book out into the world. Bookstores don’t often agree to sell them and it makes it harder to get your book published by a professional publishing house, should you try to in the future.
If you opt for finding yourself an agent or publisher, you will at some point probably have to send in a covering letter, synopsis, sample of your novel and possibly a query letter beforehand. Always read the submission guidelines meticulously before you send anything; if you can’t follow those then you won’t endear yourself to the publisher. These can usually be found on their websites.
I’ll start with the simplest: the sample of your novel. Usually the publisher will ask for the first three chapters or the first 50 pages (whichever is less) of your novel to read, though they sometimes ask for the entire novel (however, they tend to take a VERY long time to get back to you – my friend, who is trying to get published at the moment, has a 9-12 month wait ahead of her for a certain publishing house).
Covering letter: this usually includes the title, word count, genre, author contact information, and a brief description summary (2-3 paragraphs) of your work.
Synopsis: a 1 page synopsis will probably also be needed. It should simply give a feel of the work, an indication of what happens and sound interesting to the reader. In some ways it’s like a straighter-down-the line and more detailed version of the blurb on the back of finished novels. Though you should avoid clichés, the publisher just wants to know the feel and content of the novel to support the sample.[1]
An incredibly helpful site about all this is: http://www.writersservices.com/mag/06/From_publisher's_1.htm
As an author, you need to be prepared for rejection. Don’t take it personally and keep bouncing back because eventually you might make it into the big time. Stephen King’s first novel was rejected by Doubleday and J K Rowling’s first Harry Potter novel was rejected by a dozen publishers, including Penguin, Transworld and HarperCollins. They both ended up published and look at where they are now – bestselling authors.
Well, I hope this has helped you! Good luck in your writing 🙂
First you need to revise and edit your book, publishers do a little of this but they will not buy a book that needs more than a comma added here and there. Second you need to write a query letter (if you don’t know what that is google queryshark) then you need to research literary agents and find some that represent your kind of book. Then you send them your query letter, if the agent likes it they’ll ask to read your book. If they like that they will offer you representation and they will try to sell your book to publishers. If a publisher buys your book you get an advance, the advance can be anywhere from 5000-100000.
If your book sells well you’ll get royalty checks every once and a while for a portion of the sales. Publishers promote and distribute your book.
There isn’t a typical pay, it varies greatly. The time frame of this process can take any where from a month to years and years.
Getting a book legitimately published (not the E-publishing scams) is about as likely as winning the lottery. You have to be the best.
Read blogs of the following people in publishing: Janet Reid, Nathan Bransford, Book Ends Lit, Pub Rants, the Intern Spills.
Good luck to you!
If by your question,you mean selling a manuscript to a mainstream publisher, the process is very complex and difficult. In the event that you have written a potential novel and are aspiring to see it published, first buy a copy of “Writer’s Market” to learn the ropes. You will doubtlessly require a literary agent to represent you in the attempt to sell your prospective book, and agents are listed in “Writer’s Market”. You must approach a literary agent whom you wish to have represent you with a query letter describing the subject matter and genre of your story. Regretfully, most often the road to publication is fraught with rejections, particularly if the writer is unknown, unpublished, and inexperienced.
The alternative to the procedure above is self-publishing in which instance there is no problem with rejections, but there are otherwise many cons to the method. First, you (the writer) are responsible for the entire process, including editing and marketing, and for all expenses incurred, which can be considerable. Secondly, self-published books are not respected in the legitimate writing community as they are often (or always) amateurish and filled with errors in grammar and spelling. Nonetheless, I have self-published two novels through Xlibris (a subsidiary of Random House) for the reason that I wished to circumvent the rejection route. I am happy with my books although, obviously, I have failed to become rich and famous.
Whatever your reason for asking your question, I wish you luck in any endeavor to become a published author!
Major publishers won’t read an unsolicited manuscript; don’t waste your time sending them. You/he might have better luck with smaller houses if you do some homework and find one that pubs titles similar to yours.
If you think the book is really good, try finding a literary agent who’ll shop it around. This is easier if you’ve already published something in a journal or magazine. Creative writers sometimes know other writers who have representation and can give a recommendation.
Payment and royalties are part of contracts that are individually negotiated. It’s complicated and I don’t know all the ins and outs, but it comes down to this: You sell rights for them to publish in a certain region. Selling limited rights gets you less up-front. Selling all rights will yield more but you get nothing else later.
American fiction rarely sells outside of the English-speaking world, so publishers usually buy only First North American rights (“First” means a single printing, the amount they hope to sell). They won’t pay for rights to reprints and other regions unless you’re a known, bankable author. But if it’s so popular it sells out and people want the book translated into different languages, whoever owns reprint or worldwide rights reaps the harvest.
Finally, don’t fall for subsidy publishers that advertise in magazines. They’re known as “vanity presses” and you pay for everything.
Can someone explain the process of publishing a book?
My boyfriend has been working on a novel and while he’s almost done with it he’s now claiming it isn’t “worth” finishing and that he has no idea how to go about getting it published.
So, how does publishing work? Does a person get paid a base value based on how successful their book is estimated to be? Or do publishers already have a value set for new writers? Does an author get royalties as it sells?
How does it work?
How does the process of getting a book published work?
I’m Just curious
After You Finish Writing a Book. How Does the Publishing Process Work?
Let’s say you just finished writing your book. How does the publishing process work? Let’s say a Publishing Company likes your book. Do they give some money upfront then royalties? Do they distribute your book at Barnes N Noble and Borders? How do they typially pay first time writers if they absolutely love your book? What the time frame from meeting the publisher that loves your book to distribution?
Sorry I know it’s a lot to ask But I am very curious to hear an answer from anyone that knows.
Thank You