Publish Your Book
Best-Selling Author Asks: Why Are You Seeking To Publish Your Book?
Author: Dr. Gary S. Goodman
Seemingly every day writers send me notes asking me how they can go about the business of getting their books published.
Responding to each one, individually, is taking more of my time, and at last I have decided to augment and organize my counsel in a more detailed format. I’m presenting a fraction of this material in this article.
Usually, I can steer writers this way or that, and make at least a small contribution to speeding their trajectory. But of late, I’ve found myself asking more questions than answering them. And the most stunning and provocative is this one:
“Why are you seeking to publish your book?”
This makes people gasp. To some, it’s akin to asking, “Why breathe?” They are so much sold on the desirability or even perceived necessity of becoming published that asking WHY seems absurd.
But I assure you it isn’t.
When I was selling advertising for our college newspaper I stopped at a hamburger place that seemed like a McDonald’s wannabe. Typical franchise look, with neon and bright fluorescent lighting, it was managed by a gentleman who oversaw all of its operations.
He seemed oddly out of place. I learned that by training he was an attorney. He had practiced criminal law in New York.
I told him that practicing law was one of my dreams, and trial work seemed like a wonderful challenge.
“There’s only one downside to practicing criminal law,” he said drolly. “It’s your clients.”
“What’s wrong with them?” I asked.
“They’re CRIMINALS!” he quipped.
Why, he asked with obvious concern, did I want to become an attorney?
Prestige, power, and the portents of money beckoned. I also wanted to help people, particularly if there were heroics attached.
By the time I could afford to foot the bill for law school, I was already in the thrall of another profession, teaching and training, which I found quite appealing and rewarding. While attending to my consultancy, I graduated from law school, passed the bar exam, and became a licensed attorney, only to find that my WHY was no longer as strong or as relevant as it had been.
Already, I earned attorney-money. I was autonomous as an independent consultant, and as a Ph.D. and professor I had substantial professional prestige. For me, the nuts and bolts of everyday lawyering had become unnecessary.
In essence, wanting to become a lawyer had absolutely nothing to do with LOVE OF THE LAW. It had much to do with pursuing SECONDARY GAINS, some of which I mentioned, above. Plus, there was something of a family tradition that I wanted to channel.
Today, I practice a little, and I screen and refer out certain cases beyond my areas of expertise and interest. But the law isn’t my primary career, which hasn’t really changed that much for the past few decades.
I hope you can see where I’m going with this.
WHY do you want to publish a book? Is it for the thing, itself, because of the love of writing? Is it to enjoy the process of compiling words in such a copious and organized manner that they appear to have bookishness?
Or is it for financial gain or egoistic satisfactions? Have you just always wanted to write a book? Is there someone you know and admire or are secretly competitive with to whom you want to prove your merit?
You need to answer clearly and honestly because the world doesn’t need yet one more unfulfilled author.
YOU have to need it, and need it, deeply, passionately, and unrelentingly, because getting published is not easy.
Or, in the alternative, you need to possess a remarkable detachment from the entire process, somewhat like what we would hear from a Zen monk.
“Gary-san, your book has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and is a big best-seller!”
“And, so?”
“Gary-san, your book has sold a few thousand copies, it is an utter dud, a huge disappointment. It will never earn back the advance the publisher paid you nor will it pay you back for the time and effort you invested!”
“And, so?”
If you can roll with either scenario with utter equanimity, well then, your WHY is either so strong or so irrelevant as to be completely acceptable and workable.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/publishing-articles/bestselling-author-asks-why-are-you-seeking-to-publish-your-book-2095037.html
About the Author
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top-ranked sales speaker, negotiation speaker, and customer service speaker at Google, and a distinguished, sought-after telemarketing speaker, motivational speaker, and attorney. President of Customersatisfaction.com, he is a frequent TV and radio commentator and the best-selling author of 12 books and more than 1,700 articles that appear in 25,000 publications. President of Customersatisfaction.com, Gary conducts seminars and speaks at convention programs around the world. His new audio program is Nightingale-Conant’s “Crystal Clear Communication: How to Explain Anything Clearly in Speech & Writing,” which you can try for only one dollar at:http://www.nightingale.com/prod_detail.aspx?product=Crystal_Clear_Communication&promo=INTAF416. Professional speaking, seminar, and consulting invitations can be addressed to:gary@customersatisfaction.com.
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The question is not how to go about publishing your book when you ”should pay or not”, as you put it yourself, but how far are you willing to invest to get it started especially when you decided to publish it.
Maybe you would like to ask around and perhaps shop around. Many would also suggest getting an agent which could take SO long for them to sit down and actually notice what you have there and believe me, we are not just talking months here but years.
Now considering that there are so many publishers already always place in mind that your book is your work and that no one should be telling you what to do with – it should be up to your discretion how it should be published, printed and marketed.
Hope this helps 🙂
Thank you for posting this information. Dorrance publishing has been a vanity press since the 1950’s. They promise the world to their clients and provide them with nothing. Unless I’m remembering wrong, I believe there was even an `I Love Lucy’ in which Lucy gets sucked in by Dorrance Publishing.
Vanity Presses should never be trusted. I know there are plenty of people out there who desperately want to publish their work but, really, self publishing with a Vanity Press is never the way to go.
Thanks, again, for sending out this info. I’m sure you’ve saved many people a lot of heartbreak. All the best to you………..
Before you offer yourself up to the demons of the publishing world, learn to spell and use proper words for the trade such “publishing” and “novelist” in lieu of publicate and novels writer.
Am having a look at their website –
Yes, it’s a vanity publishing company.
I would advise her to carry on looking for a publisher who
does not expect her to share the publishing costs.
If she can’t get it published by a conventional publisher and she decides she wishes to self-finance, she would be better off self-publishing.
Writer’s and Artist’s Year Book (available from libraries and all good book shops) advises on how to approach conventional publishers, warns against vanity publishers and tells you how to self publish at a low price if that is what you choose to do.
You know, self-publishing is great, if you only want to sell 40 copies of your book to family and friends and never see it on bookstore shelves. But do you know WHY you hear about the self-publishing success stories?
Because they’re rarer than teeth on a hen, and are thus news.
Money should flow to YOU. Unless you’re writing in a very niche market or you just want a few copies to distribute among your inner circle, you shouldn’t be paying anyone to publish your book. Is it tough pounding the metaphorical pavement, sending off the queries to agents, getting rejected, and coming back for more? You bet. Is it worth it when you get the call offering representation? YOU BET. Is it worth it even more when you get the call offering you a $10,000 advance? I think we all know the answer to that.
That being said, I’ve heard okay things about CreateSpace and CafePress. So, if you insist on self-pubbing, you could try them. But remember that it won’t count as a publishing credit.
Are you talking about after you’ve self published something?
Karl g gave good suggestions and they are certainly things you’ll want to try. See if you can get a local bookstore to do a signing, people like to support local artists so you could sell a few copies there. Local libraries might also let you do a reading/signing. Basically the trick is to get yourself out there and put yourself in front of people.
However, even doing all of that, the chances that you will “become famous” is ridiculously small. I don’t want to be harsh but writing – self-publishing or traditional publishing – is not a path to fame and fortune. Most traditionally published authors support themselves some other way than novel writing. For every Stephen King there are a thousand published writers who make next to nothing on their books and a thousand more who are struggling to get published. And that is just traditional publishing. Self publishing is even more difficult to make money, let alone achieve any sort of acclaim.
I don’t say all this to be mean, I’m sorry if it comes off as such. I just want to express that if your soul purpose for publishing is to become famous, then you shouldn’t waste your time. Write because you love it, publish because you want to share it.
Wich is the best way to find an editor that help you to publish your book?
If you are a new writer with nothing publicated yet, which is the best form to get an opportunity to publish your work? maybe the better way is send your job to all the literary contest possibles, or send your job to all the editorial houses that you can, or maybe its better to contact with some important writer that wants to support your job! I´m don´t know which would be the better way but I really need to find some opportunity to make it possible. Could you help me? I´m a novels writer. Thank you very much.
Have Melrose Publishers offered to publish your book?
My wife’s niece has written an illustrated book for children and Melrose Publishers in Cambridge have shown interest in it. I am obviously excited for her but don’t want her to be cheated. Has anybody here got any experience with them – good or bad?
If Dorrance wants to publish your book?
Just an FYI. Dorrance publishing is a vanity publisher. They will publish anybody as long as you are willing to pay them thousands of dollars.
Legitimate publishers do not charge you to publish your book.
They pay you.
Dorrance will publish your book, but it will never be found in a book store or library and you will have to sell them all yourself.
Look at the publisher’s names on the books you like to read. Those are the publishers you want to send your manuscripts to.
are you suppose to pay publishers to publish your book?
i was told that when publishing any book you dnt have to pay to get it publish….so my question is are you suppose to pay publishers to publish your book?
What is a good publishing company that does not cost that much to publish your book besides lulu & authorhouse?
Can you give me a star if you like my question thank you!
Also besides Cafepress and CreateSpace!
Once you publish your book, how do you make sure that people read it and you become famous?
Also when you post a fanfic how can you make sure people read it?