Let's say I wanted to write a book. Do I need a publisher first, or do I write and then submit to someone?

Question

I have some ideas for a book. Do I just start writing, or is there a "getting started" process. I have seen books on writing books, but they seem like more of a gimmic than anything.

Answer 1

Set those ideas down on paper. Write your book first and once it is finished, go over it again and again until it is perfect. By perfect, I mean that the grammar, spelling must be error free and the story must have a good beginning, an engaging middle and a dynamite ending.

The final copy must be in manuscript form. 1 inch margins all the way around. Double spaced, typed and not written on one side of the paper. Title page must have the title and author's name in the center. In the upper left hand corner, put your name, address and phone number.

On all the pages that the story is written, in the upper right hand corner write your name, title of the book and page number.

Make 3 copies of the manuscript. You will keep one for yourself, send the second off to the Library of Congress for copyright registration. (For more info on this go the Library of Congress website where all your questions will be answered and you can download the proper forms to submit your work.) And the third copy is the one you will shop around.

In your search for a publisher, you can search the web or you can go to your local library and ask to see the "Literary Market Place" or the "Writer's Market". In these books will be lists of agents, publishers of all kinds, be they magazine or book publishers.

And last but not least, good luck and I mean it.

Answer 2

From Stephaie Meyer's point of view:

To put it mildly, most people are naïve about publishing. I thought it worked like this: you printed a copy of your novel, wrapped it up in brown paper, and sent it off to a publishing house. Ho ho ho, that's a good one. I started googling (naturally) and began to discover that this was not the way it is done. (Movies lie to us! Why?! A side note: you will not be able to enjoy the new Steve Martin version of Cheaper by the Dozen when you know how insanely impossible the publishing scenario it contains is.) The whole set up with query letters, literary agents, simultaneous submissions vs. exclusive submissions, synopsizes, etc., was extremely intimidating, and I almost quit there. It certainly wasn't belief in my fabulous talent that made me push forward; I think it was just that I loved my characters so much, and they were so real to me, that I wanted other people to know them, too.

I subscribed to WritersMarket.com and compiled a list of small publishers that accepted unsolicited submissions and a few literary agencies. It was around this time that my little sister, Heidi, mentioned Janet Evanovich's website to me. In her Q and A for writers section, Janet E. mentioned Writers House, among a few others, as "the real thing" in the world of literary agencies. Writers House went on my wish list as the most desirable and also least likely.

I sent out around fifteen queries (and I still get residual butterflies in my stomach when I drive by the mailbox I sent the letters from—mailing them was terrifying.). I will state, for the record, that my queries truly sucked, and I don't blame anyone who sent me a rejection (I did get seven or eight of those. I still have them all, too)

My big break came in the form of an assistant at Writers House named Genevieve. I didn't find out until much later just how lucky I was; it turns out that Gen didn't know that 130,000 words is a whole heck of a lot of words. If she'd known that 130K words would equal 500 pages, she probably wouldn't have asked to see it. But she didn't know (picture me wiping the sweat from my brow), and she did ask for the first three chapters. I was thrilled to get a positive response, but a little worried because I felt the beginning of the book wasn't the strongest part. I mailed off those three chapters and got a letter back a few weeks later (I could barely get it open, my hands were so weak with fear). It was a very nice letter. She'd gone back with a pen and twice underlined the part where she'd typed how much she enjoyed the first three chapters (I still have that letter, of course), and she asked for the whole manuscript. That was the exact moment when I realized that I might actually see Twilight in print, and really one of the happiest points in my whole life. I did a lot of screaming.

Answer 3

Have a good story outline in place, and a few sample pages to show your writing style. Then, look for an agent who knows what publishers to market to.

Agents are far better than self-representation when you're dealing with anything that pertains to publishing.

Answer 4

Writers with agents or who are well known can go to a publisher with just a sample chapter or two and maybe get a sale. An unknown writer generally has to have a completed manuscript.

Answer 5

Finish your book and then show it to some publishers. While you are writing you can start contacting some of them so they can know you.

Answer 6

Start by doing an outline of what you want to write about. Then you can progress from there. Sometimes publishers can become interested just from your outline of the story.

Answer 7

Make sure you get a good start on your story before you find a publisher if this is your first try. They like to see that you're really serious about it.

Answer 8

you write a book first and then show it to different publishers

Answer 9

write the book 1st then find a good publisher to help you out. but remember different 1s will tell you different things

Answer 10

writer first then find a publisher