I am writing a book and I don't know how to get it published once I am finished.?

Answer 1

I took my book to a local printing company and they printed it up for me. They gave me a copyright form to fill out and mail in to the Library of Congress. You can do that too, unless you just thrive on the idea of continual rejection from publishers.

Answer 2

Go to the library or buy from your book store "Writers Market." It is the industry resource for finding publishers. It will tell you how to write a query letter, then it lists publishers and agents, how to get a hold of them, whether or not they are currently accepting submissions, and sometimes even tips from the editors at the publishing house/publication. There is also a "Writers Market" specifically for children's books.

Some publishers will not accept unsolicited manuscripts and make you go through an agent. Agents prescreen manuscripts for publishers and market you to them. If you know how to do it, ("Writers Market" will tell you how), you won't need an agent. There are lots of reasons not to want to use an agent, and there are lots of publishers who will look at your work without one. Some publishers won't work through an agent. It's up to you if you want one or not.

Cover your butt by making a copy of any manuscript you send out and mailing it to yourself certified mail, then put the unopenned manuscript somewhere safe. Unfortunately, plagarism, though rare, is not unheard of in the industry. If you catch someone stealing your work, that will be proof to the judge that you had it first.

Also, don't get depressed when you get rejection letters. Everyone, even the best writers, get them. They may reject you because they already have all the manuscripts they can handle at the moment, because they aren't in the market for the subject matter you deal with, because they prescreened your manuscript based on your query letter, etc. Not necessarily because your manuscript lacks merit.

If you are interested in self publishing, please keep in mind that even though you own the copy rights to the book, you will never find a conventional publisher to republish the manuscript once you've self published it. Self publishing is great if all you want is a few copies for yourself, friends and relatives as a souvenir, and you might get a local book store to sell a few copies for you. But no one in the industry will take you seriously if you think that's a substitute for a publishing house.

Answer 3

You will want to get a literary agent. Most publishing houses won't read unsolicited manuscripts unless they come from a reputable agent. Not only that, but an agent will negotiate the terms of your contract for you so that you can keep as many of your rights to the book as possible.

I really like the current issue of the "Guide to Literary Agents". It is from the folks at Writer's Market, who do an excellent job is creating resources for authors to start their research of agents. I'd also recommend their book "Formatting & Submitting your Manuscript".

As for finding out if they're reliable, and excellent resource is the website Preditors and Editors-- they are a good jumping off point to start your quest!
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/

If you have written any poetry or short stories, you should try submitting them to journals or magazines that are appropriate (Writer's Market can help you find some). It helps if you have proven that your writing can sell!

When it comes to money, you should NOT be paying to have your book published. This is a commodity that you are selling, and be wary of anyone that wants money up front. The kinds of "publishers" that charge you to print your work are called vanity presses and it will not get your book into bookstores. These can be useful if you only want a few copies for friends and family, but that doesn't sound like what you want. Places like iUniverse, Lulu, and PublishAmerica all fall in this category. Beware! Agents should NOT be charging up front either, they get paid when YOU get paid.

Do your homework, and find out exactly what they want in a submission package or a query letter. Then submit over and over until you finally find an agent who accepts you. You will face a lot of rejection, but keep going!

Answer 4

DO NOT have your book self (vanity) published. You will not be taken seriously in the literary community, and will just be stuck with the bill for a bunch of volumes you can't sell.
The Writer's Marketplace books are well worth the price, and you can get them at any large bookstore. They will give you concise instructions on how to format and style your work, and the names and numbers of current publications, their rules, and their editors.
The only way to see your book ACTUALLY SELL is to be published by a reputable publishing company. They have the resources for advertising and distribution. Selling a book, even after it's been published, is a full-time job. You can't, unless you're Stephen King, expect to have people buy your book unless they know who you are. Helping the public to know you is part of the publisher's job.

Answer 5

You can either self-publish through websites like lulu or clearspace, or you can mass-publish. If you take the mass publishing route, you need to find an agent, and then the agent will help you find an editor and publisher. Even before that you need to get your draft edited for any spelling mistakes or gramattical mistakes. The first step in finding an agent is doing research on the internet on the the agents who accept your type of work and writing query letters to them asking if they are interested in reviewing your work. Well this was just a brief summary. You can do your own research online, tons of info there. Good luck!

Answer 6

Whether or not your book sells depends on its quality and on your marketing skills, NOT on how it's published. Many bestsellers are actually self-published books, such as the Chicken Soup series and The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans.

I have a self-publishing group that may help you if you want to go that direction:
http://www.writing.com/main/handler/item_id/971987

(It is free to join the group and free to join writing.com for a 5-item portfolio -- I get nothing from this and am not spamming, only offering assistance to other writers.)

There is an article available to the group that shows basics of publishing, a comparison/contrast between traditional publishing and self (indie) publishing. It isn't finished, but there is a fair amount of info there.

Answer 7

All of this depends on your goals.

After you write a chapter or so, you send it off to a literary agent. It is difficult to get a literary agent. Probably one out of one-hundred writers do. The agent shops your book to the publishers. If you are aiming for big sales, this is the way to do it.

If you don't care about sales, you probably want to self-publish your book and list it on Amazon.

Perhaps you could find books that are similar in nature to yours, children's, cook etc. and figure out which companies are most likely to publish your book. Call those companies and ask who the agents are for a those titles. Contact those agents.

Answer 8

i recommend self-publishing. I self-published a book through http://www.lulu.com/
they are completely free and very easy to use. You can then buy a global distribution, or ISBN, which will put your book on Barnes and noble, borders, amazon.... i really like lulu, i think they are great. They also offer a great customer service if you get stuck.
If you think they are too good to be true (which was my original opinion) you can view my book at http://www.lulu.com/dchooper
Hope this helps. Good luck with your writing.
For any more information about Lulu you can contact me at [e-mail] (if you do contact me, put Lulu in the subject line, or i might report as spam)
Cheers, Deanna.

Answer 9

You need to find/hire a literary agent. He/she does the work for you.

This is unless you want to publish it yourself. There are various sites that help with individual/online publishing.

Answer 10

Try Dramer publications website. They have great links on how to get things pubished. Also Kensington publication will only take people 21 or over.