How can I get a book published, or get paid to write with just an idea?

Answer 1

Hey Chad,

Read a lot, here are some sites that can help.

Answer 2

In "[how can] I get paid to write with just an idea" you're asking about something that's called an advance. Publishers advance an amount to an author they are confident will be a success in cases where they want to be sure they will get the rights. Unless you're already a bestselling author (are you Dan Brown? Stephen King?), and a big one, I'm sorry to say so, but you will not be getting an advance for your idea. Advances are truly rare in the industry today.

How can I get a book published is little bit different question. If all you want is to be published, all you need to do is write the book.

Once you have your book in hand, you can send it to publishers (rarely works with full-length manuscripts in particular, but you can try it -- new publishing labels may take a chance on a great idea). You could break it apart and attempt to serialize it. You could sell all or part of it to a periodical. It's unusual for a new author to be able to get an agent, and you'd need one to sell this book to a reputable publishing house, but you can try. Cut your teeth on this one, perhaps self-publish, then try to interest an agent once you've shown what you can do.

Self-publishing is always an option, and this can be done at no cost to you (try Lulu.com, for example) except in your hard work writing the book and setting up the manuscript. If you use Lulu or a comparable outlet, you can arrange for the book to be sold at cost or to receive some royalties on each print-on-demand sale.

Anyone can publish anything that is finished. It's just a matter of finding the right outlet. I have read dozens, perhaps hundreds, of books that I could not believe were ever published by anyone. They were terrible. But they were finished, and they found markets. You don't have to publish under your own name. If you don't care about getting paid either, then nothing can stop you, especially now that you can do this without paying to go to press.

Getting to finished, however, is a matter of artistic integrity. If you care about your story, about your writing, about your idea, then you're going to want to expend considerable effort. You'll find yourself writing -- rewriting -- sharing with test readers, editors, a writing group, a teacher -- before you get to that pile of pages (today it may be just a computer file) you're ready to try to sell.

If you don't care about the story and you can still manage to try to write it GO AHEAD AND DO IT! The overwrought artiste-types who care deeply about what they're writing are a tiny percentage of the successful working writers in this world (though I do love these people and wish them well).

Here's my advice. Write yourself a precis -- that's a summary -- of the book you want to write. Is it fiction? Non? Go from there. Then sit down and read it and ask yourself how much time you're prepared to invest in this project. If you don't really want to write and publish it, walk away - try giving the idea to someone else if you like. But if you are ready to write it, start writing. Give yourself an hour a day, make it a hobby. Do this until your done. Then the selling part of the job will begin.

Answer 3

You can't.
You can't.

Publishing is an industry for people who are passionate about writing, and who would do it for fun if they couldn't get published. It's not for a quick buck or fame or anything like that.

I've been writing seriously about 2 years, and had an agent for a year now. I have two completed novels that are good enough for submissions and am working on my third. My agent works VERY hard on my side. But I'm not published yet, and neither are my two critique partners who also have finished books.

You need to write the novel first, get an agent, and let them take care of the business. But it will take time and effort-- so make sure you're in it for the long haul.

Answer 4

Keep at it.
Send queries to magazines you'd like to write for (along with an idea for a story); enter contests; find out about collections of poems (anthologies) or short stories you could submit to.
It will not happen quick, lots of writers wait years and years before they finally break into becoming a published writer... I know I'm still working on it.

Answer 5

You need to get a writer's agent. They will find writing projects for you and sell ideas that you already have.