How does one go about publishing a book?

Question

i'm in the process of writing something that I hope to make into a book, but I don't know the processes one should take in order to do so. Does anyone know anything about this at all?

Answer 1

There are at least three kinds of publishing.
In one kind, you send your manuscript to a firm that looks at it to see if they can make money from it in the retail market. If they can, they offer a contract with specific terms as to what they get and what you get, AND YOU DON'T PAY ANY MONEY. They have one of their editors mark up a copy of recommended changes which you make or discuss with them. Meanwhile they get someone to do the cover art, any internal art that you are not supplying, and put it in their publication schedule. When it comes to market, they advertise it, you may be asked to promote it, but in any case, you will get a statement of sales and a check for your percentage once a month, quarter or year depending on sales.
The other kind of publishing is called vanity publishing. In this kind, the legitimate (see below) firms will look at your book and tell you HOW MUCH THEY WILL CHARGE YOU TO PUBLISH IT. Typically, they will quote a price for 500 copies, 2000 copies, etc. They will provide editorial services and help with cover and style of binding. When done, they will give you boxes and boxes of books. It is your job to get the books places that will pay money to you, which might be local bookstores or booths at a craft fair or church sale, etc. Legitimate firms like this are the ones that do family, church, and town histories, collections of recollections of old folks in a town for centennials or of veterans for reunions, etc.
There is also self-publishing. Here you handle all the details making camera ready copy, negotiating with the printer, perhaps taking the cut sheets to the binder, etc.
WARNING: There are scam companies out there, some that advertise widely, which exist to suck money out of authors. One author recently e-mailed me because a firm wanted money for a critique/editor asking if I would do it because he didn't have the money. Dumping name of the firm into a search engine quickly brought up many messages about their scam methods. The firm would not have accepted my critique, they wanted money. After the edit, which would have praised the work but suggested a rework, they would want more money for another critique and then for a survey of the market, etc.

Answer 2

First, not to be mean, but this question has been answered about a million times in YA (half of them by ME!) If you took the initiative to use the search function, you would already have access to a lot of answers.

I only point this out because it is important that if you intend to market your book, you be able to have the patience and commitment to research your potential publishers. Too many young writers expect a contract to be handed to them, and end up shooting themselves in the foot by breaking all the rules of writing and publishing. Sadly, there is no excuse for this, as all of this information is readily available via Google.

Major publishers require an agent. An agent is a professional in the field that knows the inner workings of the industry, and can best help you place your book. Agents only get paid if they find a publisher for you, so an agent that requests money up front or tries to sell expensive add-on services is a scam.

Small presses often will accept unagented submissions. HOWEVER, you must always query first. NEVER NEVER NEVER send an unsolicited manuscript to a publisher unless their guidelines say to do so. It will go in the trash (as a publisher, I delete unread about five to six unsolicited submissions a week. I have guidelines posted on the site. If someone doesn't care enough to read the guidelines, I don't care enough to read the story).

The International Women's Writing Guild offers its members a list of agents that are interested in working with new writers.

Answer 3

Be very careful , when signing on with a publisher off the net, most of them are terribly expensive and do not get you hardly anything for your work. You can request info from many publishers, they will mail it to you via snail mail.

Answer 4

I know about it. When your book is ready (or at least the first 3 chapters and a summary of the rest), write to me and we can talk about it.