I want to publish a book?

Question

I am writing a fantasy story that deals with problems in our society. I am thinking about publishing the book. First of all, I have no idea how to do that, so I want to know what I need to do, if I need to pay and how much (not exactly, but an estimate). Also my story is written in a very simple way. I've figured the simpler it is, more people will read it since they won't find it difficult to read, but I am willing to make any changes. Any tips you want to throw in will be welcome too. Thanks to those who help and happy new year to all!

I forgot to ask if to publish a book you need to be a certain age.

Answer 1

No you don't need to be a certain age. But you have to finish the book and do at least 2-3 drafts after that until you have tweaked the manuscript until it is perfect.

If you go to my profile, you will see I star all good Q and A regarding publishing and writing. Feel free to surf through and print out any you think will help. And buy yourself a copy of Writers Market 2008 and start reading.
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They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 2

There is no age to publish a book though if you are under the age of 18, you will need a parent or gaurdian to also sign any contracts with you.

The only reason you would hae to pay anything to have a book published is if you are doing a self publication. Self publication is higher risk and far more work but higher reward.

To have a publishing house publish your book, you need to send copies to as many as you can find. (be ready to read a lot of rejection letters, because it can take a long time to get a book published this way). Once accepted then they would pay you an advance on the book (usually what they believe 5 to 10% of the sales would be). Be careful of the advance and how it is worded in the contract, because they can require you to pay it back if they do not make enough money off of the sales of the book.

Answer 3

I strongly recommend you get an agent. Publishing houses almost always will not accept unsolicited manuscripts and if they did, often not without representation. If you choose to go without an agent, you can go to your library and go through the Literary Market Place (also called "LMP"). It lists the names of people and publishing houses EVERYWHERE. I would go through and pick out names of the houses, and who the editorial assistant contact is, that are near your home (cheaper postage). Then go to their website and check for their submission guidelines. It's usually the first three chapters of a novel, a synopsis, a cover letter, and a SASE. You should probably expect a 3-6 months for a reply.

It's free to submit in a ms to a house; you just have to pay for the self-addressed stamped envelope.

A good idea is to go the bookstore (or you're own bookshelves) and look at the title pages of the books you think are like your story. The "name" at the bottom, usually above the city name(s), is called the imprint. Then check the copyright page of the books, and the publisher's information should be there. You should then check LMP for that publisher and the editorial assistant for the imprint.

And no, there is no age limit. My advice is to not give up. You often won't hear back from publishers for what may seem like ages (and sometimes it is). Just use that time to rewrite, resend, and persevere.

Answer 4

If you are lucky, Persiphone_Hellecat will answer this one. She just recently answered one for someone wanting to write a children's book who didn't know how to start. This person really knows her stuff! Find her answers and pay attention to them.

As someone who has established my own publishing company for the purposes of publishing books for a friend of mine, I can tell you that it will cost you only a couple hundred bucks tops to get it all set up if you do the work yourself, but marketing is another issue. I'm referring to getting your ISBN, using Lightning Source, Inc. as a distributor for Print on Demand books, and signing up with Amazon to list your book. ISBNs are cheaper if you get ten at a time (Bowker). I don't remember what they cost from them individually. We only ended up using 4 so far. But the hours spent were many many hours of hard work for no pay.
All this is to say, I DO NOT recommend that you self-publish if money-making is your goal. While publishing itself isn't impossible for someone working alone, it's time-consuming, requires a lot of integration of knowledge for all the sources, set-up, making the cover, getting the ISBN, signing up as a publisher with LSI and Amazon, and THEN you get to market the book.... this is a lot more work than one individual can usually handle unless you're paying someone else for help with it.
I don't really think that simplifying your writing is going to be a big advantage. Why cater to the uneducated? If your book is worth reading, it will have something readers can sink their teeth into.

Answer 5

No age limits to publishing. If you want the easiest and cheapest way to publish your book. Go to lulu.com, they are the best I have found. No publishing costs, only distribution costs. But you would be surprised how low that really is.

Answer 6

1-800-authors ext. 504 iUniverse, Inc. costs under $400. for their most basic production package.

You might appreciate "Creation: Artistic and Spiritual," O. M. Aivanhov http://www.prosveta.com "The Secret Power of Music," David Tame, "The Third Music," Ann Ree Colton, "Music and the Soul," Kurt Leland, "The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?", Free and Wilcock, http://www.divinecosmos.com and "Talks with Great Composers," Arthur Abell, M.D.

Answer 7

Hi visit PublishAmerica's site at www.publishamerica.com. They will be able to answer some of your questions. Also, if you get a chance, visit my site at http://www.rubysbooks.i8.com. PublishAmerica published my latest book and they did not charge any money.

Answer 8

there is no age limit. the guy who wrote Eragon was 17 at the time. and u need a lot of money and creativity. simple plot sux

Answer 9

I would get Writer's handbook to see which publishers are so inclined and will accept an unsolicited manuscript