You’ve developed a story idea, plot points, and interesting characters. You’ve spent hours writing a beautiful first draft. You’ve torn that beautiful first draft to shreds during the revision process.
Now you’re ready. It’s time to publish your book. But where on earth do you start, and what’s involved with the whole process?
Below, we’ll walk you through the basics of how to get a book published.
Getting Your Book Ready
Once you submit your book to a publisher, you will not get a second chance at a first impression. It’s imperative that your book be in its absolute best shape when it goes out for submission. So the real first step to getting your book published is editing – a lot.
Get your book in as good shape as you can on your own, and then get feedback from everybody you can – family, friends, publishing professionals, writing groups. Once you’ve incorporated all their feedback, send the book through a professional story editor to get a set of unbiased eyes on it. After all those changes are made, send your story through at least one copy editor to get the grammar right.
The devil’s in the details when it comes to publishing books. If your book is riddled with misplaced commas, character inconsistencies, and stilted dialogue, a publisher is going to drop it directly into the rejection pile.
Decide on Your Publishing House Style
Once your book is in tip-top shape, it’s time to start looking at publishing options. There are three main tiers of publishing companies.
The biggest and most well-known tier is the major publishing houses, known in the U.S. as the Big 5. This includes Random House, Macmillan, Harper-Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Hachette. These companies publish hundreds of titles a year, and they only work with agents during the submission process.
The second tier is small or niche book publishers. These tend to be regionally based, and they generally publish between five and fifteen titles a year. They will often have specialties, such as a certain genre of fiction (mystery, romance, etc.), nonfiction, or educational books.
Finally, you have self-publishing. Services like Createspace and Lightning Source have blown the world of self-publishing wide open. No more do self-published authors have to resort to selling books out of the trunks of their cars; now, self-published books can be available to the entire English-speaking world. If you want a better overview of what’s involved with self-publishing, check out this self-publishing 101.
You’ll want to think very carefully about which of these is the best fit for your book. If you have a personal memoir or a history book that is specific to a geographical region, for instance, your book will likely get the attention and marketing it deserves with a small publishing house. If you have a very niche book that may be outside the wheelhouse of most publishers, self-publishing can be a fantastic option. If you have a book that has no particular regional or cultural ties, but is rather directed towards society as a whole, you may want to try for a Big 5 publisher.
Getting an Agent
If you decide to go for a Big 5 publisher, you’ll need to get an agent. Big publishing houses like those do not accept submissions from authors working on their own behalf. So before you put together a submission, you’ll need to put together a query.
Look in the acknowledgements of books that are similar to yours; they will always thank their agents there. Look up those agents, review their query requirements, and make sure to follow every one of their guidelines. In many cases, this will involve a writing sample, a bio, and a query letter.
Putting Together a Submission
If you are publishing your book through a smaller publisher, you can submit to them directly.
Again, check the publishers of titles similar to yours and make sure they work with your genre.
Find their submission guidelines and follow them to the letter.
Many small publishers will require a short writing sample, a bio, and sometimes information about what makes your book unique. The quickest way to alienate a submissions editor at a publishing company is to send in a submission that doesn’t follow the publishing guidelines or is poorly edited. Remember, this is your first introduction to a publisher, so it should be your best.
Start Collecting Rejections
Once you’ve sent in all your submissions, sit back and wait for the rejections to come rolling in.
Wait, rejections? You’ve just spent all this time and effort making a great book; why are we talking about rejections?
The unfortunate fact is you’re almost certainly going to receive more than one rejection. A publisher may not think your book is a good fit for their company’s focus, or they may just not be drawn to your book. That’s okay – you can’t please everyone, and with patience and perseverance, you’ll find a publisher who will give your book all the love it deserves.
Once Your Book Is Accepted
When you get the acceptance notice from a publisher, you’re going to be on cloud nine. But don’t kick back and wait for the royalties to start rolling in yet. There’s still a long road before you get your books in hand.
Once the publisher accepts your book, they’re going to send the manuscript through their own copy editors and then potentially ask you to review the changes. Then will come the interior layout (how the text looks on the page), cover design, and back cover information, all of which you’ll need to have a hand in. This process can take a year or more, so be patient.
Now That You Know How to Get a Book Published
Those are the basics of how to get a book published. Everyone’s publishing journey will be a little different, but just remember to be patient, be open to critique on your book, and keep believing in the power of your story. Your book will find the home and the audience it needs.
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