You've Written Your Book - Now What?
Choosing the Right Publisher Can Be Harder Than Writing Your Book
Whether they’re wanna-bes or more experienced, far too many authors are overwhelmed when the time comes to search for the best publisher. Many insist that it’s harder to find the right match than it is to write the book.
It is essential that you learn how to publish your book. The key to success is fully understanding the methods used by each type of publisher and why they might be the best way to produce and market your very special book. Read the free articles on different aspects of publishing on the site.
Helpful Guides to Publishing
- The Writer Within You by Charles Jacobs
- Top Self Publishing Firms (POD) by Stacie Vander Pol
- The Fine Print of Self-Publishing by Mark Levine
- Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual
- Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents
- Writer’s Market published annually by Writer’s Digest Books
- The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published by Sheree Bykovsky & Jennifer Sander
Finding an Agent
Majors and some indies will accept submissions only through a literary agent. Many experts point out that finding an agent is more difficult than finding a publisher. Like publishers, agents specialize in specific topics. They exercise great care before signing on new talent because their livelihood is based on the success of their clients. Fortunately, the majority of indie publishers will accept submissions directly.
Some Helpful Facts
Of the 500,000 or so new books that appear on the market each year, the vast majority of books are released in soft cover form. These books are easier to handle and less expensive than hard covers. The preferred sizes are 5.5 x 8.5 or 6 x 9 inches. My own preference is the larger for it is more impressive on the shelf. Covers can be designed in one to four colors. Your preferred binding should always be perfect bound.
The Publishing World is Vast - It can spin the head of any writer.
Traditional Majors: In past years, these giants were the backbone of the industry. Dedicated to the printed word. Lovers of books. Patrons of their authors. Unfortunately, today that has changed. As these companies have been swallowed up by huge conglomerates, their dedication has shifted to the bottom line, and that pretty much means a closed door to newcomers and even to many authors who have been previously published. Save your time and effort and try elsewhere unless your book is truly unique.
Indie Publishers: Estimates run as high as 80,000 independent houses in operation today. These range from tiny one-book publishers to highly successful small companies with placements on Best Seller lists. Generally, these indies are far more supportive of their authors and actively welcome newcomers to bring fresh, undiscovered talent into the industry. Many literary agents now work closely with indies, although the majority of houses do not require an author to retain an agent in order to submit a manuscript.
Publishing on Demand (POD): Relative newcomers to the publishing scene, these houses can be a great blessing to first-time authors. For a relatively modest production fee up front, they will perform all of the pre-publication services necessary to produce your book. These include creating a cover, formatting the interior text, obtaining an ISBN and Library of Congress Certification, printing your book and placing it with a major distributor.
The cost to do all this yourself can run into thousands of dollars. The POD house offers you a personal discount on books you buy for your own use. These really are businesses, not publishing houses. They vary in quality. So just be cautious and study the contract carefully before you sign up.
Self-Publishing: Growing at a healthy pace, this approach is being adopted by many experienced authors. It does mean that you will have to accomplish each of the pre-publication tasks that were outlined above in the POD section, and therefore requires an upfront expenditure. In return, every penny of profit goes directly into your pocket. I recommend this approach only when you are savvy about the publishing industry.
Publishing an E-book: Every day, this new digital technology grows in popularity, spurred by the invention of a variety of digital readers. The e-book industry posts annual growth in the area of 150% that has continued into 2010 with each month showing these remarkable results. The technology requires specific formatting for many of the readers currently on the market. That creates a serious problem for authors who want to format their books themselves. However companies like Smashwords are available to take a Word document and convert it to a variety of formats to fit all of the most popular readers. As the industry continues to expand, we will post more articles on the subject. Check the article directory.
Some Helpful Definitions
- Advance Review Copy (ARC)
- A bound review copy (galleys) distributed prior to publication date often without final corrections
- Appendix
- Supplemental information placed in the back matter of the book
- Author’s Alterations
- Corrections or changes made by the author after the book has been finally proofed for printing
- Bar Code
- Symbol identifying the book and its price placed on the back cover.
- Blueline
- Traditionally the last round of proofing for the book
- Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP)
- Data printed in the front portion of the book to assist librarians in cataloguing. It is based on Library of Congress registration
- Distributor
- A sort of middleman who handles distribution of a book to wholesalers and other end users. Distributors usually employ salespersons to contact retailers
- Dummy
- A preliminary mock-up of a book.
- Folio
- The page number of a book
- Font
- A family of type in a single face.
- Fulfillment
- The picking, packing and shipping of a book
- Galleys
- The earliest form in which the book appears for proofing, reviews etc
- International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
- The exclusive identification number of a single book
- Perfect Binding
- The binding used most often for soft cover books, producing a flat spine on which identifying information is placed.
- Overrun
- Press runs that exceed the original ordered amount. Printers are usually allowed a 10% margin
- Portable Document Format (PDF)
- The form in which documents are often prepared through Adobe Acrobat
- Pica
- A measurement of printing comparable to 1/6 of an inch
- Ragged Right
- An uneven right hand margin. Left margin is flush
- Register
- A verb signifying positioning text properly on a page. Term can be used when adjusting the press
- Remaindering
- Selling off the unsold books usually to a discount book retailer
- Returns
- Unsold books returned by a retailer to the publisher
- Royalty
- A publisher’s payment to an author based on a percentage of the net price
- Signature
- Created by printing a number of pages (32 or 48) onto a single sheet of paper
- Spine
- The narrow portion of the book cover that binds the front and the back
- Subsidiary Rights
- Ancillary rights such as foreign sales, motion picture adaptations, book club sales, etc
- Trim Size
- Dimensions of a page or book after shaped to its final size
- Verso
- The left hand page of a book
- Widow
- When the last line of a paragraph contains only one word. (An “Orphan” occurs when a single word appears as the first line of a new page)