How to Get Your Book Published

Do you want to know how to get your book published? In this article, you will learn the simple steps in publishing your own book in no time.

If you are a first time writer who wants to get your book published, you have probably done your research of the do’s and don’ts of publishing your own book. You may also find that it can be challenging for a first-timer to publish a book and the bits of advice could be overwhelming.

There are different ways on how you can self publish your book. We’ll cut through the fog and provide you concrete tips that you need to get your book out there for readers.

Let’s do the first step. You have to choose if you want to go through traditional publishing or a self-publishing route. 

Traditional Publishing

In traditional publishing, the publisher takes all the responsibility of publishing your book. All you need to do is just need to submit your raw manuscript. 

If you want to go through traditional publishing, you must first identify your book’s right category. The book category list includes, but is not limited to action and adventure, classic, comic book or graphic novel, detective and mystery, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, literary fiction, romance, science fiction (Sci-Fi), short stories, suspense, and thrillers, and so on.

Most writers need to find an agent who will market the writer’s book to the editors and publishing houses on behalf of the writer. Some agents and publishers will also require that you write a proposal for your book to get published. They may also request the synopsis of your book as well as parts of your manuscript. 

A rule of thumb is to compile a list of agents to whom you would like to submit your query letter as you should expect some rejections. This does not necessarily mean that your book is not remarkable. 

Some reasons why agents usually reject a writer’s query letter:

• Failure to adhere to the submission guidelines.
• Not finding out what genres grab an agent’s attention.
• Poor writing of query letters or proposals, including spelling errors.

Once your agent makes an offer and before signing you with your agent, you must carefully review the contract, review your agent’s track record, and discuss your book and writing career goals. Once you have settled your agreement, your agent will start submitting your book to editors and publishing houses. 

After your raw manuscript has been accepted, an editor will review it. The editor will then determine if it is right for the publishing house style and decide to reject or publish it.  

The publisher usually buys the rights from the writer to publish the manuscript and pay the writer in advance and future royalties (about 10 to 15 percent royalty). Once a contract between the writer and publisher has been signed, the publisher will shoulder all the expenses from editing, typesetting, designing the cover, printing, marketing the book, and disseminating the copies.

And then, the edits begin. You will be communicating back and forth as you work on polishing your book. Once the content of your book has been finalized, it will be submitted to a copyeditor. This takes several weeks to months as it will go through several rounds of copyediting and communication between you and copy edit for any changes in the content. 

Once finalized, the copy editor will send your book to other department teams: design, formatting, marketing, publicists, printer, and so on. After going through these steps, you will receive your book’s final copy and your book launches.  Do you want to know how to get your book published? In this article, you will learn the simple steps in publishing your own book in no time.

Self-Publishing

Self-publishing is the publication of media by the author (whether print or electronic like an ebook) without a publisher’s involvement. The author usually uses self-publication platforms, such as Amazon Kindle. Authors can choose to DIY (do it yourself) or get assistance in publishing their own books. In DIY, the author bears all the costs of designing, marketing, and book distribution. The other route is to get assisted with professionals. They can choose to work with designers, freelance editors or proofreaders, and marketers. 

Pros and cons of self-publishing

There are some advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing a book without using a traditional book publisher, and here are some.

Benefits of self-publishing

1. Gain more creative control

You have greater creative control with your book over traditional publishing. When you are publishing your book in a publishing house, there are several gatekeepers who will have an opinion on the overall content and appearance of your book. You also need to meet the requirements of multiple parties, including the editor, designer, and marketer. Self-publishing allows you to take control of your book every step of the way.

2. Greater loyalty rates

You can potentially make a greater amount of money with self-publishing than traditional publishing, up to 70 percent more. In traditional publishing, the publishing houses pay the author royalties with each book sold. That is around 7 to 25 percent, and the rest of the earnings go to the publishing house. 

3. Market your book faster

With self-publishing, you can complete your book in less than a week. Publishing a book through traditional publishing may take six to 18 months. Using the power of the Internet, you can complete a book today and publish it in a few weeks. Thus, you can market your book and make money from it right away. 

4. Unlimited shelf life

One of the biggest advantages of a self-published book is that it gives your book a longer shelf life. In traditional publishing, the publisher will only give you a few months of exposure in the bookstores. Your shelf life also depends on how popular your book is. On the other hand, digital books, such as those on Amazon’s virtual shelves, longer shelf life. This gives you more time to build your following, sales and develop your niche gradually. 

You can read the article “Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: 2020 Deep Dive” to help you decide what route to take. Once you have chosen between traditional publishing and self-publishing, you can now work on the next steps to finally publish your own book.

Downside of self-publishing

1. It costs more

In traditional publishing, the publishing house pays for the editing, designing, printing, and marketing of your book. You will also get to pay in advance when you already made a deal. In self-publishing, the writer will pay for all of those upfront costs.

2. Not having the benefit of an editorial team

One of the biggest challenges of self-publishing is having no access to proofreaders, publicists, professional editing services. The editorial team smooths out story issues and ensures the final product is free of typos and other mistakes. To ensure that you will only publish a high-quality book, you need to hire a trusted party to edit your book. You should also hire a designer to make your book attractive and appealing to the readers.