There are 4 ways that you can publish a book:
1. Commercial Book Publishing
2. Self Publishing
3. Subsidy Publishing
4. Ebook Publishing
1. Commercial Book Publishing - This is the main way that authors have been getting published and can be very challenging. While there are thousands of publishing houses, today there are more writers than ever before.
A publishing house is a business and like all businesses they have a goal to create profits in an efficient manner. It is unlikely that you will be able to make contact with a publishing house if you don't have a good literary agent.
Surveys show that only 1 out 400 applicants are accepted by literary agents for representation. The majority of literary agents prefer to take on clients that have previously been published.
To get published with a publishing house will take a combination of talent, timing and luck. You can be an very talented writer and have a wonderful book but if the publishing house just finished publishing a book that is similar to yours you may not be accepted - or if this is a "red hot market" then you may be lucky.
For these reasons it is important to do research and see what are the trends and what people are buying. An excellent resource for this type of information is Amazon's Bestseller section.
2. Self Publishing - Where in the past commercial publishing was the only option, today you can "self-publish" your book. Self publishing is when you take on all of the jobs that are needed to create, print and distribute your book.
Some of the services required are:
*Editing - This is very important for most types of books
*Proof Pages - Preparing the pages and page order
*Artwork - You'll need both Front and Back covers plus the internal artwork which is any images or clip-art that appears within the text
*Printing - You will need to turn your electronic files into hard/soft cover books. There are 3 options for printing: get a small amount printed, get a large amount printed or use a print-on-demand service
*Distribution - How will you distribute the books? You can contact retailers and online distributors yourself or utilize a professional service
The first step is to decide which tasks you will do and which tasks you will hire someone else to do. Today, thanks to the internet, there is lots of free information available on each step of the publishing process.
3. Subsidy Publishing - This is when the author pays a printer to produce a book and then earns royalties from the sales of the book. Sometimes this is confused with self publishing. With self publishing the author pays all the expenses and in turn receives 100% of the proceeds.
Another name for this is "Vanity Publishing Houses" which sometimes can have bad reputations. They will often claim that they can sell the book and then after paying for everything the writer is left without any real distribution and stuck with a bunch of books.
4. Ebook Publishing - This is a new approach that is gaining a lot of popularity. It is very easy to take a digital file and turn it into and ebook to sell online. A good way to do this is by having a personal website or blog and putting up articles and content to attract visitors and get publicity.
Alternatively, you can order an ISBN online and then companies like Amazon and Mobipocket will sell your ebook through their distribution network and you earn royalties from each sale.
Thanks to the internet there has never been a better time for an author to get published. Some people feel that because there is so much information online that traditional books will become obsolete.
I feel that while this may be true in some categories, for the most part it is the opposite - all of the free information creates a hunger for more!
When radio first arrived, the music industry was scared that they wouldn't sell as many albums and then they started selling much more than ever before. It's similar to how in a grocery store you are offered free samples, if it tastes good than you are more likely to buy.
I recommend spending a good amount of time doing research until you discover which is the best way for you to publish your book. I highly recommend utilizing the internet to share with others and grow your readership.
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Got a Question? Ask.
Ask the community a question about this article:
Frequently Asked Questions
Permission in publishing
By: mm2008 | 05-07-2008
If i self publish a book which is not deragatory or pornagraphic in any way, do i need to gt permission to use peoples last names and also permisson to use names of resturants and coffee shops in my thank you page ( acknowledgements) ??
Trying to write a book.....
By: cjdaves157 | 18-04-2008
I have started writing a book. I am a lesbian in a 12 year relationship with a 5 year old son. The novel that I am writing is a fictional story based on the events of my life. Basically, me coming to terms with who I was despite my environment. How do I go about getting my manuscript to editors or publishers?
Can I Gujarati book on Stock charts, Technical ...
By: rajpatel1956 | 12-12-2007
Can I Gujarati book on Stock charts, Technical analysin published in Gujarati language ?
Are there individualized print magazines, personally tailored to your choice?
By: Isdaron | 30-09-2006
Are there examples for publishers that allowed readers to edit their magazine into an "individual" magazine? What I mean by that is: Are there individualized printed magazines that contain only articles you selected (or articles on subject matters you selected) and is then printed, so that you would get an individual copy, probably no one else is getting? I find this to be an option that could become a reality with digital printing, shouldn't it?Thanks for your help, Bjoern
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