How to Publish Your Book Part I

Once you have a body of work that you feel good about, you might find yourself considering publishing the work.  You want to get it into the hands of people who might enjoy it, beyond your uncle Harry who thinks everything you do is genius.

How Many Books are Published Each Year?

There is some disparity with regard to how many books are published daily in the US. Most sources estimate between 2,000 and 4,000 books are published every day. This includes self- published books, which means you need to make sure yours is a standout. Traditionally, the only route to getting published was by submitting your work to a publishing house.  These include Random House, Mcgraw-Hill, and other known names. Here is a link to a good article about the 56 biggest publishing houses worldwide. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/63004-the-world-s-56-largest-book-publishers-2014.html Submitting your work to one or more of these houses is a little like winning the lottery.  Bear in mind, most are looking for blockbuster submissions.

Things Have Changed

You can pitch a book or even an idea of a book at conferences or workshops where experts in the field will give you feedback on your writing. If your idea is dynamic enough, you might get someone on the panel to invite you to submit your work. At the very least, you will learn about the industry, and you will get some feedback on your work and ideas.   As you might imagine, there is an elitist view of books published by the known houses.  Self- publishing is relatively new, and you no longer have to hope that your work gets seen by the right people or that they find your style compelling.  All that has changed with new technology and resources. However, there is a stigma that needs to be overcome. Many reviewers, publishing houses, bookstores, and libraries are a bit suspicious of the self- published author. That is because there is a lot of dismal work being self produced. Good work has to be well conceived and written.  It needs to be sharply edited. Grammer, spelling, and poor attention to detail is more the norm than the exception, unfortunately. Remember, in our previous articles (add link), we stressed how important it is to hone your work and have it edited by qualified people. If you can’t hire a professional, get more than one person you trust to go over it.  Be open to constructive feedback and write and rewrite.

First Steps To Publishing

Once you determine that you will publish your work, you have some choices to make. Do you want your work to be in print or are you interested in an e book or audio version?  All three? You can hire a company to publish your work, start to finish in any format. You can also opt to hire a company to help you with parts of the publication.  There are a few companies that you might find through a google search, but be careful. Many of them are legitimate and will deliver a product for you to distribute. However, you need to be cautious and read reviews because some of these companies make promises that they do not intend to deliver. Here is a link to an article about several services that you can hire to help you publish. https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/self-publishing-services-for-books/ If you are a do-it yourselfer, then you will want to read part 2 of this article. There is a big difference between getting a book made and distributing it; so, the finished product does not guarantee sales. That is a whole different story.