Ever wanted to know how to publish a book? Well–skip those boring “How To” articles online and . . . read ours instead. We even made a friendly video to help you make sense of it all.
Traditional Publishing
Also known as working with an already established publishing company, whether large, small, or independent.
- Submit your completed work: you can use an agent, or submit independently.
- Query: this is getting the attention of a publishing company or agent. You should follow the agency and press guidelines for submissions to the letter.
- big publishing companies (the Big 5: Hachette, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Simon and Schuster) pretty much require an agent all the time, every time. Smaller presses might not; hence, you don’t need an agent.
- Once you submit and are offered a contract, you will have to go through reviews and edits. Once they’re satisfied, they might add you to a future catalog. You may wait a couple of years for this!
- Cover art!
- Promotion: if the book is expected to do will, the company will probably spend a lot of effort to promote your book. Most of the time, it’s not a high priority until after the book has “proven its worth,” if you will.
- Once you’re famous: you can get advances for your books and makes lots of money off the royalties for years to come!
Self-Publishing
Pros:
Much shorter process
Much higher percentage of earnings (traditionally, 10%-15% is generous going through a company. Self-publishing is 100% profits!)
Cons:
You pretty much have to do all the work yourself. This includes marketing (Twitter, Facebook pages, friends), editing (you’ll need to hire a professional), formatting and all the other things listed above that publishing companies do for you.
Smaller audience most likely: especially for established authors.
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If you go the self-publishing route, e-books are a great way to start! If you want physical copies of your book, there are print-on-demand services online that will print as many books as you want to order!
Let us know if this is useful to you, and feel free to leave comments on other topics you want covered.
Featured image: Graham Holliday