Best Path to Publishing
Your story has been buffed and polished and is now ready for the world!
How do I publish it? There are many things to consider when choosing a publishing option and different options may work for different books. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
How to publish a book How to publish a book
What are the three pathways to Publishing?
- Traditional Publishing
- "Hybrid" Publishing
- Straight Self-Publishing
All three options have their advantages and pitfalls. Whichever you choose, do your research; sadly, there are a lot of scams out there ready to take your dreams (and your money).
1. Traditional Publishing
Way back in the day, say the ancient times of the 1990s, books were sold in stores. Much like music could be found on a CD in a Tower Records or a movie on a DVD in a Blockbuster. So, to sell your book, you needed to get into a bookstore. And the only way to get into a book store was to be published by a publishing house.
In order to get a publisher, an author needed a literary agent. In order to get a literary agent, you needed to write a Query Letter ( a very painful experience) to 'pitch' your book.
It looked a little like this: Write book -- write query letters (100s actually) to literary agents--run to mailbox and prepare to curse rejection letters---get acceptance letter!
Remember:
Harry Potter was rejected "loads of times" and J.K. Rowlings was told in one letter "not to quit her day job."
Carrie (Stephen King) was rejected 30 time; Wrinkle in Times 26 times.
I offer you some sound advice from J.K. herself:
Just be prepared, but not discouraged: You will get a lot more rejection letters--or no response at all--than you will acceptance letters.
But, one fine day, you may find yourself with a literary agent. The literary agent represents you and your book to publishing houses. When a publishing house picks up your book, you get published and into book stores.
There's a lot along the way, of course. The agent and/or publisher may ask the author to change major or minor parts of the book, change the cover, and they will take part of any profit.
The publishing house would invest in the marketing and, sometimes, book tours.
"Traditional Publishing" and it looks something like this:
How publishing works How publishing works
2. "Hybrid" Self-Publishing
There are companies who will help you publish your book. They help you when you pay them. The more you pay them, the more they will help you.
They offer a lot of "packages"
Here is a short and informative video about the Top 6 Mistakes authors make when they Self Publish.
However, self-publishing is not free. Check out this great video on the costs of self-publishing.
3. The third option is really a complete "do it yourself" path.
The positives for this option are primarily financial. Since you are not paying anyone for any of the services, then you get to keep all the profits.
Wattpad and similar apps and programs supply this option.
Some self-publishing authors can be paid for their work by attracting advertisers. Advertising contracts will come from having hundreds of thousands of views--which makes sense.
A company promoting a product will want to get the most "bang for the buck" and know a lot of viewers will see their products. (This is much like the way the "you tubers" build a large following to attract 'sponsors.')
My advice is attracting lots of viewers is:
Know your audience. If you write Fan Fiction, read the popular Fan Fiction and so forth. Look to see what's attractive to those readers and add your own twist to it.
Put out quality work. I've seen a lot works begin with a lot of 'apologies for editing errors' and that's okay to be honest with your readers. And readers will be forgiving--to a point. When the errors impede the reader from understanding the story, the reader will quickly lose interest and move on to another story.
Cool Cover and title.
Readers are literally flipping through the stories at milli-seconds. You'll want something not just "eye catching' but "eye stopping' so the reader will be intrigued enough to read your work.
Self Publishing Companies:
Amazon has a sub company called Create Space. You can upload your PDF to Create Space, format and design a cover--all for free! Create Space offers immediate customer service.
When someone down loads a pdf of your book, you split the profits.
At the time that you 'sign up', the profit splits are clearly spelled out for you (or at least they should be or you know to go to another company!).
If you think about it, Amazon has nothing to lose in offering a free platform for authors to upload their stories.
There are a lot of companies out there... Be Aware! Again, do your research. Look for companies who have been around for awhile--this way you won't upload your work only to find the company has disappeared.
This is very thorough video that outlines a "step by step" plan to self publish your book.
Be sure the money is clearly spelled out--how much (if anything) are you expected to spend?
If you sell a book, what is the profit split?
Do you own the rights outright? What if your story becomes a movie? Do you own the rights or does the publishing company?
Do not let these options feel intimidating, confusing or too expensive! There's tons more info on line to specifically navigate you through the option you think is the best for you. Make it happen.
Do you want to successfully self-publish in ebook, print and audiobook formats?
There are thousands of new books being published every day, but many self-published books quickly sink to the bottom of the pile.Many authors are frustrated because there are so many options for self-publishing, and they don't know which one to choose or what will be best for their book.
Others spend thousands of dollars to publish and end up broken-hearted with the result. But it doesn't have to be this way. I've spent the last ten years self-publishing bestselling fiction and non-fiction books and in 2011, I left my day job to become a full-time author entrepreneur.
I've made lots of mistakes along the way, but through the process of self-publishing 27 books, I've learned the most effective way to publish and market your books. In this book, I'll share everything with you.
The book includes: - What you need to know before you self-publish - Why self-publishing an ebook is a good idea- How to format an ebook - Exclusivity and going direct- How to self-publish an ebook - Why self-publish a print book - Print-on-demand will change your life- What you need to know before you print - How to self-publish a print book- What to do if you want help with the publishing process- How to self-publish an audiobook- After self-publishing - How much does it cost to self-publish? - How do you get paid when you self-publish? - Book marketing principles - How to market fiction - How to market non-fiction If you're ready to successfully self-publish, then check out a sample or buy now.Updated Edition: April 2019 with a new chapter on how to self-publish an audiobook
Recommended Reading
