How To Get A Book Published

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cruiz1992
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Re: How To Get A Book Published

Post by cruiz1992 »

This is great! Very informative! Thank you!
Johntherobert
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Post by Johntherobert »

I found the best thing to do was use those printing shops like kinkos copy
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

Johntherobert wrote:I found the best thing to do was use those printing shops like kinkos copy
Well, sure, if all you want is a hard copy. For example, with my novels, I either printed them out at home w. my HP LaserJet, or emailed the PDF to the local copy shop and had them print a copy, plain old 8-1/2 x 11 3-hole, which I stuck into an "Acco" binder (those binders w. the two flat metal prongs that bend over and latch).

But that's not "publishing" and even getting a hard copy is a bit old fashioned. If a friend wants to read my story I simply email a PDF version.

Nevertheless, "pubishing" is printing in a bound book form, mostly these days what's known as "trade paperback" (9 x 12 w. "perfect" adhesive binding, a slick color artwork cover, etc.) And that takes some dough. Or even the vaunted pinnacle, hardcover.

That I leave to the publisher, after they've purchased rights to my book. That is, and this is essential, the direction of the money flow is INTO your pocket, not out. That is, you don't pay someone to publish copies of your book. Instead, they pay you and also pay royalties for the sales.

Bottom line: "How To Get A Book Published" actually means "How To Get Your Book Sold", which should be the objective of every author.
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Krism1004
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Post by Krism1004 »

Someone said self publishing for 3.99 a book is pointless, but in reality publishers and agents take a cut, so you may have a 9.99 book that you only get paid 3.99 for your share. So, it really depends what your looking for. My sister has published several books with her publisher, and gets decent checks now that he has several books out, but has self published friends that make way more. I really think its a choice - that is if you get an offer from a publisher.
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Post by 90skids »

Getting your book published seems to be a lot harder than I thought it would be
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Post by moderntimes »

90skids wrote:Getting your book published seems to be a lot harder than I thought it would be
Well, anyone who want to publish a book can do so, if you re-interpret "publish" as "put it online yourself" but real, genuine publishing, where you can go into a bookstore and see your actual physical book on the shelf for sale, and where you were paid real money from a publisher for this, is pretty difficult.

It took me over a year of pushing at the doors to get my first novel in print. The 2nd novel was quicker. Now I'm going all the way through the process again for my 3rd novel, as my final experience w. the initial publisher wasn't that lucrative. And yes, I was paid fair royalties (royalties on novels are usually about 10% for print, 30% for e-books, unless you're Stevie King) but the advance was meager and the publicity was minimal. But I was treated fairly and in accordance w. the contracts.

What I'm now working for is landing an AAR agent or a larger publisher who'll pay more advance and will spend more dough on adverts for the book.

Is it all worth the effort? I think so. There's NO feeling (regarding books, ha ha) as great as going into a bookstore and seeing your novel there! Makes you want to jump up and down, and yell to the other customers, pointing, "That's MY book! MY book! Ha ha ha ha......"
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Post by Liot »

I'm with 'moderntimes' above as far as publishing is concerned. Getting a mainstream publisher to publish your novel/book is the ultimate goal for most writers and to see it in a bookshop.

But... you have to start somewhere and though getting that lucrative deal is possible, in some cases, for a first novel if it is outstanding and ticks all the commercial buttons, in the overwhelming majority of cases it is unlikely to be achieved. Therefore an alternative approach may be needed.

Using, for example, Createspace and Kindle to publish on Amazon is a good start and can be done without costing you a penny. It
is, again in my opinion, absolutely necessary to pay a professional editor before you let your book loose on the readers. It should be an independent editor. Self publishing firms that you pay to do it for you will tell you how wonderful and commercial your book is while they extract thousands of pounds/dollars or whatever from you. Avoid them like the plague.

Once you have a few novels and have proved your worth it may be easier to get an agent or interest a publisher. That's more of a hope on my part than a fact.

Regards

Fran Connor
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Post by jgreen11 »

ResearchScholar wrote:
TechKnow wrote: How nice it would be to actually make money doing this...
...For anyone who has a manuscript published by one of the known publishing houses, there is tremendous expectation that, after all the effort, the book is widely distributed. The reality out there is that many books merely sell a few hundred copies and even fewer. If a book sells 2000 copies and goes into a reprint, that in and of itself may be considered a success The icing on the cake is if the author also gets invitations to speaking events.

That is why I reaffirm the point I made earlier, upthread, that publishing a book is the easy part. It is marketing and distribution which is the real challenge. If aspiring authors have not given much serious thought to this issue -- and how they, and not others, are going to surmount it -- then I think they would be setting themselves up for great disappointment.
This is such an interesting way of looking at writing. I am actually a singer and am in grad school for vocal performance, and in comparison, I agree - learning how to sing and actually performing is the easy part. It's the finding jobs and people that want to hire you and getting your name out there that is more difficult.

Perhaps life would be more manageable if we all took a marketing class in college. I have no idea how any of that works and would love to be more knowledgable on the topic.

Thanks for giving me more to think about! :D
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Post by Anacoana »

It's a lot of work to get published, absolutely. But one thing I'd point out is don't shoot for the huge ones when you're just starting out. Try for smaller publishing companies, I'm trying to get a novella published and so I targeted smaller ones since it's my first. Plus I like that according to people that have been published smaller houses tend to give you more attention than you might get when an editor at a huge one has upwards of 20 or 30 authors on their hands. Also another thing, you don't need an agent. It's highly suggested, but you don't need it. I don't have one since it's harder to get agents for novellas than it is to find publishing companies for them, and so I targeted my research towards ones that take unsolicited novellas. I'd suggest really thinking about what you want for your book. What format? How important are royalties? Do the covers on the publishing house's website look nice? Stuff like that.
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Post by moderntimes »

jgreen11 wrote: This is such an interesting way of looking at writing. I am actually a singer and am in grad school for vocal performance, and in comparison, I agree - learning how to sing and actually performing is the easy part. It's the finding jobs and people that want to hire you and getting your name out there that is more difficult.

Thanks for giving me more to think about! :D
Just as a sidebar comment, what sort of voice are you studying and what do you sing (or prefer to)?

For years I sang in chorales and church choirs, having a decent natural baritone voice and could read music at a young age.

Then I got bitten by "the bug" and began to formally study voice, and with 2 private lessons a week, went from an "okay" amateur to a fairly decent semi-pro bass/baritone after a couple months. I auditioned and was hired by a small but legitimate commercial opera company and sang full-bore opera (makeup, costumes, staging, original language, etc) for 4 years. Mostly chorus but I did sing a few small comprimario roles. Great fun! But hard, hard work as you can imagine.

Still, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Just one terrific memory among many -- standing onstage during the finale of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" (I sang the role of the drunken gardener Antonio) and singing "Perdono, perdono" (pardon) to the Countess, as the 11 cast members (no chorus there) sang that transcendent music, a true "Mozart Moment"!
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Post by jgreen11 »

moderntimes wrote:
Just as a sidebar comment, what sort of voice are you studying and what do you sing (or prefer to)?
I'm a soprano studying classical, specifically opera! How fantastic to meet a fellow opera singer on a website for authors. It just shows you how widespread the arts are! :)
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

Are you lyric or coloratura or Wagnerian dramatic or whatever? I think the most beautiful of all soprano arias is "depuis le jour" from the opera Louise by Charpentier. You should check out the Renee Fleming Youtube video. I love this aria not just because it's so gorgeous, but it's a simple love song -- Louise is thinking back to the day she first fell in love -- and the lyrics are elegant but also straightforward. Essentially "Love" and nothing more.

My fave operas are "Le Nozze di Figaro", "Rigoletto", "Don Giovanni", "Faust" (Gounod), "Il Tabarro" and a few others. When our company was performing Rigoletto, my voice teacher sang the title role and the gal I was dating sang Gilda. Even during rehearsals, when Gilda dies at the end, I was grief-stricken ("My girlfriend is dying! Woe is me!")
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Post by cmp librarian »

I love all the information available in this discussion. My sister and I are hoping to publish a book of poems together in the near future and some of this information I've read in here will be very helpful to us. Thanks everyone!
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Post by TammyO »

Lots of great ideas here. Thanks for great advice..
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Post by AWJO1991 »

Liot wrote:Using, for example, Createspace and Kindle to publish on Amazon is a good start and can be done without costing you a penny. It
is, again in my opinion, absolutely necessary to pay a professional editor before you let your book loose on the readers. It should be an independent editor. S
YESSSS. I've notice that a lot of authors think they can edit their own work completely. Authors are the worse person to give their book a final edit, IMO. When I'm editing, I know what the next sentence is going to say - a lot of times - because it's my own work. That causes me to glide right through it, not catching the tiny mistake 'buy' instead of 'by.'

Get an editor. It's worth the money.
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