How To Get A Book Published

[Carrie R]

So my question is this, could publishers pick him up without us submitting his book?
Thanks

I don't know the answer to that, but it seems to me, if his Amazon numbers are that good, he might want to query an agent or publisher. It certainly wouldn't hurt to try. Good luck!

[karen999]

1. write a synopsis
2. write a query letter
3.Research agents and publishers
4.Send out queries
latly be prepared for rejection also and start your next project

[Fran]

There is only one answer to that Q ........ Perseverance

[htddubai]

Write a book publish it

[celinerm29]

I have had six books publshed-some by small presses and some I self-published. My latest book, "I Have a Friend on Jupiter!" was published as an e-book by a small press. I am doing all of my own promoting and marketing as small presses don't have the time or the extra money to devote themselves to helping their authors promote their books. I have been online contacting newspapers and radio stations. I also have been sending fliers to friends and posting them in places around town. Someone said that getting published is easy. That's not true unless you go to someone like one of those self-publishing or vanity presses or print on demand publishers. If you want your book published by a legitimate press, it takes a lot of searching and a lot of query letters sent out. If you do choose to self-publish, the best way is what I did, edit your own book and have a local printer format and bind it for you and run off the copies. That way your book is recognized and you can sell it to bookstores or put it up on Amazon. Using those other types of presses doesn't give any legitimacy to your book as they publish anyone and everyone. Writing is all about persistence. I have been at it for over 35 years. Take the time to study the market and look for a good press who will pay you royalty and where you can get your book exposed. If you're lucky enough to find a good agent, then go for it!!!!

Celine

[BestIndieBookStore]

I've seen a number of self published authors sell enough books to end up with publisher and movie deals. Just recently, Colleen Hoover.

[Shakespril]

This is highly motivational. I have received a lot of rejections from literary magazines and I hope I could be happily published soon.

[michaeljoseph]

That's right. I thought I had done all the hard work by writing, formatting, designing the cover, editing and uploading my first self-published book last month. But that really is only the start. Marketing your own book is the hard part. I am researching, socialising and promoting as best as I can, but unless you're lucky, it is going to be a long and time-consuming process to get your book noticed. Perseverance, blind faith in your own ability, and even more perseverance seems to be the way to go. Nobody else is going to market it for you.

[okiewriter1952]

I totally do not agree with all your comments although good. I did not use a literary agent and published traditional before going off to a new and upcoming market self publishing. I had been burned by many of these type companies so I began printing under my own ISBN and though not Stephen King I feel free and I do give more detail to the editing and marketing than the big companies would and do. I also help new writers who cannot get into the door of a traditional publisehr or literary agent get published. I do not publish just to publish it must be good, well written and have appeal. I just wanted to voice my opinion.

[Dietzel]

With a 98% rejection rate among query letters, many writers will never even get their work in front of an industry professional. There is a gateway and that gateway is the query letter.

The query letter is the most important letter you will write, and though there is a lot of free advice floating around about how to write a query letter, most of it is the advice the 98% who are getting rejected are following.

Great post by Career Novelist, I agree 100% with everything written above. A well-written query letter should make agents want to represent you/your novel. If a query letter is truly great, you will have no problem getting an agent because agents are around to make money for themselves and a great query letter will convince them there is something worthwhile about your project.

I was sending out batches of query letters every couple weeks, getting rejections left and right. Along the way, I kept tinkering with the query letter to make it slightly better (adjustments I should have made before I started sending it out in the first place, but I thought it was ready before it actually was). After a while, my query letter kept getting slightly better until it was really good, and instead of getting only rejections, I was getting requests for partials or the full manuscript. Before long, I was signed up to a great literary agency.

Now, even with all of that said, my agent was unable to sell the manuscript to a publisher. But even so, she is still around, still offering free advice, and still encouraging me. She is convinced that if my first book, which was just self published, can do well, she has a very good chance of getting a publisher interested in my follow-up novel. And it is invaluable, even if you are self-publishing, to have someone familiar with the industry, giving you tips and advice the entire time.

I cannot stress enough the importance of a great query letter.

[thea]

Great post Scott- I guess everybody has a story which they would like told - What really matters is if anybody else wants to read it! Finding the target audience seems to be significant. There are books that I know with in moments I cannot be parted from, and other which although brilliant just don't interest me.