How Do You Publish A Book?

Question

I have alot of stories that i'm making, its just that, i dont know how to publish it. I want to publish it so i can get money if people buy it. How do i do it?

Answer 1

First, you need to find a publishing house or literary agent near you... Then, make a query letter.. A query letter is a formal letter sent to magazine editors, literary agents and sometimes publishing houses or companies. Writers write query letters to propose writing ideas. In theory, a query letter should be contained to one page and adhere to a set of guidelines.



It's better off that way. If you find some agents through the internet, you never know if they're for real.. Some use your own work to publish it as their own... Find a genuine publishing house NEAR your place...



Here's the DO's and DONT's when writing a query letter:



The DO's:



1. Do state your name, address, telephone number, and

e-mail, unless told otherwise.

2. Do keep your query letter to one page. Not two, not three, one.

3. Do enter the word count of your book after the hook.

4. Do thank the literary agent and/or publisher for reading your letter.

5. Do politely ask them to respond if, and only if, they are interested in your story.

6. Do make sure to state the title of your book and if it is part of a series or trilogy.

7. Do keep your tone professional.

8. Do state your book's genre.



The DO NOT's:



1. Do not keep pestering the agent or publisher if they do not respond to your letter. That will only lower your chances of getting considered by them.

2. Do not apologize for not having any writing credentials.

3. Do not try to impress the agent or publisher by printing the letter on fancy paper, mailing it in a colorful envelope, et cetera.

4. Do not bribe the agent or publisher.

5. Do not mouth-off at the agent or publisher if they reject your story. Every author gets rejected at least once. Just keep trying different agents or publishers.

6. Do not forget to include an SASE if sending your query letter through snail-mail.

7. Do not send you query letter as an attachment on an e-mail.



Good luck!

Answer 2

Some of the other posters had the right idea, but I disagree with some of the specifics. For example, the first poster said to find an agent "in your area." I /strongly/ disagree with that. New York City is the literary hub of the country and one of, if not /the/, biggest of the world. It's hard enough finding an agent/publisher as it is. Don't add more limits to yourself by allowing geography to play a role. We live in an age where email, fax and phone are so readily available that you should not hesitate to utilize them. Many authors don't speak to their agents/publishers in person. There really isn't much need for it.



Read the in depth answers given by JephC and myself at this link. Too much to paste here:

https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20080305134026AAi0vyr



Follow that advice and you will increase your chances of being published. Try to take a shortcut and you will seriously decrease your chances. /Becoming/ a traditionally published aurhor is an art in itself. Don't short change yourself, your time and your manuscript by rushing things. Haste makes waste, and if you act in haste your manuscript will end up in the waste.



Good Luck.

Answer 3

If they're short stories, unless you're an already-established author, you'll have to publish them yourself.



Two sites I recommend:



http://www.lulu.com

http://www.cafepress.com



Both are low- to no-cost options that are well thought of in the writing community.



If you're talking about novels...well, it depends on you.



If all you want is to hold a book in your hands...try the 2 websites I mentioned above.



If you want a career as a writer, you'll have to go the query, literary agent, publisher route. This can take some time. If you go this route, be prepared to be persistent, as it will take time for you to understand how to write stories that entertain your potential readers.



A few things to help you out:



*Pay attention to the basics, like grammar and spelling. If you do this, you'll be ahead of 95% of the people sending in first chapters, partial manuscripts, or full manuscripts. You can start by checking your posts (like here on Yahoo Answers :-)); once you get into checking your spelling and grammar on a regular basis, it will become second nature to you.



*Go to a writing community and get feedback on your writing. One I recommend is:



http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums



There are forums on all sorts of things related to writing, not just novels. You can just lurk and gain some insight on the ins and outs of the publishing world (which is weird beyond belief! :-)) so you won't get taken in by scam literary agents or scam publishers.



*Don't click on Google ads in searching for a literary agent or publisher. Think about it: If you're a legitimate literary agent, you'll be receiving hundreds of queries/partial manuscripts a day; why would you need to advertise for clients? (Answer: You don't, because you place your clients with legitimate publishers, and advertise THAT fact on your agent blog or website.)



*Going the self publishing route with novels is a very tough sell. If you think it's hard going the query/agent/publisher route, self publishing is even harder. Reason? You and your book are unknown, unless you have a big presence online. (FYI, Christopher Paolini's parents had a small press, so they already knew the publishing biz and what had to be done to get his first book out in front of the right people.)



In summary:



*To have just your book in hand so you can show your friends that you actually have a book, go with the first 2 sources noted in the source list.



*To have your book published with either a big or small LEGITIMATE publisher, go the query/agent/publisher route (where the agent will take care of offering it to publishers for you, among other things). See the 3rd source in the source list for some great tips and advice. Alternatively, you can go to my blog (yes, shameless plug! :-)) where I try to steer people clear of scams of all sorts, and other writing-type stuff (see the 4th source in the source list).



Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Answer 4

You can check out my set of blogs (currently 1-10) on myspace.com/jericking if you are interested in reading my road to being published.

Answer 5

You have to find a pubishing firm that will accept your work or you won't get anywhere.