I want to publish my book. How do I do that?

Wait. Before we go any further, is your book complete? Is it edited until there are NO spelling mistakes or punctuation errors? Have you had other writers read it and give you feedback? 

Yes, okay moving on.

Self Publishing, Traditional or Indie:

There are three ways of publishing a book, none are better than the other, just different. It depends on YOU as an author, which will work best for you.

Self Publishing:

You do everything. You create your own cover, find a place to publish (usually Amazon and Smashwords) and you do all the marketing. Don't think self publishing is "easy" it isn't. It's a LOT of work. 

NOTE: Always make sure you hire a proffesional editor to go over your book before self pubbing. I review all kinds of books on my blog, and I've seen books so poorly edited I couldn't make any sense of them.

Indie:

First of all, self publishing and indie are NOT the same. Indie is short for "Independant". It means the publisher you've gone with is smaller then the "traditional" publishers, but they may very well still have a marketing team and they'll still design a cover for you. A lot of indie publishers take "unsolicited manuscripts" which means you don't have to have an agent.

Traditional:

Traditional publishers are called "the big six". 

Hachette (publisher)

Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group/Macmillan

Penguin Group

HarperCollins

Random House

Simon & Schuster

Recently, in a move that created a LOT of uproar in the publishing world, Random House and Penguin Group merged, reducing the publishers to "the big five".

These are the big companies with the big marketing teams. They'll get you into all the bookstores, and create a shiny pretty cover for you. They don't take unsolicted manuscripts though. If you want to get in with the big five, you'll want a Literary Agent.

Note: Occasionally the bigger publishers will have contests asking for unsolicted manuscripts, if you don't want to get an agent, keep your eyes peeled for these.

What's a Literary Agent?

A Literary Agent is sort of the "go between" for you and the big five publisher. Every agent is a bit different, but here's some of what they do:

-Edit and polish your manuscript with you to get it ready for submitting.

-Have all the right contacts and know which editor might like your story best (and buy it).

-Negotiate the best (and most profitable) contract for you.

-Guide you in your literary career: Help you avoid scams, give advice about the best marketing opportunities, ect.

-Negotiating foreign/movie rights

-Staying informed: It's a literary agent's job to keep up with the publishing world, and keep you informed as well.

How Do I Get One?

You get a literary agent through the process of querying. 

What's a Query?

Once you've finished your novel and it's polished and completely ready to go, you can write a "query letter". A query letter is basically a letter to an agent, telling him/her  the plot of your book, and a bit about you. 

The Hook

Address your letter to the agent. Not to "whom it may concern" or "dear agent". Nothing will get your letter deleted faster. After you address the agent you need a "hook", something that pulls the reader in. Mine was nothing more than an exciting quote from my story.

Never ever ask a "rhetorical question" for your hook (ie: What would you do if monkeys took over the world?). This is something that EVERYONE does, and agents are thoroughly sick of it. Your hook can be simple, one line. The goal is to make the agent say, "Well, THAT sounds interesting!"

The Plot

Then you go into what the rest of your book is about. Keep it short, no more than two paragraphs, and don't go into tons of details. Stick to the bare bones of your story, and the one or two main characters. Don't go into the subplots or tell us all about Uncle Louise. No one cares about Uncle Louise unless he's the main character.

About You

When I say "about you" I don't mean that you should go on about your cat, Charlie. Or how you love chocoate. The agent doesn't care. All they want to know is if you've had anything published in magazines or the newspaper, ect. Also, don't include school newspapers, or tell the agent "my mom loves my story". Your mom is just being nice.

If you don't have ANY publishing credits, don't worry! Just end your query letter with the truth, you're a new writer seeking first time publication. Short and sweet.

Finding Agents:

You can find agents by googling your favourite authors in the genre you write, and finding out who represents them. Or, you can go to a website like "querytracker.com" and look up all the agents that represent the genre you write in.

More Questions? 

There are TONS of resources online for learning to write a proper query letter, look it up. Or, if you have a question for me, just leave it in the comments and I'll do my best to answer.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There are plenty of scammers out there, fake publishers and agents who make money off of writers who want to be published. If you are ever approached by someone claiming to be an agent/publisher, be VERY sceptical. Research them thoroughly on websites like "AbsoluteWrite" and "Preditors and Editors". 

Writers lose thousands and thousands of dollars to scam organizations like PublishAmerica every month. The first sign of a scammer is if they ask you to give them any money.

Money should always flow TO the author, never away.

 Want to know what a query letter looks like? Click on the link to my blog (on my profile).

I've probably left a few things out, but that's all I've got off the top of my head at the moment. Feel free to message me if you feel I should add anything.