I am near the end of writing a short book. It will probably measure up to be about 120-150 pages. I have shown my friends and my parents and they all think that it is really good and I should try publishing it. But I do not know how, I would also like to know how much it was cost to publish. Someone help me 
First, finish your book.
Type it in proper manuscript form (http://www.writersdigest.com has the details on what is needed).
Edit it many times to make it as good as it can be. Put it in a drawer, and don’t even think about it, for a month or two, then take it out and do more editing.
Get it proofread by someone who knows what they are doing (do not rely only on spellcheck).
There are a tiny number of publishers who accept unsolicited manuscripts (those that don’t go through a literary agent), so you need an agent, first.
Visit http://www.agentquery.com or, at the library or bookstore, look for Bowker’s Literary Marketplace, Writer’s Market 2010 or Jeff Herman’s Guide to Literary Agents. Look for agents that handle your genre, and are looking for new clients. Read, and follow, their submission guidelines.
Those books will have something about writing a query letter, which is what you send to the agent, first. It’s half explanation as to why your book should be published, and half synopsis of your book. You have only that one-page letter to wow the agent, so take the time to make it a good one.
Expect the whole process to take lots of time, and plan on many rejections. When you are accepted by an agent, they will send your book to publishers, not you.
Except for postage, the entire process of getting an agent is **FREE**, until your book is bought by a publisher. That is when the agent gets their cut, usually 15%, of the money that goes to you. Run away from any agent who asks for money upfront. If you self-publish, then you will pay up to a couple of thousand dollars, depending on the publisher.
Kaitlynn on February 2nd, 2010 at 5:41 am says:
First step is copyright. Your library can tell you how to get it copyrighted and the price of doing so. You used to have to send that kind of stuff in the mail but I bet you could do it online now. Second step, get a literary agent. I’m not sure exactly how but I’ve heard people talk about a writer’s market. Do some research about that and your library probably has a process for that as well.
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Zarya on February 2nd, 2010 at 5:49 am says:
you can go to http://www.booksie.com and then type up your story and other stories for free…u just have to make a account….again free
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Paul L on February 2nd, 2010 at 6:06 am says:
First, finish your book.
Type it in proper manuscript form (http://www.writersdigest.com has the details on what is needed).
Edit it many times to make it as good as it can be. Put it in a drawer, and don’t even think about it, for a month or two, then take it out and do more editing.
Get it proofread by someone who knows what they are doing (do not rely only on spellcheck).
There are a tiny number of publishers who accept unsolicited manuscripts (those that don’t go through a literary agent), so you need an agent, first.
Visit http://www.agentquery.com or, at the library or bookstore, look for Bowker’s Literary Marketplace, Writer’s Market 2010 or Jeff Herman’s Guide to Literary Agents. Look for agents that handle your genre, and are looking for new clients. Read, and follow, their submission guidelines.
Those books will have something about writing a query letter, which is what you send to the agent, first. It’s half explanation as to why your book should be published, and half synopsis of your book. You have only that one-page letter to wow the agent, so take the time to make it a good one.
Expect the whole process to take lots of time, and plan on many rejections. When you are accepted by an agent, they will send your book to publishers, not you.
Except for postage, the entire process of getting an agent is **FREE**, until your book is bought by a publisher. That is when the agent gets their cut, usually 15%, of the money that goes to you. Run away from any agent who asks for money upfront. If you self-publish, then you will pay up to a couple of thousand dollars, depending on the publisher.
References :
Gianna on February 2nd, 2010 at 6:54 am says:
That’s actually the first step to getting published - get feedback from others. Positive response always get anyone psyched, right?
Primarily, you would need to assess your book of poems’ publishing plan. Ask yourself if you need editing, marketing, book cover layout consultation, interior design customization and all that jazz. After mapping out your book’s requirement, find a self-publishing company that will cater to all of your needs.
Hey, congrats! Not everyone has the courage to face the publishing industry even if their literature is highly recommended for public consumption. Because you already have your materials, the next thing you might decide on doing is to find a publisher who will be your retailer, publisher, editor and distributor at the same time - which is of course not that easy to find.
Maybe you would like to ask around and perhaps shop around. Many would also suggest getting an agent which could take SO long for them to sit down and actually notice what you have there and believe me, we are not just talking months here but years.
I hope these help.
References :
How to get started with publishing:
http://tr.im/AJ91
Download your free guide:
http://tr.im/uHhG
Joss on February 2nd, 2010 at 7:27 am says:
okay, honey, I’m going to give it to you straight. Your friends and family are supposed to tell you it’s really good because if they didn’t then they’d be hurting your feelings. You need to get feedback outside of your personal group of family and friends. Ask a trusted English professor to read over it and give you an honest opinion. Ask him/her if they think it’s well written enough to be published. Well-written meaning there are very few grammar and spelling mistakes. A publisher will ultimately decide if it’s good enough to be published.
Now, you have a short story or novella. It doesn’t matter how many pages it is, it matters how many words you have. Novels are about 40,000+ words depending on the genre and if it’s young adult or adult. If it’s adult then 40,000 is too short, but might be okay for young adult, but not young adult-sci-fi. Now, I think you’re still in school, so there isn’t much you can do about it unless your mom wants to pay to self-publish you. You can then have your friends and family buy copies or give them away. That’s about all self-publishing will do for you because strangers don’t read self-published books - they’re usually horribly written and badly edited. If your novel is too short or too long then it will be rejected by publishers. You need more than a good novel to have a publisher pay you for it. It needs to be a well written and good novel. You have very little room for mistakes of any kind. Remember this, so that you can make it as good as it can possibly get so that you actually have a chance; publishers don’t accept average or below average work. Compare your writing with that of your favorite authors and see how it holds up. If it’s lacking then make it better before you send it off. Take some writing seminars or classes if you can.
If your parents are okay with self-publishing you novel then make sure you know what that entails. You won’t get many readers and the only people who’ll buy it are family and friends. If you want to try to make money off it then you have to hard sell. That’s selling it out of the trunk of your car - literally. Book sales over the Internet are virtually non-existent for unknown authors, and even big time authors like Dan Brown (only 5% of his sales come from the Internet and he’s gotten lots of publicity for his books. A book with no publicity is going to have nearly 0%). Self-publishing can cost upward of $10,000 if you go with the sleezy publisher Gianna is pimping on her site. This doesn’t include marketing, promoting, editing, and cover design - all of which needs to be professionally done if you want your book to be taken seriously. Self-publishers who offer these services don’t offer them on a professional basis; the work is substandard and the price is high.
The reason Gianna pushes self-publishing so much is because she works for one. You’ll know it’s a scandalous company when they’re desperate enough to send their minions to Y!A to promote their company. If this is how they promote their company then think about how badly they’re going to promote your book. If you click on the links she’s provided then you’ll see the company she works for. Keep in mind that she does lie about and she tries her best to hide it. The only reason I know this is because she was humiliated on a writer’s advocacy forum where she tried to promote the same self-publishing company and lied about being affiliated with it. Shame on her for trying to take advantage of teens. Actually, her company isn’t even a self-publishing company, it’s a vanity publisher that charges upwards of $10,000 to print your book; printing is all it does. It markets your book by creating a facebook page, and that’s something you can do yourself - for free.
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