Your book is written. You’ve researched your options for getting it published. You’ve heard the good news and the bad news, which can be summed up in one sentence: Today, anyone who wants to get a book published gets a book published. This means there’s more competition in the marketplace than ever. In the past year, 328,259 new titles and editions were published in the U.S. and 206,000 new titles and editions were published in the U.K. That’s your competition.
The two paths to book publication are traditional publishing and self-publishing. Within the traditional arena, the choices are major publishing houses or smaller, independent publishers (including university presses). To understand the different types of publishing, check my past posts by going to the Categories list on my blog page and click “For Authors”. Regardless of the path you take, preparation is the key.
While writing is a solo first act, every subsequent act requires other players, anywhere from a duet to an ensemble. Because you may get only one turn on the publishing carousel and want to grasp the brass ring, your book should have a professional content reader and a proofreader before it is submitted to an agent for traditional publishing or goes to press with self-publishing.
Your book deserves the same diligence you would give in choosing someone to help you buy or sell your house. A flashy website with boasts of success is as easy to inflate in the publishing world as it is on an online dating site. Don’t automatically believe what you see; check it out independently. If a friend or colleague recommends an agent or publisher, look at the track record. I’ve heard some writers recommend individuals and companies they’ve used but, when asked how well their book was marketed and sold, the results were lackluster.
You wouldn’t hand your baby off to a caregiver and never look back. Doesn’t your brainchild deserve the same attentiveness from you? Ask questions to understand what the people handling your book will do. Who will be responsible for design, for distribution, for promotion? How will those services be paid for?
Before you sign any contract, have it reviewed by someone who is experienced in the field. Once you select the people and company to get your book published, follow up regularly to be sure your book doesn’t become lost in the shuffle and that the process continues as promised.
You can’t afford to sit and wait for your book to hit the market. Once your book is in production, you need to budget your time, money and other resources so you can hit the ground running, building up a ready audience waiting to buy your book. While professionals are handling various stages of your book prior to publication, research all the possible ways to market it. Whether self-published or working with a major publisher, your book’s success will rely on your own marketing. If this is a field you’re unfamiliar with, get professional help.
In a future, Book●ed Blog post, I’ll share some of the ways authors are breaking through the hundreds of thousands of new books each year to successfully sell their books.