How do you publish a book?

How do you publish a book?

I've been asked this question a lot lately so I figured I'd write out my response here. :) Now, there are probably other ways to go about getting published that I haven't mentioned, I"m just covering what I have done on my own for self-publishing and what I know about going through an agent. There are exceptions for everything and for all I know your ex Sister-In-Law is BFF with the editor at some company and smuggled your manuscript into his/her stack and you were picked! I mean, you never know. Again, I'm going to go over what I know and my own experiences. If you have any recommended sites to help budding writers please post a comment below.

There are two routes you can take for publishing that we are going to talk about.

1.) Publishing with someone (agent and publishing house)

If you want to use an agent they will take the bulk of the work that you would have to do yourself for self-publishing. Such as editing (though it needs to be as perfect as possible), deciding upon the cover (you are lucky to get options as a new author), uploading into medias (though you still should advertise, it is your book after all), and taking it to publishing houses to get it out there for the world.

If you are going to try this route first then I would make sure the MS (Manuscript) is finished and edited. Agents want finished works.

To find an agent you can go to a number of places: http://aaronline.org/Find?&tab=2 is one of many. Always research your agent and send what they would like. If you write romance don't send a Query to to an agent looking for Middle Grade stories. I know that sounds like common knowledge, but I have read many agent complaints about this simple mistake and they won't read your letter. Also, make sure the agent is even accepting queries at this time. Some people are closed if they are over swamped with work.

A Query letter can be found and explained here: http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx This site gives a breakdown of a query letter as well as example links towards the bottom.

You can send out as many letter as you would like to different people, just follow their submission guidelines located on their sites. And good luck! :D There world is huge and sometimes you might get a hundred nos before you get that one yes that will make all the difference. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/book-published_n_4143819.html

2.) Self-Publishing

There are probably more ways such as selling your work to the publishing house directly and buy copies to sell to individual businesses and some such, but I haven't researched those enough to know the correct way to do this route.

For Self-publishing you have to do everything an agent would do. You take over being the editor, cover designer, marketer, and anything else you need to be. Granted, there are plenty of people out there who will help you. There are editors and cover designers who are more than willing to help you out for a price, and I find that it is worth it. Just know who you are buying from. Join an author group on social media and start asking questions. The community is one of the best ways to not only advertise yourself, but to make connections and gain experience.

Decide if you want to make it ebook only or paperback (which the sites you go through for this usually have an ebook ability So no use doing the work twice over when some site does it all for you.)

If you want to make it a paperback you can pick between two sites that I know of. Lulu and Createspace. Both sites are just personal preference. I would read through each and find out their rules, royalties, distributors, and their own clients even. It's personal preference. I use Createspace and my friend, Diana, uses Lulu. I have books from both companies and they don't look any different from one another.

Both sites also take you through a thorough step by step process to help you publish giving examples and explanations to most everything. If you aren't certain about something there are forums to turn to or you can even message the people of the site directly.

Once you decide what site they should provide you with templates on how to properly Format your book, which to me, takes the longest! Or you can pay someone to do it for you. I personally don't want to waste the money on something when I can just take the time to do it myself. You're first Book is the slowest to format because you're learning all of this, but don't let it deter you at all.

Once you follow the sites and send off your cover and book to be looked at they will let you know once it is accepted and also tell you if there are any issues for you to change and you can do so and then send it to be submitted to the site for selling.

Now, all along this way (depending on who you are) you could be advertising yourself and setting up cover reveals, guest blog posts, sneak peak excerpts for people to be teased with, and the release date all the way up until the book finally is out. Even after you should keep posting about it from time to time, hold a raffle, give away signed copies. I mean anything to spread the words of your book at that point. But it won't sell itself.

In the end it's your choice which route you would like to do. :)

I hope this helps out a bit. If you have anymore questions let me know.

Brenda Franklin, author of The Pulse Trilogy.

Some more helpful links: 

Createspace.com

Lulu.com

Cover Artists:

Jennifer Munswami (She did my Pulse Trilogy Book) http://www.jennifermunswami.com/

(Facebook groups you should look at!)

https://www.facebook.com/GiGiCoverDesigns/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WeCOVERIt/

https://www.facebook.com/bookcoverbydesign/photos/a.257923174340190.64987.254127928053048/846191978846637/?type=3

To Become a Better Writer (MY POV)

I have never been more determined to make a name for myself then now. Up until October 9th of 2011 I had been working at an Ice Cream Parlor for three some odd years. After several months of no longer working there, my husband, Shawn took up a stalking position to help support us. I couldn’t have asked for a better guy.

I guess up until mid-year, around June or July, I loved writing but I guess I really didn’t know what it takes to make a good writer. I spent so much time working on just one story that I forgot about all the other things like: book covers, blurbs, getting my name out there, starting a social media connection with people, and many more things. I was just set on writing that one good story which would “make” my career.

In the end I struggled to figure out why people didn’t want to read my work when it came out, or why people weren’t really even viewing it, but it was my fault. Just posting your book up and expecting it to be a big success isn’t going to work. Writing the book is only part of the battle, becoming a good sale person and pitching it is also a big part of it. If you can’t convince people that they want to read your book, than no one will.

The first thing I needed to do was take a step back and view what I was doing was wrong and see how I could correct it. Mind you this is after having written something.

1: I needed to get specific. Break down: What would I love to write about? What kind of genres does it fit in? Poetry or Prose? Fiction or nonfiction?

2: Once I figured out my style of writing at that moment it was time to dust off my social skills and connect to people. I created an Author bio in third person, a small set of information such as: likes, dislikes, favorite books, movies, ect… A couple of pictures of myself after having decided I would use my real name on my stories (Some people use pen names as they are testing out the water.). I created a Twitter account, A Facebook personal page and Author’s page, and a Blogger account which I have linked to my Gmail. You want to spread the word of your story as far as you can reach and these are just some of the places to do it. Mind you that honestly is good no matter what you are doing and you shouldn’t feel these pages with false information to discredit you in any way.

3: Now as I begun to establish my connections I needed to check my work. Go back to my manuscript and edit it. I also needed to provide a good cover. For those in which neither is an easy task you will be surprise what joining an author’s group on facebook can do. You will run across people that will volunteer to help edit, people who create covers, and those that will review your book. All of them are great. They are your friends. So I had to get over the fact that I would be spending money at some point, but use what you have first. If you have an editor in the family, don’t be afraid to slid your manuscript their way and promise a little mention or something. If you have a Photoshop pro in the house ask them if they could help, but if you don’t you may need to hire someone and its okay. A good cover will help to increase sales.

4: As I waited to hear back from people about creating a cover (and keeping up with my social media) I needed to take the next biggest step. I had to decide where my manuscript would go. At first I figured just Smashwords, which is a free online eBook website, but after thinking about it I realized that I wasn’t limited to just one site. Every free eBook site you go to has a different style guide and thus more work, but in the end it’s worth it. So I placed my manuscript not only on smashwords, but Amazon as well. Amazon is viewed and recognized by a much larger crowd and thus is makes sense to get publish with them. You can also put it up on Lulu.com, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads. The good thing about Smashwords is that once your story is up it isn’t just up on the smashwords page, but they spread it so several other sites which is explained on their website.

5: After I figured out where my manuscript was going I began to sale it. I created a short blurb (a short summary which would be vital to help me sale it), little sales pitches, blogged excerpts for people to get a taste of what was to come, set up a date for when people could buy it, and spread the word as far as I could go. (You can never go far enough so no matter what keep trying to sale it, even after you’ve published.)

6: Once I had the manuscript edited, a nice cover, a blurb, a good working title (which you should have come up with early on), and what appeared to be several people backing me up I submitted it and announced to the public is was online and ready for purchasing.

7: Continue to write! This is the most important step that I have come to realize.

You shouldn’t expect to make it big off of one story and this was my biggest mistake. I thought, I could do it, but I couldn’t it. Yes, I was heartbroken when I realized my sales weren’t going up and yes I questioned if it was possible, but after stepping back and walking through the steps above I launched my book again on Amazon this time with a new cover and a new thirst for success! I received the gratification I had been looking for and received a few sales. It was these sales that gave me the little spark I needed to continue on.

I had accomplished becoming a self-published author, receiving a good review, plenty of compliments, and many new friends and supporters. In this moment you must take in all the good and try not to get a big head. Take your new found drive and put it into the next thing you are writing. That’s the secret. Keep writing.

1: Make a writing schedule and stick to it.

2: Create not only long stories but short ones.

3: Promote all your works as often as you can without spamming.

4: Last, but not least, it is okay if it’s free.

Making a story free isn’t a bad thing. You’re not losing money if you do it right. If you wrote a Trilogy and you give the first one away, depending if they loved it or not, you just created a potential buyer for the next two books! That’s one more person you didn’t have before who could tell a friend and give you more buyer. Making a short story free allows people to get a taste for what you write and a chance to review your other works.

In the end it all comes down to you, the writer. It is rare to strike it rich early on and many people won’t make enough of a profit in this field to no longer need a part time or full time job, but what you can take away from this is the fulfillment and enjoyment of bringing others into your world or to bring a smile to a child’s face.

And to those that do strike it rich, do not forget what it took to get you there nor the people that assisted you along the way.

My name is Brenda Franklin and I am a Writer by day and Vampire by night. J You can reach me on Twitter, Facebook, my Author page, or continue through my Blog. If you would love to read any of my works (including the FREE ones) you can find them on Smashwords. I also have Book One of The Pulse Trilogy, A Steady Pulse on Amazon.

Please feel free to leave a message and tell me what you think. :)