Write a Book: Old and New Ways to Get Published (Editorial)

Let’s start by defining the term “book” I’ll use in this article. By “publish a book” I’m talking about a paper book, as sold in bookstores, and published by a major publisher, or which you choose to self-publish.

Ebooks are different; we won’t be talking about them in this article. I’ve written ebooks too, and you can read about my ebook adventures on my ebook blog, and in my ebook writing guide.

So, in this article we’re talking about paper books. “Real” books, if you like. My experiences with paper books started in the early 1980s, when I wrote a series of romance novels for MacDonald-Futura. At the time, they were a well-known and respected British publishing house.

I stopped writing romances for a variety of reasons, essentially because I got bored. My writing career moved on, to copywriting, writing for magazines, and writing business books.

How to publish YOUR book in 2010 and beyond

If you’ve written a book, or are in the process of writing one, you have a choice to make: will you publish your book the old way, that is, go the traditional publishing route (get an agent), or will you publish your book yourself?

Let’s look at those two options.

Publish your book the old way: traditional publishing

Here’s how traditional publishing works for fiction.

You get an idea for a novel. You write the novel, while researching publishing houses which may be interested in your book. Chances are, you’ll need an agent. So you get an agent. The agent reads your book and tells you what revisions he wants. You make the revisions. The agent sells your book to a publishing house. The editor reads your book, and asks you for revisions. Your book is published.

This process can take several years.

If you’re writing nonfiction, the traditional publishing process is somewhat different. You get an idea. You write a book proposal (three chapters and an outline, as well as your marketing plan). You shop the book proposal around to publishers and agents. After six months or a year, happy days – you’ve got a publisher. You promote your book, while you continue writing it. You complete your book. You revise your book according to your editor’s instructions. Your book is published. You keep promoting the book.

Again, this process can take years. At least one year, or more likely, at least three years.

Traditional publishing is above all, a LONG, fraught process. Be prepared to write and wait, if you go this route.

However, the big benefit of going the traditional publishing route is this: you get lots of experience. You’ll work with professionals, who are good at their jobs. This experience, no matter how much or little money you make, is priceless.

And speaking of professionals, let’s talk about literary agents.

Literary agents: the good, the bad, and the indifferent

New authors spend too much time thinking and worrying about literary agents. Forget agents while you’re writing. A literary agent, no matter how brilliant, can’t sell a bad book. Your first, and only, task is to write the best book you can at this stage of your career.

Over the years, I’ve worked with three New York-based literary agents. Working with an agent just adds another layer of complexity to the publishing experience. An agent has many clients: you have one career. Your agent’s advice is just that; it’s advice. If it’s the wrong advice, it can kill your career.

In 2010, most major publishers won’t look at author submissions. Therefore you need an agent to submit to these publishers. However, do remember that you need to do your homework before you sign with a literary agent. Look at the agents’ client list, and his track record. Ask the agent where and how he’ll submit your book or book proposal, and where he sees your career in five years. If the agent’s goals for your career don’t match your own, look for another agent.

An agent takes 15 per cent of your writing income, but it’s your career, not the agent’s. Your agent’s job is to sell your output, not act as your confidante or best friend. Read Publisher’s Weekly, and educate yourself about the publishing business.

Publish your book the new way: POD publishing

For many years, everyone in the book publishing world looked down on self-published books, as “vanity” productions. Bookstores generally wouldn’t stock them: they weren’t considered real books.

Enter Amazon.com, and other Print on Demand (POD) publishers, and the self-publishing environment has changed.

Nowadays, no one looks down on self-published books. Traditional publishers are in big trouble – they can’t look down on anyone. Everyone in the book trade wants bigger margins, so they respect an author’s need to keep more of his money.

For any author, self-publishing is now a worthwhile option, and here’s why: you cut out many of the middlemen in publishing who all grab shares of your profits. If you go the traditional route, you’ll be lucky to keep five per cent of the list price for your book. If you self-publish, you can keep 60 to 70 per cent and more.

The fact that you get to keep more of your money is one reason to self-publish. The other reason is speed. A traditionally published book, from idea to print, can take anywhere from one year upwards. You can self-publish your book in a month or less.

There are many POD publishers, with Amazon.com’s Createspace being highly popular because there are few up-front costs.

Createspace is inexpensive, and amazingly simple to use. They’ll even assign an ISBN code to your book. You just write your book, convert it to a PDF file, create a cover (Createspace has simple online templates for this), check the proof copy and correct errors – and hey presto, you have a published book.

Your book will appear in Amazon.com’s listings, and copies are published as they sell.

Be aware that you’ll need to do some promotion for your book, just as if you went the traditional publishing route. However, if you’re not in the mood to promote, and want to focus on your next book, you can do that too – Createspace doesn’t care whether you promote or not.

By the way – I have no association with Createspace. They’re one of many POD publishers. I’ve heard great things about Booklocker, for example. To find more POD publishers, just do a Google search for “POD publisher”.

So there you have it: the old and new ways to write a book and get it published in 2010. Happy writing.

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