Ask Me Help Desk - How do you publish

How do you publish

Okay soooooo

I've been writing a book for some time now. It's going on the 5th month. Now, I have one chapter left to write before I finish it. Not including the time I'll need to go back and revise. I've looked up a bunch of information myself, but I was wondering if anyone on here has published their own book, or at least knows the best way to go about it.

I'm almost ready to sent it out, but I'm not sure where would be the best place to, what I should say, or just basically how to do it. So I'm asking: What's the best way to get your book published?

We do have a published writer on this site, and that would be Wondergirl. I will let her know about your post.

Hi there! Congratulations on writing a book. That is fantastic!

When you say, "Publish your own book", it makes me think of sites such as Self Publishing - Lulu.com and Make your own book with Blurb

These are companies that print your book in whatever style you choose, perfect bound, hardback, etc. Text and photos, color or black and white. With Blub.com you download their program to begin, makes it easier to do certain functions. With lulu.com, you basically copy and paste your document (book) and having chosen the format, they print from there. They don't edit or change anything. If you want for example, a blank page before the Title page, you must already have a blank page inserted in your document. You will hear from some that this is not a good way to go. I suggest these mainly as a way of getting one book completed, so you can view it, see if you want changes in it. Some publishers say this way of publishing is one of vanity. I see it as a stepping stone if you have never published before, to seeing your work in print, giving you ideas for improvements. You can always send your manuscript or CD to publishers of your choosing later as a more professional way of being published. I just did one book for a friend. She is extremely pleased and has approached some local businesses about possibly carrying her series when completed. "Just getting her feet wet so to speak" in the business. I understand you are writing a book but am wondering if you have ever published short stories or articles before? If you have stories of inspiration, you can contact Guidepost. They have a certain format in which they require your article or story to be submitted. I have some more information but need to get sleep now. I know Wondergirl and others will help you greatly. Just thought I would make a few suggestions. I will follow up with more details in the next couple of days.

My daughter-in-law has used Make your own book with Blurb with great success with hard back books. The only draw back in doing a book in this manner is the marketing. Of course, they say they will market it for you but I would hold off doing that. I would feel better having more hands on in the decision making in that department but just as a way of viwing your book in print, these two sites are pretty good. I am published but writing is not my strong suite. More later!

I do apologize, jrebel7! I had forgotten that you have also had experience with getting written works published.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clough

I do apologize, jrebel7! I had forgotten that you have also had experience with getting written works published.

Oh my goodness, no problem at all. I am not in the same league as other writer's, just saw the post and thought it might be interesting for the writer to view the two sites. Might just give good ideas. We are all here for the same reason, to encourage one another. :p

Hae publishing is hard
I just think f all my litetuary devices(sorry no that good at spelling still in school)
Um just when writing a sentence you should make about 5 changes.EACH sentence. I thought it was crazy as well
But good luck
Keep writing]

If you just want to see your writing in print, having a vanity press or printer "publish" it is the way to go. If you want to sell it, the responsibility falls on you to market it and try to find buyers.

You didn't mention what kind of a book it is--fiction? Non-fiction? Children's? The ideal would be to find a publisher that will not only put it into book form but also proofread it, edit it, ask you to make corrections and work with you on how to do that without changing the story, and then market it for you.

Please give a little more information about your book so I can make intelligent suggestions about what you should do next. For instance, what manner of work is it, has it been proofread by anyone, is it ready for an editor to read, etc.

Before sending it to a publisher, you should proofread it, then have a few friends (preferably those who are good at grammar, etc.) proofread it.

If you're willing to spend a little bit of money, I'd also definitely recommend having a professional editor take a swipe at it before submission as well.

Firstly, thanks for giving me advice on this everyone!

My book is fiction and in 3rd person.

I'm not great at writing summaries,but here it goes: Forces outside of the human world are working to let the apocalypse be upon us. The only hope for saving the human race rests in an ability of a man named Vincent Grey. The only problem is, he has no idea that he has such an ability. Along with a group of misfit heroes, they must discover, and use their talents to save the world before its too late. However; time will wait for no one, and the prices they will pay to get back what is lost will cost the entire planet.

I'm up to 213 pages, not double spaced, and I still have my final chapter to write. I'm going to re-read it myself, as well as give it to a few of my friends who are really good with grammar. I was also thinking of asking my high school English teacher to take a look at it. But I'm guessing I should probably look for a professional for that as well.

The self publishing idea Jrebel7 gave sounds like it's a pretty good idea, but yes I was wondering about the selling part of it. I live in a small town surrounded by two more small towns so that might be kind of rough. I'd still give it a shot though. I want people to buy it, but I more just want to be able to say that I did write a book, and then hopefully keep doing it to the point where maybe someday I can do it as a profession.

So to answer Wondergirl , I gave my bad summary, It's almost finished, and I will have myself and a few close people edit it first before I send it anywhere

If you publish it online or through a vanity press, legitimate (paying) publishers consider that being published and may not even read the first paragraph. If you would like to make money off this manuscript, find out which publishers concentrate on your fiction genre and approach them. If you just want to see your work "in print," the sky's the limit on how you can make that happen.

Distance from a publisher is no longer a problem. Email and other kinds of electronic communication have solved that one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clough

We do have a published writer on this site, and that would be Wondergirl. I will let her know about your post.

I have published essays and poems but not a book,yet. (I'm eleven years old.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by carebear0550

I have published essays and poems but not a book,yet. (I'm eleven years old.)

Where were those published? Were you paid?