How to Acquire a Book Publisher

Acquiring a book publisher is an extremely difficult and at times impossible task. Generally speaking, book publishing is not the most lucrative of endeavors, hence publishers need to be completely convinced your product will sell. When the time is right, here are a few suggestions on how to begin the task.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A manuscript
• A phone
• The Internet

How to Begin Acquiring a Book Publisher

1. The first step is to decide that the time is truly right. If you are not ready for a publisher, then you are wasting your time. That time could be spent becoming a better writer instead. Have you published before? Have you sold a significant amount of copies? Publishers seldom if ever take risks on unknown authors.

2. Try to find a literary agent or agency that would best represent you. There are many scams out there. Only go with a person or company that you can find legitimate testimonials from. If they charge you fees, they're probably not worth your time.

3. Once you have a reasonable list of agents or agencies you think would be proper and effective representation, send them your information. This includes copies of your book or manuscript, your biography and accomplishments, and the amount of books you've sold.

4. Ideally, this will begin your relationship with your agent. Together you will work to find the best publisher for your writing. Usually, if you have a strong agent, this will become a reality. However, it will most likely take a long time.

Tips & Warnings

• Be patient! Good things will happen if you keep working at it.
• Don't get discouraged.
• There are other ways to acquire a publisher. You could represent yourself and send press to them. However, getting an agent is more likely to yield better results. Like everything in life, there are exceptions.