How to Get Your Book Published

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Laura from youngwritersworkshops.com and I'm going to talk about how to get your book published. So you've written a book. You have this great piece of work in progress and your ready to think about getting it published. My biggest piece of advice is research. The more you can look around and find out what publishers are publishing right now and how that intersects with what your writing, you'll be in a better position to find a publisher. Some of the ways to do the research is go to bookstores and look at titles that might be similar to yours or what you consider related. Use the writers market or look around on on line bookstores to find out who is publishing what. Actually look at different publishers sites and find out what their catalogs include. Belonging to writers groups like the writers union or other groups specific to your genre are all also helpful ways and more networking you can do with other writers in finding out who's publishing what and who's working with what types of writers is helpful information for you. When you've identified a publisher that you think is a good fit, study their guidelines carefully. The more you can present a package that is exactly in the format that they are asking for the stronger chance you have of reaching an agreement with this publisher. Often times this means writing a different kind of cover letter that they are asking for. Some publishers want you to also write a proposal that includes a marketing plan, a competitive analysis of what is already out there that is similar. So depending on what the publishers asking for make sure that you match that. Make sure you to put together a package that is fitting what they request. Some people recommend working with an agent. I think that is really a decision that you get to make. You get to decide if the trade off between giving some of what you earn to an agent is worth it as opposed to having to do this search on your own and creating a relationship with a publisher on your own. There is one other option to think about and that is self publishing. If you have written a book and you feel that there is a market out there for it that you'll be able to target directly with out the help of the publisher, self publishing is way to go. So that is something to research. lulu.com is a site where you can get all the numbers of what it will cost you to publish your book on your own. That can be another factor in your decision on about how to get your book published."