Publishing Advice

I’m sometimes contacted by people who have written a book and want advice on getting it published. So I’ve put together some of my thoughts on the subject.

I think there are three basic steps to getting a book ready to go out into the world:

1. WRITING – If you’re looking for advice about publishing, you’ve already finished writing your first (or fifth or sixth) draft. So a great big congratulations on that accomplishment.

2. EDITING – Next comes the editing. It’s always good to do several edits yourself before sending it to a professional editor. Read through it to make sure your ideas are clear and flow in a logical way. And, of course, use the best grammar and punctuation you can. The better job you do, the less you will pay for an editor.

To find an editor, you might look online for a professional editor organization that can direct you to someone who has an interest and experience in your genre. Or you can ask other authors for recommendations. I go through https://www.sfep.org.uk/directory/ in the UK – I’m sure there is something similar in the US. You could also look at https://reedsy.com.

3. PUBLISHING – For publishing, you have several choices:

• Self-Publishing: I self-publish with Kindle which is part of Amazon and it’s fairly easy these days. You can look on https://kdp.amazon.com/
• Traditional Publishing: To find a traditional publisher interested in publishing your book, you should read their submission guidelines to see what type of material they are interested in taking. Getting a traditional publishing contract is usually a long process, with most people having to contact many publishers before finding one to take their work.
• Between Self-publishing and Traditional Publishing: There are also myriads of other companies that help with various pieces of the publishing puzzle. Some will help you write your book, others just do the publishing. You can also find some that will just do the self-publishing steps with Kindle for you. Just be sure to read the contract well so you’ll know exactly what to expect. These can sometimes be quite expensive.

Print On Demand: Unless you are going with a traditional publisher, I would advise to go with print on demand. That just means that when someone orders a book (on Amazon for example) they just print the book then and there. Books are printed one at a time as needed and you don’t have to print and stock a big pile of books in the corner of your bedroom.

To find the editing and publishing options that suit your needs, you will have to do some research. I’m sorry. No one likes this part of it, but I don’t know of any way around it. You’ve written the best book you can, so you want to be sure to have it edited and published properly. Your finished product will make all your hard work worth it.

Wishing you all the best on your writing journey,

Margo