Tell me how to publish a book.

[NeAvO]

For the last year and a half I have had a book idea in my head, writing it practically everyday in my head, I have the characters, plot line, scenes, style of writing, themes all planned out. I have plenty of free time coming up and plan to write the book during then, a few hours each day ect. Depending on how well I write the book at the end and if I feel it's any good, I may plan on publishing it So depending all of this does plan out and fit together, how can I go about getting it published?

[Siиdяed]

Contact a publisher and send them your manuscript when it's done, I imagine. Publishing your own work results in little publicity and little profit. ...apparently. If you are going through with this, please keep us updated. It's definetly something I'd be interested in doing...at some point.

[Replicon]

I've asked this question somewhere at some point, but don't remember the details of the answer. Some stuff I do remember: 1) If you want to just self-publish it, you will have to pay a good chunk of money, so it's best to find a publisher that's willing to help you out 2) Your profit margin will probably be very low, as stated above. Be sure you do this for the experience, etc. 3) Bookstores are whores about how they do business. Even if they decide to go with your book (good reviews, or for whatever reason), they'll order a HUGE amount of books to be printed, so they can get customer attention with a wall of books, but they only pay when they make money selling them (that is, if your book doesn't sell, they just send them back eventually and you get the printing bill, IIRC). Still, I'm sure there are ways to protect yourself :-) Try to find a print-on-demand publisher or something like that. I'm sure there are some smaller publishing houses that help you out a lot more and protect you from all the bad stuff. don't let any of this stop you from taking what's in your head and dumping it into a book

[pj]

There is a great, effective online system that prints to order. I don't remember the name of it, but I've bought a couple books through it. Submitting manuscripts is the way to go. I recall an interview with a writer/director recently, where he says he was taught to take his manuscript and draw a 10x10 grid on the back of it. Then, each time the manuscript is rejected, you check off one of those grid blocks. When the grid is full, he says, you will sell your manuscript.

[Evening Moon]

You could send, or email it to a literary agent. they are easy to find through the internet, for example ask.com will give you a bunch of websites and adresses.

[NeAvO]

Bah, I'm not concerned about the money...well maybe a little but I think it'd be pretty neat to write a novel. Have the ol' ***** name on a book would be so lairy.

[Adrenaline Junkie]

I don't know if its been mentioned, but i know a lot of people who have written books and had it published on www.lulu.com The great thing about the site is that there are no publishing fees, you can sell it as an ebook, paperback or hardcover i believe, i think the way they do it is that they take a percentage of the payment should someone buy it. Typically the ebook is much cheaper than a physical book. But its a great site and is probably perfect for a starting off place. www.lulu.com

[Oneiro]

Neavo.. If you want the UK lowdown on self-publishing, you need this book: "How to publish yourself" by Peter Finch.. ISBN 0749003014. You will find this book invaluable. It will take you through the whole process from beginning to end. If you do decide to self-publish, prepare for a lot of hard work, and I do mean a LOT. You will need Quark software and access to a Mac to prepare Postscript files for printing. Printers will either want a rolling Quark file, or Postscript files... and the software isn't cheap, but you may be able to find cheap/free copies on the net, or via computer mags.. Catch my drift? You'll also need quite a bit of money, roughly £1100-£1200 for a print run of 250 copies. The more copies you order, the cheaper becomes the piece price btw. Writing the book and publishing it is the relatively easy part.. selling it is another matter. Even if you find a publisher to do all the work for you, be advised that the average annual sales of a first-time paperback in the UK is just 250 copies. For every J.K. Rowling there are hundreds of thousands of Joe Bloggs's. Another invaluable book is: "The Writers and Artists Yearbook- 2008" ISBN 0713683716 In this second book, you will find a list of UK Publishers that you can approach, and lots of tips about marketing yourself. Also, tips about approaching literary agents. A tip from me.. take your time to peruse all of your options, but save self-publishing for last. It's a lot of hard work for little if no reward.. and whatever you decide to do, have NOTHING whatsoever to do with so-called "Vanity" publishing and Vanity Publishers. If you don't know what they are, Google it. Do your research well.. and good luck with it.

[Oneiro]

Something I forgot: Wherever you live in the UK you will have a local Libraries Selection Committee, whose job it is to choose new books for stocking in their libraries. They are committed to supporting new local authors. If you submit your manuscript to them, (prior to publishing) they may accept it, and order a number of copies. Depending on which area or county that you live in, this order could be up to 150 copies at full purchase price, which would make you a small profit on a print run of 250. Of course, you won't get their money up front. They won't pay you until delivery, but it's always worth approaching them. All the best.

[Kushna Mufeed]

Oh, my mother is writing a book, and my parents plan to self-publish it. They've been meeting with printers and everything. The book is about Muslim women in the work place. Thing is, my dad has a wholesale business selling Islamic books and whatnot, so it shouldn't be too hard to make some money this way. So, unless you have some means of getting your book to the masses, self-publishing is a pretty risky way to go.