McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
What’s the best way to get your book published?
RodimusGT:
Okay so I’ve been of the mind that the best thing for a new author to do is seek out a literary agent, and have him send your book to a publisher, and have them release the book assuming they like what they read. But now you hear about all the options to self publishers, such as eBook conversion and consignment.
I know nothing on publishers/ing, and it’s something I’m not going to stress too much over until my work is complete. But I wanted to ask you all what’s your take on the publishing scene. In this day and age would a majority of you still recommend to new authors going to an agent and to a publisher? Or if done right is certain aspects of self publishing becoming more profitable?
Thanks for the advice in advance
Starbeam:
My opinion is that the best way is whichever works best for you.
That being said, each has it's pros and cons. Traditional publishing is harder to do because you have to get someone interested enough in your book that they want to sell/buy it. Sometimes two people- one to sell(agent) and one to buy(editor)-and that can be difficult because they have to go with what they love plus what they think will sell. And once you have both agent and editor on board, then it has to go to I think marketing, or something like that, that has to decide if it'll be something they can sell. Sometimes an editor can absolutely love a book, but if it's too different, I think especially with the big 6, then it's going to be difficult to get past those people. But then there are always the smaller publishers that might be more willing to take a chance. The plus is that you have people who love your book and will want to see it do well. Downside--it can take up to a year before a book is published. Possibly longer.
Selfpublishing can be done a whole lot quicker. And you'll get a higher percentage. This can work for some people. You have to do a lot on your own, though. At least, you do if you want to put out a high quality piece of work. You'll have to find someone to edit and help with revisions, someone to copyedit and proofread. Then you have to decide what kinda price point you want. Yeah, you could put out a piece of work for $.99 and sell a lot, but you can't guarantee that those people are even going to read it. Plus, at Amazon, you do get 70%, but at $.99, that's not a lot. And if you've really put a lot of work into something, would you want to sell for that little?
Marketing you have to do a lot of for yourself, no matter which way you go. Unless you're a big name author like Stephen King or Dan Brown, where you know you'll be getting the help, publishers don't really have that much money for publicizing new authors.
Myself-I'm gonna look for an agent.
And my train has been derailed by oohhh...shiny.
RodimusGT:
Thanks for the input Starbeam. I'm not sure which route I'll take but I'm leaning more towards an agent myself. We will see what happens but like I said I'm not finished yet. so I won't make any definitive decisions until then.
Here's an interesting question though, to me anyway. Wouldn't it technically be possible to send your manuscript out to an agent, and if you hear nothing back and have no luck on that route, then go ahead an self publish?
Starbeam:
It's definitely possible. But again, you would have to get people to help polish the manuscript before putting it out. Some/lots of people don't do that-they just go straight to putting it out. From most everything I've seen agents say, there's usually a reason something gets rejected. Sounds like the best way to tell is the type of rejection you get-form vs personalized.
trboturtle:
I hesitate to post this, as it could open up a can of worms that could get out of hand....
http://kriswrites.com/ -- Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a best-selling author who also writes a blog about the publishing business from an author's POV. Her last few blog posts on her "The Business Rusch" are a real eye-opener on the current state of the publishing business.
Craig
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