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by J. B. Matrix

Publishing, One Way or Another…

In this article I will touch on five ways you can get your work published. Doing it on your own is one way, it’s not the easiest way but it is possible. When contacting publishers; do your homework! Many publishers only publish certain types of books so it is important to send your work to the publisher that will publish your type of book. Getting hold of their catalogue to see who they published is a good step, if you can’t get a catalogue you could browse your local book store take note of publishers that have published books similar to yours. There are thousands of publishers – some of them are subsidiaries of a couple dozen of the bigger companies. Look up their addresses on the internet or a directory such as the Writer’s and Artists Yearbook that is published yearly.

Once you have found a publisher, write them telling them who you are, including any information you think is relevant – fillers and published letters won’t impress an editor. Publishers often invest in the author and not in their first work, a new author’s first work will sometimes not sell enough to cover costs, but the second, third or forth will hopefully see greater sales.

On a second piece of paper write a synopsis of your work in about two or three hundred words. Also include a couple of chapters of your book. Send it all off and then sit and wait, if you don’t hear anything in a month follow up with a letter. Publishers get thousands of submissions so be patient, they will get to it.

An Agent could make the difference of being published or not. A good agent is a business partner, someone to support you, give you editorial advice, and they should be someone that you like to be around. The agent’s job is to find a publisher for your book, read through the small print of the contracts to make sure you are getting the best deal, and to get your name out to the readers, and not forgotten. The best way of finding an agent is through other author’s personal recommendations. Internet and directory searches are also a good way of finding an agent. Be wary finding a good agent is about as hard as finding a publisher. When approaching an agent you would submit to them the same way as a publisher as I explained before. An agent can make things a lot easier as far as the amount of work you would have to do if you were doing it on your own.

Self-publishing is an option that has its advantages, in being self-published you are guaranteed to become a published novelist. You will have total editorial control, you will be liable within the laws of copyrighting, and you will have complete freedom to print whatever you like. And any and all profits are yours and of course the tax collectors. Getting your work printed can be accomplished at a relatively low cost; however you will have to print a few thousand copies to cover your costs. If you don’t want to pay for storage of your printed novel you will have to find buyers, this means marketing, persuading enough book shops to order copies of a your book may be difficult when you are unknown and your book is published by an unknown company.

Vanity publishing is a form of self-publishing, this is when an author goes to a publishing company with a reputable name and pays them to publish their work. When vanity publishing the publishing company that agrees to publish at the authors cost will not have any advise on the quality of the work, the authors skill, or whether the work will sell. There will be no attempt to market the book. This is not a cheap way to go and in most cases the book is badly printed and packaged.

EBook publishing is when your book is made into a downloadable version and sold on the internet. There are a couple to different ways to approach this type of publishing, when self-publishing you have to make the eBook, create a web site to sell the eBook. Market your web site so it will found out of the thousands that are out there. Another option is to find an eBook publisher online that is already established, usually at no cost to you and you will make royalties and keep all copyrights. You will get feedback and a fan base that will be longing to read your next master piece. You can even revamp the work from the feedback you received and submit it the traditional way. I think in this day and age with all the eBook readers’ ipods and palm pilots this is a great marketing tool to get your name out there and on peoples minds.

About the writer:

I am the owner and operator of Matrix Publishing House. I publish new authors books as eBooks and sell them on my web siet http://matrixpublishinghouse.com. I have written a few how-to-guides, that are going to be on the site by the end of April 2009. I have been in sales and marketing most of my life.