How To Publish a Book: My Ultimate Guide From 40+ Years of Experience

So you’ve finished writing your book—perhaps a lifelong dream—and now you want to get it published.

Where do you go from here?

You poured your heart and soul into the writing, and I hope you also spent countless hours editing and revising.

Any seasoned expert will tell you: All writing is rewriting.

Certainly the writing alone took months, maybe years. But you did something few people ever do: You finished writing your book.

Now what?

Maybe you’ve done your homework on the do’s and don’ts of publishing, but you’ve found so much conflicting advice that you’re overwhelmed.

How do you decide your next step?

In simple terms, you have two options:

1—Traditional publishing

or

2—Self-publishing

Which is best for you?

As one who has written and had published nearly 200 books since the 1970s, let me try to help you decide.

I’ll start with definitions so you know what you’re actually choosing.

Traditional publishing

Traditional publishers take all the risks.

They pay for everything from editing, proofreading, typesetting, printing, binding, cover art and design, promotion, advertising, warehousing, shipping, billing, and paying author royalties.

If a “publisher” requires any money from you—even a minimum number of copies purchased—they are not a traditional publisher.

They might refer to themself as a co-op or a hybrid publisher, and they might even insist that they accept some manuscripts and reject others, but they are not traditional publishers.

Self-publishing

Regardless what services or suppliers you use to have your book printed, this option is rightly referred to as self-publishing.

Why? Because everything is on you. You are the publisher, the financier, the decision-maker.

Everything listed above under Traditional publishing falls to you. You decide who does it, you approve or reject it, and you pay for it.

The term self-publishing is a bit of a misnomer, however, because what you’re paying for is not publishing, but printing.

So, the question becomes, why pay to be printed if you could be paid to be published?

Let’s Get Real

Some say writers can make a lot more money by self-publishing. They argue that rather than settling for just a 15% or so royalty of the sales by a traditional publisher, they enjoy all the profits.

The problem with this logic is that it too often underestimates what it costs to self-publish.

The likelihood is that the “profit” per sold book, often at best, equals about the same as a traditional royalty.

The drawback then is that as a self-publisher, you have vastly less experience promoting, advertising, marketing, selling, delivering, and billing than traditional publishers do.

Besides the fact that this is a full-time job that will likely rule out your having the time to write another book, with rare exceptions, traditional publishers sell many more copies than self-publishers do.

That said, self-publishing may be your choice under certain circumstances. Such as:

You’ve exhausted your efforts to land a traditional deal. That doesn’t always indicate that your writing is inferior. It could merely mean that your audience is limited, making your book a less viable business proposition for the publisher.


Your book is of interest to hundreds of people, as opposed to thousands. I self-published a couple of volumes of my father’s poetry, because it was of interest to several hundred friends and relatives but not to a mass market audience of thousands required by a traditional publisher.


You’re a college professor or in some similar occupation where you must “publish or perish,” but your area of expertise is so esoteric that your books would not likely be commercial successes on a mass scale.

In truth, there are many reasons you might opt to self-publish, so the issue becomes whom you can trust as a supplier for all the services you’ll be paying for.

That’s where you need to do your homework. Talk to others who have self-published to see whether they felt ripped off, over-promised, over-charged, etc.

Many vanity or subsidy or hybrid self-publishing suppliers have beautiful websites, rave reviews, and examples of beautifully produced books that will make your mouth water.

They’ll use terms like, “If we accept your manuscript…” when the truth is, many such firms would print anything you sent them as long as your check was attached.

They’ll offer all the services I listed above, but if you decide not to take advantage of those, you’ll pay less but also wind up with an inferior final product.

That’s why too many self-published books look self-published:

Amateur art on the cover.


No editing or proofreading.


Little thought to interior design or even typeface (many use sans serif type, while traditionally published books mostly use serif type).


Many use the word “by” before the author’s name on the cover, which you rarely see with traditionally published books.


Some self-published books don’t even spell Foreword correctly, but rather spell it Forward or Forword or even Foreward. And many use the British spelling of Acknowledgments, adding another E for Acknowledgements.

But those are the least of the potential issues.

With careful planning, studying, and comparing, you should be able to self-publish for much less than the $10,000 or more that many of these companies charge for their “premium” packages.

Are the Odds Against

Traditional Publishing too Great?

Few traditional publishers accept unsolicited manuscripts, but that doesn’t mean they don’t consider new writers and their work.

They accept submissions from agents or from writers recommended to them by one of their current authors.

I’ve been coaching writers for decades, so I’m well aware of the confusion, the desperation, and the frustration you may be feeling.

Which is why I wrote this roadmap to the publishing process.

By the end, I want you confident and clear about which route to choose—and you’ll know the steps to take.

Deciding

We’re in the busiest and noisiest era in publishing history. It has never been easier to get printed, and never harder to be traditionally published.

But don’t let that discourage you.

Getting a literary agent or a publisher to take a chance on you or your manuscript does not happen by accident. It requires time, focus, and excellence.

Begin by considering:

What genre or category is your book? The genre you choose determines your target audience, your potential agent, and even which publishers to pursue.


Who is your target reader and why will your book sell? And resist the temptation to say it’s for everybody. Naturally, we put that much effort into writing something and we wonder who wouldn’t want to read it? Truth is, that kind of thinking waves a red flag of amateurism to agents and publishers. Successful, even mega-bestselling, books don’t appeal to everyone. They are written to specific audiences, and if they cross over to other markets (as, for instance, the Harry Potter Young Adult titles—which have become vastly popular to adults as well), that’s a bonus.


Do you have a platform? If that’s a new term to you, it simply means the extent of your influence—how many people are interested in what you do. This is one of the first questions an agent or publisher asks. With the variety of social media and blogging vehicles available today, building a following and interacting with potential readers has never been easier.

How to Pitch to Traditional Publishers

If you’re a nonfiction writer you’ll want to submit a book proposal that includes a brief, one- or two-sentence synopsis (summary) of each chapter, plus three sample chapters.

A first time fiction writer is expected to submit a complete manuscript for consideration.

The Pros of Traditional Publishing

No out-of-pocket expenses if your manuscript is accepted.


Greater exposure.


Advance royalties. Most publishers offer an advance payment against royalties (which are yours to keep, regardless of sales), though amounts widely vary.


A team of professionals undertakes the editing, proofreading, and designing of your book.


Another team spearheads the marketing and promotion.

The Cons of Traditional Publishing

I won’t sugarcoat it—landing a book deal is rare. Thousands of wannabe writers flood agents and publishers with proposals every day.


It can be a slow process—from nine months to two or more years from signing a deal to actually releasing the book.


You may have creative input but little control over the process. Traditional publishers take all the financial risks, so they reserve the right to final decisions on everything from the cover and interior design to the title, pricing, and promotion. While many of these things are negotiable, your only recourse in a stalemate is to withdraw the book. They want to keep you happy, of course, but they get the final say. On everything.


Too many writers overestimate the potential income. While you read about seven-figure deals and multi-million dollar bestsellers, these are as rare as lottery winners. The vast majority of books don’t make up the royalty advance and thus never pay more.

The Process of Getting Traditionally Published
1. Edit Like Your Writing Life Depends On It, Because It Does

The most important step as you begin is to become a ferocious self-editor. Even if you choose to self-publish, the quality of your writing is determined by this.

Acquisition editors (first readers at publishing houses who decide whether your manuscript is worth showing to their bosses) and literary agents tell me they know within two minutes or as few as two pages whether your manuscript is worth pursuing.

That may not sound fair, but it’s the hard truth. If you wished they would have stuck with it till you got to the good part, next time start with the good part.