Ok, I've written a book. Next steps help....

[Chogg Van Helsing]

Yeah, so I've written a book, dark fantasy style (if anyone wants to read it, pm me - I'm always looking for C&C )

So anyone got any tips on what to do next? I assume publish, or attempt to, but how would I go about it?

Any advice appreciated

 

[Davatehi]

Well, I don't know much about publishing books. But I guess you can give it out to friends and ask them to read it. Also some people whom you don't know to get a wider perspective and be able to polish it up some.

Then there is always kickstarter.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Change the main character to a vampire, add a steamy relationship and market it to the young adult literary audience!

I went to a local bookshop and had to laugh at the "Young adult" section. There was all the Twilight books rowed up pride of place in the middle, like an inbred royal family. The Hunger Games books just below it, and then literally every other book in the section was vampire romance, and I don't mean Stephanie Meyer's definition of literally [http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/338500]. I checked them, and could see zero books that weren't steamy fantasy bollocks.

You could try self publishing it on Kindle, but I don't have the first clue about that. I remember reading a Cracked article by John Cheese about publishing his own book, but that probably isn't the best place to go for careers advice.

 

[Jinxzy]

I went to a local bookshop and had to laugh at the "Young adult" section. There was all the Twilight books rowed up pride of place in the middle, like an inbred royal family. The Hunger Games books just below it, and then literally every other book in the section was vampire romance, and I don't mean Stephanie Meyer's definition of literally [http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/338500]. I checked them, and could see zero books that weren't steamy fantasy bollocks.

It's all about what is popular to teens. Sure there are a few and fair between original books that strike someones else's interest.
These are aimed at young adults from 10-17 (even older), So if they love vampier diaries, hunger games, and twilight series. They are the main features, so they will have main displays in section and on the end caps.

OT: If you want to publish a book, I suggest you take a look at this: http://www.soyouwanna.com/soyouwanna-publish-book-1093.html
It goes over the steps on how to publish a book and what to do before hand. Also check with your bookstores and ask them if they know anything about publishing or how to go about publishing a book. Where I use to work we had little pamphlets for people that wanted to publish a book.
Also some book stores will have local authors come in and do book signings. It's a great chance to talk to them and get some insight on publishing.
Also just do some research on the web, there can be great sites that can help you find out how to publish as well.

 

[Chogg Van Helsing]

OT: If you want to publish a book, I suggest you take a look at this: http://www.soyouwanna.com/soyouwanna-publish-book-1093.html
It goes over the steps on how to publish a book and what to do before hand. Also check with your bookstores and ask them if they know anything about publishing or how to go about publishing a book. Where I use to work we had little pamphlets for people that wanted to publish a book.
Also some book stores will have local authors come in and do book signings. It's a great chance to talk to them and get some insight on publishing.
Also just do some research on the web, there can be great sites that can help you find out how to publish as well.

Thanks a lot man That should help a lot

 

[AMMO Kid]

How long is it? In my personal opinion, if you want to get your first book published it had better be at least a half decent length.

 

[Freechoice]

Post an excerpt so we can tell if you're wasting your time or not.

This isn't a troll. You're the worst judge of your own work. A famous person said that.

 

[Jadak]

If you're actually interested in pursing getting it published and hopefully making some money on it, I would suggest not randomly distributing copies to people who message you. The fact that you're here asking about this at all suggests you may not be prepared to manage the situation if your book happens to actually be really good and someone else tries to claim it for themselves.

 

[poodlenoodles]

if you decide to anyone online that you don't know, you should have some legal recourse in case they try to steal your book and publish it under their name

 

[Quaidis]

Find an agent to throw your book at publishers. If you cannot, or your attempts at pitching to publishers isn't working, look for an editor.

A few things to remember:

1. The first five pages of your book should be catchy, exciting, and something that will draw in the viewer. This is especially true for the first page, itself. Everything in these pages needs to be as good-looking at you can get it.

2. Publishers don't want to read your entire book in one go, they want to read those first 5 pages and a synopsis. (You can get away with sending in up to an entire first chapter with some publishers.) If you send them a manuscript consisting of 1200 pages, you will be passed by.

3. Editors are vital. You may think your book is the bees knees, but believe me it is not. There may be stuff you need to add, or entire sections of your book that you may need to remove. Your book also may be a grammatical or spelling nightmare. Sometimes a publisher will send someone to read over and edit your book for you if it manages to get through the door, and sometimes they'll throw an editor at you even if you've already been through one just in case.

4. Try multiple publishers. Unless you have an agent, you will likely be passed up multiple times over the course of a few years. So sit tight and be a persistent little *****.

5. If a publisher finds you, read the fine print of a contract very carefully. This is also why an agent is important. Reserve your rights - don't readily hand your ideas, characters, and story to a random publisher. And don't agree if you'll only make something like 5% of the profits or no profits until 2,000 books are sold. There are TONS of publishing scams out there.

6. Be warned that with some publishers, the artist who does the cover for your book may make more than you.


Try Barnes & Noble. They're taking on starter authors if you agree to sign a 3 book contract.




As for independent self-publishing. It's expensive, a pain, and you don't make nearly as much in my opinion. You'll spend tons of money and time desperately trying to get to as many conventions as you can to sell your book and get your name out there.

 

[poodlenoodles]

If you're actually interested in pursing getting it published and hopefully making some money of it, I would suggest not randomly distributing copies to people who message you. The fact that you're here asking about this at all suggests you may not be prepared to manage the situation if your book happens to actually be really good and someone else tries to claim it for themselves.

oh, didn't see you post this. it's like a better version of my advice

 

[Mike the Bard]

I've talked to published authors before and I've have two options for you: 1)self publish, or 2) mass send to every single publisher you can think of. One of the authors i've talked to self published through the kindle, where he was then discovered when someone referred a publisher to his work. It's a decent way for new authors like you to get their name out, but it's a total crap shoot.

mass sending to publisher is another route. How many you send to at once is all based on how much failure you can take at once. you will get rejected, a lot, but as Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb." So remember: you did not get rejected by 1,000 publisher, you found 1,000 publishers that aren't right for you.

as i said before, both self publishing and trying to find a publisher yourself are total crap shoots for writers just starting out. But i have faith in your book; Dark fantasy is quite popular now-a-days. You will have a easier time getting published than you would if you wrote a historical fiction novel. I probably don't have to say this, but just make sure you have your own spark in our writing and you will make it one day. may not be tomorrow, or next week, or this year, but if you keep trying you will.

I hope to see your book on the bookshelves one day! good luck!

 

[LHZA]

Yeah, so I've written a book, dark fantasy style (if anyone wants to read it, pm me - I'm always looking for C&C )

So anyone got any tips on what to do next? I assume publish, or attempt to, but how would I go about it?

Any advice appreciated

Congrats! That's quite the accomplishment. If you want to go about the old fashion way you can try getting an agent. Google search literary agencies and they will have a section for submission on their websites. Usually, they ask you to send the first four chapters of the novel along with a brief description of yourself. It will take about six to eight weeks for them to get back to you, but the upside to having an agent is a lot of publishers will not give you the time of day otherwise. Some will, so also look up publishing houses and see their criteria for submissions. They will put your novel in what's called a slush pile, were in all liklihood it will never get read, although Nicholas Sparks did get noticed this way, but how much do you really want to be like Nicholas Sparks? I don't know much about self publishing or internet publishing, but look up Fifty Shades of Grey because that started out online and is now a best seller (though from what I gather it's some kind of porn novel that started out as Twillight fanfiction, but maybe it's model can be repeated with other genres)

 

[Chogg Van Helsing]

Thanks for the advice guys

I'll start another thread a post a snippet of my book, see what people think

I think I'll look for an agent, just via google search and such


Cheers agian

 

[Blondefool]

Do what Wil Wheaton does. Sell your book in an online format, allowing people to pay what they want. You may make some money or you may not but it will get you out there.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Yeah, so I've written a book, dark fantasy style (if anyone wants to read it, pm me - I'm always looking for C&C )

So anyone got any tips on what to do next? I assume publish, or attempt to, but how would I go about it?

Any advice appreciated

If you want to get published by a decent publisher you need an agent. Get a list of agents and send your book to every single one that might be almost tangentally related to your book.

Then once you've been rejected by all of them, do it again and again until you get an agent.

Or you could try KDP, and you might get lucky, but it's real hit and miss most of the time. Some people become millionaires, most people sell perhaps three copies, but then that's how it will be with most authors.

Best advice I can give? Don't expect to get much, or even any, money out of this, and don't expect to get well known. The odds are not in your favour.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I assume publish, or attempt to, but how would I go about it?

The Amazon Kindle ebook store is a good option. Much less investment of your time (and money) than sending printed manuscripts to dozens of agents. And you're much more likely to get agents and publishers interested in future novels if you already have an ebook that's selling well.

 

[Ironside]

I would imagine publishing it as an ebook would be a lot cheaper and easier than doing it as a paper version. Does it even cost money (other than the cut amazon would get from sales i assume) to put an ebook in the kindle store?

 

[SirDeadly]

The key lies in your first paragraph. It pretty much has to be amazing for publishers to read further. I have always wanted to write a novel, one of my plans was to record me reading the opening chapter and putting it on Youtube as a way of getting some advertisement. It may work, it may not. Getting books published is very tricky and takes a lot of time. Good luck!

 

[Something Amyss]

Thanks for the advice guys

I'll start another thread a post a snippet of my book, see what people think

I think I'll look for an agent, just via google search and such


Cheers agian

Try AgentQuery.

Don't just randomly look for agents online, because a lot are crap.

Have you done a second or possibly third pass on your book?