How to Publish Your First Book

There comes a point in any writer's life when theyyour book. Do a web search for "print on demand
begin to wonder about publishing. Maybe they havebooks" or "self publishing". Select a number of
been writing articles or a blog or even ghostwritingprint-on-demand printers such as Format your book
books. But the idea of having their name in print andand create a cover. Submit and print one copy.
the fame and money of that begins to take hold.Choose the best quality for the price. A little more
And it won't go away.expensive than digital publishing but still easy to do.
And so the question becomes, "How to publish yourMarketing is a bigger issue.
first book?"3. You can self-publish it physically, using a vanity
In this article I'm going to discuss some of the wayspress. Vanity presses used to be used to make small
you can publish your fist book.runs usually for poets and other very limited selling
But first, let me clarify a few points... if only forauthors. They provide a full service printing. All you
honesty's sake. Getting your name in print can be ahave to do is the marketing. Print-on-demand printers
big ego boost. It can help your career. It might leadhave lately expanded their services to compete very
you to a new career. But the truth is money andclosely. The main difference is that a vanity press
fame are very elusive. Most writers in North Americaexpects you to order a number of books (usually 100
either work full time or they starve. And I don'tas a minimum). A print-on-demand printer is equipped
mean work full time as authors. They work asto print much lower numbers of copies -- i.e. one at a
technical writers, as journalists, or as copywriters. Buttime.
living on advances and residuals is not practical for4. You can self-publish it physically, through your
most authors.company. Many textbooks for the university market
However, if you are looking at it as part of a expertare published this way. If you work for a university
marketing drive (i.e. making yourself THE expert inor consulting company, the company may have a
your field) then they make a great deal of sense.publishing arm specifically for their own needs.
Now that I've been honest with you, you can stop5. You can publish it in the traditional way. In other
muttering "yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before."words you can use a traditional publishing company.
And we can get on with the article and you can getOr more correctly you can sell to a traditional
your first book published.company and let them publish your book.
But how do you get started?If you are writing fiction, this means that you have
The answer is with a decision. No, not to getto write a book, write a query letter, and find an
published. We're past that part. I mean, you need toagent. If the agent likes what you have written they
decide how you are going to publish your book.will find you a publisher. Maybe.
There are many different ways to publish a book:If you are writing non-fiction, this means you have to
1. You can publish your book digitally. The digital orwrite two chapters, a query letter and a book
eBook is inexpensive and easy to publish. Basicallyproposal. And then find an agent. If the agent likes
write your book, create a website, and look forthe query and two chapters, they will then shop your
alternative places to sell it. Bam... you've publishedproposal around and find you a publisher. The
your first book.publisher will review your proposal and perhaps make
2. You can self-publish it physically. Certainly this is ansuggestions. You will then need to write the book
option, especially for very limited release books. Writeaccording to the revised proposal.