You can go a long way if you have written a book – be it for children, teenagers, or business executives. Publishing can make you rich and keep you rich if your book has what it takes to grab the interest of the masses. Out of 24 million creative writers in the US only 5% have really published. Statistics say that there are up to 5 million manuscripts waiting for a publisher at a time.

 

Step One: Decide on the type of publishing for your book

Make a choice between commercial/traditional publishing and self publishing. Both have their own set of advantages. If you that have instinctive feeling that your book will sell thousands or millions of copies, then try hard to get it published through a commercial publisher. Take the self publishing route, if your book gets rejected by major publishers or you do not want to get into the hassle of pitching to the publishers and waiting too long for their reviews.

 

Step Two: Preparing a book proposal

Before you go to any publisher you must have a powerful proposal with you to convince the publishers about the qualities of your book. You will need to write a summary of your book and its audience profiles. Different publishing houses have different requirements, visit their websites and download submission guidelines and write accordingly. For self publishing however, you do not have to do any of this; just log on to the website of or visit any self publisher and get started immediately – your book will be printed if somebody buys it on the web.

 

Step Three: Finding a literary agent

Most big publishing houses only consider material that comes through reputed agents. So if you want to get your book published by a good publisher, find a good agent. You will find many by searching on the web. The agents will help you enhance your proposal, edit your manuscript, market your book to several publishers, and negotiate the contract with the final publisher.

 

Step Four: Submitting to the publishers

In traditional publishing, your publisher evaluates the commercial viability of your book and then decides whether to publish it or not. Rejection from one publisher does not mean that your book is not good. Many times, one publisher rejects, while the other accepts it and the book sells millions of copies. Your agent will guide you in this process. This may take a long time, so you have to be patient.

 

Step Five: Finalizing contract

The advantage of getting your book published through a good publisher is that they have a well-defined marketing channel in place and they take care of managing copyrights too. If your book is selected for printing, then you need to finalize all the legal terms of the contract and the royalty that you will get for each book sold in the market. You might need professional legal advice here.

All the best!