So You Want to Write A Novel
Tips on Publishing A Novel
- Knowing When You Are Ready to Start Writing
- How Should You Start Writing
- Keeping Motivated
- Publishing Your Novel
- Promoting Your Novel
- Just Show Up
Publishing Your Novel
So you’ve finished your novel, edited it, made sure that it’s as good as you can make it and you’re not ready for the next step. What is it? There are two main paths for a writer: get traditionally published or self-publish.
Traditional Publishing
If you want to be traditionally “published” then you’ll need to find an agent, since they hold the keys to major publishers. Unless you are already a successful author, approaching a publisher directly has a very, very low success rate.
Finding an agent is not an easy process. You must make sure they are reputable (reputable agents never charge fees to read your manuscript), they must like your work and agree to represent it, and once they agree they must aggressively pitch your writing. The reality is that unsolicited manuscripts (novels sent without any kind of referral) have very slim chances of garnering representation. But it does happen.
Once an agent agrees to represent you, they’ll shop your book around to publishers they think might be interested. And if your book is good enough, and you catch a publisher at the right time, you might have yourself a book contract.
Will your book catch on with the public? Will it sell? That depends on how much you do to promote it, how much the publisher supports it, whether the topic is relevant and interesting, and other factors. But regardless, you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing your book in Barnes & Nobles.
Self Publishing
You might decide to forego the difficult process of getting an agent or a publisher and decide to publish the book yourself. Self-publishing has many flavors, from contracting and paying a printer to produce a run of your books, to going to a print-on-demand (POD) publisher and having them print the books as the orders come in. The chart below shows some of the key advantages and disadvantages of true self-publishing versus POD publishing.
| Traditional Self-Publishing | Print-on-demand Publishing | |
| Cost per book | The cost per book is low and can come in under $10.00 for paperback. | The cost per book is usually above $10 and in the $12-14 for paperback. |
| Risk | High. The writer must pay the upfront costs of the book being printed which can be upwards of $1,000 depending on the print-run. | Low. The writer only pays when the book is ordered and printed. Some POD companies don’t charge the writer a set-up fee and take their cost out when a book is ordered. |
| Quality | Generally good. Writer can customize the process. | Average. The quality varies according to the POD company used. |
| Best for | Writers who really want to sell their books to non-family members. Quality is high and the price is low for consumers. | Writers who want a few copies to give to their business acquaintances, friends, and family. If selling a lot of copies isn’t in your plan, this may be your best bet. |
Self-published writers have to do all of their own marketing and promotion. Of course nowadays, even a traditionally published writer is responsible for most of their own marketing.
One of the biggest advantages of self-publishing is economic. By self-publishing, all of the sales revenue goes to you because you have cut out the publisher and the agent. As a result, you’ll need to sell far fewer books to make a personal profit.
For more information about self-publishing, please see the article DIY Publishing by Diane Laurence.
If you are marketing savvy, good with numbers, and enjoy promoting yourself then self-publishing is something to consider. And if you achieve success through self-publishing and want to go a more traditional route, you’ll have a track record of sales success to provide you more leverage in your negotiation with agents and publishers.
Do you agree or disagree? Do you have something to add or to ask? Join the conversation in the Novel Writing Thread of TheNextBigWriter.com Forum.
