How Difficult Is It To Have a Book Published?

[romantico]

I was curious if anyone here knows how easy (or difficult) it is to write a book. Years ago I wrote a story over a period of a few weeks in my spare time. The inspiration came from many posts here on DU. Without giving too much away, it deals with Right Wing Christians, Family Values, and Hypocrisy. So, around the beginning of December I was cleaning and came across this story I had written. I had wondered what happened to it and thought it got thrown out years ago. I re-read it and was surprised at how timely it is. I was also happy with how I wrote it. I told a friend of mine about and he wanted to read it. So,a few weeks before Christmas I loaned it to him. He called a couple days later and asked if I would mind if his girlfriend read it. I know and trust them so I said sure, why not. She emailed me and told me she loved it and wants to talk to me next we get together. She asked me if I would mind if her sister read it. I said sure. Now, I know all three of them very well and trust them. My friend and especially his girlfriend are not the type to hold back and they don't sugar coat things so them liking it made me feel pretty good.

Okay, so a few days ago I had some company over and had a ton of food left over. There was no way I could finish it all so I called my friend and asked him to come over and help me get rid of it. He brought his girlfriend and her sister over. All three said to me that I should seriously look into writing this out. Keep in mind, this was more like a detailed story treatment than a novel. They said I should at least look into it and research it and find out how a book is published these days. They also said I should look into copyright laws and how to copyright a piece of work like this.So, my question is this. How exactly is a book recognized these days? How does one go about having it read and what steps would someone take if they were seriously hoping to get it published? I would have to re-write it but I don't that would take very long to do. Any suggestions?

[HuckleB]

1. It's very difficult.

Start by looking into local writer's groups and nonprofits supporting literacy and writers... It's a long road, and getting published should not be the be-all, end-all reason for trying. The odds are against anyone.

[Tobin S.]

2. I hear it can be very difficult or easy depending on how you want it published

If you are looking for a book deal, it's very difficult. If you just want to get the material out there it's pretty simple through e-publishing and doing it yourself.

I have a book of my own that I'm working on and I've gotten some very good help from some fellow DUers. I'll PM a link to your post to them and maybe they will chime in. Also, we have a writing group here. You may want to cross post your OP there.

[romantico]

3. Thanks!

Well, I did not think it was gonna be easy. Still, I think I would like to try it. I think the first thing I may look into is copyrighting it. The I would feel safer putting it out there. Thanks again and yes, any advice is VERY helpful!

[hunter]

16. It's got a copyright as soon as you say it does.

Just like the bottom of this DU page.

Write:

© 2012 romantico

Done.

You can state your copyright, get a formal copyright, get an official ISBN, all that stuff, but your original work is always your own unless you explicitly assign the copyright to someone else, which you don't do unless someone is paying you or you are donating your work to someone else.

[Neoma]

4. Every rejection Stephen King got...

He put on a railroad spike, from what I've heard. Don't let the number of rejections worry you, in other words.

[nolabear]

5. Writing and publishing and marketing are all very different skill sets.

I've written and published quite a bit. Writing is, for me, a wonderful, crazymaking, arduous process that takes ability and the good sense to realize whatever you do will take a LOT of editing and rewriting (all writers need it). Get a lot of input from people who write and talk about writing. Others will see what you won't.

While you're writing subscribe to Poets and Writers, Writers Digest, Publishers Weekly, whatever industry publications will clue you in on what's going on with agents and editors and publishing houses. You have to write a compelling query to the right kind of agent and you can learn all that there.

Or you can go any number of independent publishing routes, but that means you have to be your own gatekeeper, be sure the work is professional, do all the marketing and publcizing, solicit reviews, etc. etc., which is a ton of work. But it's the route I took after I got a bunch of "This is a great book but we only take two projects this year so..." responses. I'm having a blast, the novel is beginning to sell well, and I'm learning an incredible amount about the cutting edge of the industry.

All my other stuff is trad pubbed (coolspeak for traditionally published) but this is a great endeavor. Good luck! You have to be a little obsessive but for those of us who can't not write, it can be exciting and delightful.

[HopeHoops]

6. If it is original work, you already own the copyright - you don't have to file for one.

Now to be fair, if you don't PROTECT the copyright (whether you file or not), it can be considered "public domain" after about ten years of non-action.

As for publishing, the traditional paper approach is a rather long process and it is generally best to go through an agent. If you're interested in taking the eBook route, send me a PM.

(nod to Tobin)

[romantico]

7. What

What are the advantages of an ebook? Just curious.Many Thanks for the advice btw.

[nolabear]

8. No publishing costs so you can sell it for very little.

People will buy anything for a 99 cent cost. You can make money through quantities and, if it gets good word of mouth, you either enjoy the copious sales or hope to get agent attention or raise the price.

I go for both. My novel is in both print and ebook form.

[MorningGlow]

9. Depends on what you mean by "publishing"

If you mean going the traditional route, starting with finding an agent, who finds you a publisher, who puts your paper books on the shelves and a digital version on Amazon...well, my friend, I'm here to tell you it's darned near impossible. Not TOTALLY impossible, but darned near.

I speak from experience--I'm a professional writer who's been shopping a novel to agents for the past six months. I've garnered a lot of interest, and I know it's a good story, but I haven't been signed yet, mainly because of how skittish everyone in the business is these days. Recently an agent published her stats from 2011. She read more than 7,000 queries. The number of fulls and partials she requested were only in the double digits. The number of authors she signed? Two. That's something like a 0.00025 percent chance. Granted, that's just one agent, but it's pretty indicative of the business. I don't mean to be harsh--just stating the facts.

Then again, there's self publishing. I haven't looked into that closely enough to advise you, but if you do some research on the subject (and there's a LOT of information out there on the interwebs), you can learn a lot. It might be the route for you. Lots of people swear by it. I haven't attempted it yet because with self publishing, authors are responsible for marketing themselves (a full time job in itself), and I'm crap at that.

First, determine your genre (is it literary fiction? satire? humor? political commentary?) and read lots of books in that genre to see how you measure up. The more you read, the better your writing.

Then--and this is most important--get it to readers who are NOT your friends and family. My friends and family LOVE my novel. They can't say enough great things about my writing in general. Doesn't mean a goddamned thing. Get it in front of professional critiquers/beta readers, either in your community or in an online community--for some honest criticism. Not all of it will be good (eventually you figure out which criticism to ignore) and it might sting a bit (okay a whole lot), but it serves a purpose--puncturing your ego. That's essential for every writer. We can get full of ourselves and think our work is perfect when it still needs to be improved. Conversely, empty praise does you no favors. Take the good criticism to heart and edit, edit, edit.

Yes, you do have to rewrite it. A sketchy treatment won't fly as a completed book. Something you tossed off "in your spare time" might amuse you and your friends, but it is not an MS that is ready for publication. Every decent MS has been rewritten dozens of times. Does the story flow? If it's fiction, does the plot make sense and are there absolutely no holes in it? Is it intelligently written? Is your vocabulary up to snuff? Is every inch of your story grammatically perfect? Is it interesting, and interestingly written (varied sentences, lively word choice, vivid descriptions, believable dialogue)?

Basically, as with all things, do your research. The wonder of the interwebs puts it all at your fingertips. Got get it.

[nolabear]

17. I'm going the indie pub route and your advice is excellent.

TON of work. And it's an interesting game figuring out how to get the most bang for your marketing buck. I happened to invest a BIG wad of cash in a Kirkus review because even their "paid" reviews of indie books is well known to be honest and pulls no punches. I was well rewarded. I got a Starred Review and it's opened doors in my PR campaign. That said, I do giveaways, social media, book blogs, call in every favor I've ever been owed in the industry and with connected friends and family, and it's slowly, slowly doing well.

The biggest thing is not to quit. I've got good publication cred but that doesn't necessarily chase away the demons that tell me it won't work. I just keep on. Learned a long time ago from a friend, "If you don't quit you haven't failed."

[MorningGlow]

19. Thanks for this info

I haven't ruled out self pubbing, so I'm always interested in experiences like yours. Would you mind sharing how much you paid for the Kirkus review? You can PM me if you'd rather.

[nolabear]

20. PM'd

[applegrove]

10. I looked into getting an agent for a friend who writes. virtually impossible to find an agent

as joe public.

[REP]

11. Getting published isn't easy.

It helps if you get an agent.

[romantico]

12. I

I didn't really think it would be that easy to get an agent. As for publishing, I thought there might be other ways to get a story out there. I see all these first time authors with book deals,I was just curious how they got noticed (or who they knew) I guess it's like everyone says. Be prepared to be rejected over and over, don't quit, edit edit edit, learn your craft, research, and so on. Thanks for the advice. You've all given me a lot to think about .

[UTUSN]

13. Thanks for this thread n/t

[grasswire]

14. semi-retired editor here

What is the outcome you desire?

Who is your intended audience?

Can you summarize the plot in one page or (even better) one paragraph?

The answers to those questions will help you decide the path you should take.

[nolabear]

18. Perfect questions!

Even after all this time, DAMN I hate that elevator pitch! Much easier to write a book, LOL!

[MrsBrady]

15. just about like getting a record deal

hire an agent/lawyer to shop it around...
and it may never be published.
if you can find an agent/lawyer who wants to work with you in the first place.

or self publish it and promote it yourself.