Ready to Publish Your Book? Here’s What No One Tells You!
Congratulations!! Your dream writing project is complete. Now, the million-dollar question is to understand how hard it is to publish a book. Many authors face this challenge; for new authors, it is harder.
You have spent days and nights writing and editing your story- this must be published. Yet, publishing a book is more difficult than writing.
We know the struggles; we have seen the authors going through this. In this blog, we will tell you all about the different ways of publishing and how much time the whole process will take. Knowing the details will help you make informed decisions.
Publishing Models
Publishing is a time-consuming process that demands many checklists and prerequisites to get your first copy in your hand. Whether you solely want to concentrate on writing or take charge of the whole process, understanding the publishing process helps leverage this part.
Talking about the publishing models, below are the commonly used models and a brief introduction to their procedures.
Traditional Publishing
Self Publishing
Hybrid/Indie Publishing
Traditional Publishing
The majority of authors opt for traditional publishing, even the national bestsellers. With upfront payment, the publishing houses deal with all the necessary details. From marketing to distribution, finding the right audience to designing the book, the experts handle everything.
Here are some of the common practices involved in traditional publishing.
Complete the Manuscript
Find an editor
Sign with an agent
Write a proposal for the publisher
Sign a book contract with a publisher
Receive your advance
Complete the Manuscript
You are writing a book about your life or a fiction novel- completing the book may take years, putting ideas into words, stories into plots. And revising and polishing the draft till you can proudly say this is complete!!
Find An Editor
Once you are done completing the manuscript, connecting with an editor is important. No matter how confident you are about your writing, an editor’s expert eye can catch mistakes that authors often overlook in the flow of writing.
Sign with an Agent
Taking an agent on board facilitates the publishing process. An experienced agent is well aware of the publishers you should contact depending on the genre of your book. They also help close a good deal through the professional advice every writer looks for.
Build a Proposal
Selling the whole manuscript in the first meeting is insane. Build a proposal that includes a few chapters, some highlights, and an overview to convey the main theme. The requirements may differ depending on the publishing agency you choose. Check their website for a better idea.
Sign a Book Contract
The contract with the publisher includes all the legal and ethical details regarding the book rights. Agree on mutual terms on copyright ownership, grant rights, and advance and loyalties. Be sure to add the termination clause and other issues related to the reversing rights in the contract.
Receive Your Advance
Traditional publication involves no upfront costs. Rather, the publishing house pays for the publication. Expert teams like Brilliant Media offer editing and publishing services to ensure that readers.
Self Publishing
Self-publishing demands a little more sweat and lots of finances. The authors are solely responsible for seeing all the aspects, from writing to editing, designing to publishing, with the high cost involved.
If you plan to publish your book, below are a few steps you need to follow;
Draft your manuscript
Find and Editor
Work on cover design
Pre Launch Marketing
Do the Legalities
Launch your book
Promote and build your platform
Complete the Draft and Find an Editor
Completing the draft and finding an editor are the common practices used by all the publishing models. The procedures change after these two steps.
Work on Cover Design
The cover design communicates the theme of the book way before the reader reads it. Designing a cover, choosing colors that narrate the main emotion of the book, and highlighting the key conflicts are important.
Pre-launch Marketing
Choosing self-publishing demands a lot of marketing to create the audience before the final product. Sharing different details and insights regarding the book on social media can attract the audience.
Do the Legalities
Self-publishing also involves copyright and various other legal procedures. These should be completed before the final showdown.
Launch Your Book
Finally, after all the efforts, the book is ready to launch, and you can opt for e-book audio-book publication of the book.
Promote and Build Your Platform
Marketing the book will define the revenue you will generate. Bringing the book in front of the right audience and attracting book lovers is important.
Hybrid Publishing
As the name suggests, this publishing model is a mix of traditional and self-publishing. You hire a publication team to publish a book, while the distribution or designing can be handled by you.
The business model involved in this mostly follows the rule of shared profit. The revenue generated depends on the sale of books. Both parties (author and publisher) have shared risks and shared rewards.
How Much Time Does It Really Take to Publish a Book?
Seeing your book on the bookshelves is rewarding- yet this is not a quick-fix process. Whether you choose traditional or any other publishing model, from your pen to the reader’s table, the whole process may take one to two years.
Every book has unique needs depending on the theme, genre, and publication model. Choosing the traditional method may take a bit more time due to the extra efforts put in by the publication team.
On the other hand, self-publishing or hybrid publishing may give a bit of quick results, yet the costs and risks involved are higher.
On average, after completing the book, the further processes, from finding an agent to editing practices, may take 7- 8 months.
Finding the right publication and landing on the contract may take up to 2-3 months.
Once the book is in the publication process, the details regarding designs, typesetting, and finalizing files for printing involve more than 9-12 months.
The time taken by the publication can expand depending on the behind-the-scenes procedures and timelines of each publication.
Where To Find A Publisher
The Quest for the publisher haunts every author after writing. A good publisher adopts your idea and shares it with the same excitement. A wrong choice may end up destroying the whole effort.
Mostly, the agent helps to find the right publisher depending mainly on the genre and theme of the books. Considering the previous publications, you can always get an idea of the publisher and the audience they have built so far.
Going with a publication house facilitates you in many ways. Check the best genre-specific publications around you. Brilliant Media provides a full team to edit, assist, and publish your book.
The resource lab allows networking with like-minded people. This helps to exchange ideas and challenges. You learn through the interactions.
The editing teams help to make the writing more fun and less stressful. Through the experts' insights, you can speed up the publication process.
Now you know how hard it is to publish a book- considering all the key details involved in the processes. Choose a publication method and team that believes in your idea and cares about it as much as you do.
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