I have an idea for a book, how would I go about getting it made?
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Write at least some of the book.
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Send query letters to at least six million literary agents.
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Read lots of this blog.
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Get an agent interested and send them a finished manuscript (or 50 pages or so, depending on what they ask for.)
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Rake in the mad phat cash.
Write a book proposal, explaining what the book is about, giving reasons why you casn or should write this book (send samples of your writing – similar works, or sample chapters, or both). Thell them why there is a market for this book , and who’d buy it. Make it attractive, with an eye-catching cover and title. Then send it off to agents or publishers. Be prepared to send it several times. There are books you can buy on how to write such a proposal and “sell” your book – look in large bookstores, like Barnes and Noble or Borders.
Be prepared to put in a lot of time, and not get discouraged.
Good Luck.
For fiction, write the book. No one will be interested unless you have a completed manuscript.
Once you have written the book, write an outline and sample chapters. Send them to any agents or publishers where it might be appropriate.
For nonfiction, you can write a query and an outline IF you have some sort of credentials that will give an editor/agent the idea that you have the ability to provide a finished product.
Remember:
[ol]
[li]The idea is the easiest part.[/li][li]Never, under any circumstances whatsoever, pay money to an agent.[/li][li]Money flows toward the writer.[/li][li]The only place the writer signs a check is on the back.[/li][/ol]
Bad advice.
[ol][li]For fiction, don’t tell editors why there is a market for your book – they know the market much much better than you do. Give them a description and let them decide if there’s a market for it. For nonfiction, you can comment on the market (there are 1,000,000 dog show fans in the US and this book … . ), but don’t presume to know their job better than they do.[/li][li]Do not make it attractive; that screams out “I am a clueless newbie.” Proposals should be on plain paper or simple letterhead. That’s how the pros do it, and you want to look like a pro.[/li][li]Do not illustrate your work. They hire artists to do that.[/li][li]OTOH, a good title is good as an indication of your ability. Be warned, though that the editor may change the title for sometimes very arbitrary reasons. [/li][/ol]
After you’ve finished writing your first book, start work on your next.
Maybe for fiction, but I’ve been told this epeatedly for nonfiction. I know that I did it.
Like hell. I had to arrange for all my own illustrations.
Book editors don’t have a clue what the market is. Neither does anyone else. Something like 22 publishers turned down Harry Potter. You have about as much chance of getting a new work of fiction publshed as of becoming a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Seriously, it is a crap shoot.
Non-fiction is different. I think they actually do know something about the market. I have three published books (technical) and they actually seem to know what sells.
The editors aren’t expected to know the market. The publisher’s sales and marketing team are paid to do that. They can’t predict how many copies of a book will sell, but they have a good feeling for what types of books sell well for them, to the point where the marketing/sales people can go to the acquisitions editor and say, “get us more postapocalyptic technofantasy, but make sure there aren’t any talking mutant rodents.”
CalMeacham, I think you missed RealityChuck’s point on discussing markets in the proposal. I believe he was saying it’s a bad idea for fiction. In nonfiction, they expect your proposal to describe competing books, explain how your proposed book would be different, and show why it would sell well against them (or alongside them). Hit the Web sites of a few big publishers and look up their standard proposal formats. There’s a whole section on marketing.
The biggest single question you have to ask yourself, brickbacon, is why you want your book published. You want to see your name in print and have your book on amazon.com? Call a vanity press or POD publisher, send 'em a check, and poof: you have a book in print. There’s no shame in vanity publishing, just don’t expect to see your book in the bookstores or make money from it. And if you use a vanity press or POD house, HIRE AN EDITOR. They won’t supply one, and all books need editors.
You want to be a professional writer? You want to earn money from your book? Read points 2, 3, and 4 from Chuck’s message above. Find a real publisher. If you want to get a feeling for the financial end of the business, join a writer’s organization. Many of them (e.g., SFWA, SCBWI) will only allow you to have an associate membership until you’ve been published, but you can learn an immense amount about contracts, agents, royalties, and so forth from these groups. Wouldn’t hurt to pick up a copy of Writer’s Market either. It focuses on magazines, but it still has a lot of good info. Just remember: money always flows toward the author!
Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and illustrated children’s books are four completely different worlds. Hari Seldon exaggerated the difficulty of getting fiction published, but he’s about right when talking about poetry. The odds of getting a publisher to write you an advance check for a book of poetry are so small they might as well be zero. The “completely different world” model is probably why Cal and Chuck disagreed on illustrations. On my technical nonfiction, I’m expected to provide all illustrations, photographs, charts, and so forth. On my children’s picture books, I have little or no say in who does the illustrating.
Good luck!
He didn’t qualify it – he just said Bad Advice
It ain’t. Not in my experience.
Eh, maybe I misread it, then. I’m sure he’ll be along to clarify what he meant.
In the meantime, I’m agreeing with him about fiction and agreeing with you about nonfiction.
Well, Cal you appeared to be talking about the cover, not the interior illustrations (as was I, though I suppose I was a bit unclear). I know very few authors, fiction or nonfiction, who design their own cover. (Janny Wurts is an exception, but she’s a professional artist who I believe has done book covers.)
If you put on a cover illustration, you are competing with pro artists. You are bound to be at a disadvantage.
And by doing a fancy cover, you are identifying yourself with the hundreds of lousy manuscripts whose authors do something to make them “stand out.” This is like showing up at your job interview at the bank in a clown suit. Yes, it might not make a difference, but the odds are, it does. You immediately have two strikes against you whenever you try to submit something that’s not in standard manuscript format, or you do something to make your manuscript “stand out.” The guy who delivered his manuscript in person wearing an Elvis costume certainly stood out, and was remembered, but no one took his manuscript seriously.
Alternatively, you could just write a book and then get Lulu.com to publish it on-demand for you.
The positives: it’s free, no capital investment, no inventory headaches with unsold copies sitting on shelves. Also, you get to keep a bigger cut of the sales than with a traditional book deal.
The negatives: you gotta do your own publicity and advertising.
Honestly I think Lulu is an incredible concept that puts more power back into the author’s hands. Founded by Bob Young, former CEO of Red Hat.
Lulu.com and all the other sites like it are incredible only if all you want is to see a physical copy of your book and sell maybe 100 copies to friends and family. Fewer than 1 person in 1000 ever do more than that. These sites allow anyone to be a writer. However, the reality is that most people shouldn’t be writers. That’s why editors have been successful filters for over a hundred years.
But even beside that, these “I want to publish a book” threads never work out. Books aren’t a thing. There are all sorts of books, and all sorts of publishing, and the advice in one case may be destructively wrong in another case.
And the OP is always secretive. I want to publish a book on some idea I have. Never “I want to publish a book for professionals who need a good source of basic material on life in Venice during the early stages of the development of the Jewish ghetto there.” Never “I want to publish a book on science experiments using wild flowers and grasses for middle school students.” Never “I want to publish a book for music lovers based on my thirty-years’ worth of expertise on the polyphonic motets of Lassus.”
Yes, you have to be that specific. No, nobody will steal your idea - who would want to? Yes, you have to tell us what your qualifications are, how much time you can spend on this project, and how much work you want to put into it. No, you can’t get away with less and have anyone give you a worthwhile answer.
Brickbacon. Right now you’re wasting everybody’s time. Start over. Give us all the information you have. Then, and only then, can we be of help.
I’ll throw my hat into the ring, if I may, and pick up some advice while I’m at it.
I started writing a historical fiction novel in November, and have about 300 pages finished. I project that it may run up to 600 before I’m finished, but I can’t be certain. (Nor can I predict when it will be done with any certainty, since I find myself having to research every single sentance.) It’s set in the Tudor period, the reigns of Anne of Cleves and Katheryn Howard, to be exact. It’is the story of a girl who was a very short-term mistress of the king, and we see the latter events of Henry VIII’s reign through her eyes.
I consider myself an ametuer Tudor buff-- I’ve been fascinated by the time period since I was a child, and this book has been swimming through my head for years. I want to write it because I think it’s a fascinating story, and I’d like to share it with people like myself, who glory in books full of rich historical detail. I’ve always resented authors who “cheat”-- the ones who skim over details of daily life in order not to show their ignorance, or offer characters with twentieth century sensibilities. I want to write a book focusing on some fascinating events in history that doesn’t dissapoint readers like me.
I think it will work because the historical fiction market is hot right how, and readers of this genre generally appreciate thick, juicy reads. The trend could well be over by the time I’m finished, though.
I only work part-time, so I have plenty of time to finish it. With no deadline, I’m writing in spurts as the inspiration takes me. The book is “done” in my head, though, so it probably wouldn’t take but a couple of months for me to finish it. As to how much work I want to put into it, believe me when I say I’m very earnest about doing it* right.*
So, waddaya think? Any advice for me in particular?
Chuck’s advice for fiction is good, so I’ll basically parrot him.
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Finish the book. Rewrite the book. Get some opinions from people who know historic fiction and from people who know writing; ideally, find a person who knows both. Rewrite the book.
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Put together a package. Brief (less than one-page) description. Outline or chapter-by-chapter description. First 60 or so pages (or so because you want to end at a logical and enticing moment, not at an arbitrary word count).
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Find agents who specialize in historic fiction. There are books on agents available from bookstores and libraries. Check the Internet. The Association of Authors’ Representatives, Inc. (AAR) is the trade organization of legitimate literary agents. You can search on their web site. (Most agents will give a general description like “fiction,” so you’ll have to go elsewhere to narrow the search.) Not every legitimate agent is a member but most are. Remember that a legitimate agent does not charge you, but makes money by taking a percent of the money you earn. In general, if a potential agent asks for upfront money, run.
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You can send the package to as many agents as you want simultaneously. If they want you , they’ll bid for you. If they don’t want you, you’ll find out sooner.
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Few, if any, major publishers accept unagented manuscripts these days. There may be exceptions. Some romance publishers are more open to unagented submissions. If you think your novel qualifies, even at a stretch, as a romance, check them out. They are the fastest growing current genre and are always looking for new writers, something that is not the case elsewhere.
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Try, try again.
There actually are a few that will take manuscripts/sample chapters from everyone (although it’s not as rare as winning the lottery, your chances of getting anything out of it are still pretty low.) The best place to check is none other than the publisher’s website, almost all of them will have a section telling you whether or not they accept manuscripts and in what manner they accept them.
Holy Humping Harpos, man. You believe something a publisher says? :eek:
Sheesh. How do they get published? 
A friend of mine went the self-publishing route. He had an idea for a book that hadn’t been done either a lot or well, in his estimation: A student leadership guide written mainly toward highschool and college students by a college student with pretty extensive student leadership credentials.
He wrote it, shopped it around to publishers and wasn’t satisfied. He actually did get an offer, but the publisher was dragging her feet too much for his liking, so he decided to self-publish.
I designed the book for him, and he had several people proofread (as well as me, while I was putting it on the pages). He found a local printer and paid out-of-pocket. He bought a block of ISBN numbers and registered with the Library of Congress and everything.
This worked for him because he is planning on selling his book mostly at speaking events and to groups (school clubs, student councils, etc.). It’s also on Amazon, and he started a Web site to provide extra related info, as well as to take orders from. Definitely not for everybody, but just a thought.
To further some of the quesitons, how do the agents work? I’m giong to write out how I think they work, please let me know if I’m correct or not.
Initially I’m wondering why an author would go to one when they (agent) take a cut of the author’s money. But then I’m told here that it’s difficult to get a book published without an agent. So is the primary role of an agent to act as the first filter for the publisher? Author’s send thier work to an agent, they agent weeds out all the terrible stuff, and then approaches the publisher. The publisher listen’s to the agent because they know the agent has already removed the crappy ones.
Oh, and also, an agent is also staking their reputation on the line when they approach a publisher, so they want to approach the publisher with only decent works, so as to gain credibility in the eyes of the publisher. An agent that alwasy goes to a publisher with crappy works will soon lose the interest of publishers, and they won’t make a living.
Is that how agnets work, and the reasoning behing thier exsistance?