13.1 : Making Sure your Book is Publisher Ready
Anyone who has ever completed a book can remember that feeling of elation when all those long hard hours have finally paid off and there is a beautiful printed out manuscript with your name on it staring back at you. However before you get too eager and send it straight off to as many publishing companies as you can think of, stop! It's time for a final check. Your novel must be in the absolute most perfect condition you can possibly manage. Spelling errors, grammar mistakes and dodgy punctuation should all be corrected and you should read your story through time and time again to make sure you have tied up all the loose ends, that there are no discrepancies, that your characters all come across as they should do.
Before sending your manuscript off to a publisher you should also get lots and lots of feedback. Give the book to trusted friends and family members who you know will give you honest and constructive criticism. If there is someone at your writing group or workshop, or you have a mentor, ask to go through it with them too. The more creases you can iron out before sending to a publisher, the more likelihood you have of them accepting it.
FACT
The "big 5" publishers only account for 16% of the ebooks on Amazon's bestseller lists
Source: http://publishersweekly.com - 2014
13.2 : How to Prepare a Professional-Looking Manuscript
When printing out your manuscript there are a few standards you should adhere to. You should use a standard fixed font like Courier and avoid proportional fonts like Times New Roman. Fixed fonts space the letters out evenly and are easier and quicker to read. You should double-space your text and not bother to justify it, again to make it clearer to read. You should also allow a decent sized margin on each side of about 1.5 inches.
At the top of your cover page you should add your personal details. Write your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address. In the middle of the page you should put the title of your novel, your name (or pen name), and approximately how many words your book contains (round to the nearest 100). The novel should then begin immediately after the title so the text would usually start about a third of the way down the page.
Remember to add a header with the page number on every page, and in this header you should also add the title of the novel again and your name. This means that when it reaches a busy publisher's office with paper floating around everywhere, the pages of your book can easily be identified if one of them floats off. It also serves to remind the publisher while reading of the title and your name.
When it comes to printing out your manuscript you should use plain white paper and print only on one side. Then secure your pages together using a paperclip.
13.3 : The Issues of Copyright and Plagiarism
Some authors are so scared of sending their work out to publishers as they think their precious novel will get stolen and used by someone else. This is in reality very unlikely, especially if you are sending it to respectable and known publishing houses. If you are really worried you can go about copyrighting your work yourself beforehand, but once you get accepted by a publisher they will do this for you anyway.
Again, plagiarism rarely happens, but when and if it does you will find you will easily be able to prove the work is yours and that the thief will be exposed. Even if you're not covered by copyright laws, when you've got drawers and files filled with character profiles and plot outlines from your novel, it's pretty easy to prove the work came from you.
13.4 : Submitting Your Manuscript to Publishers
First you need to make a list of publishers that you are going to contact. Choose by researching which kind of books they usually publish, whether they often publish new authors, and whether you need an agent to submit to them. Unfortunately some publishers only accept works from someone with a registered agent, so this can limit the ones you are able to send in until you find an agent.
Stock up on lots of large manila envelopes as you will need one to send each manuscript in, and one to enclose inside with your address and the postage paid. This is in case your manuscript gets rejected so that they can easily send it back to you. You can enclose a cover letter if you wish but it is not seen as necessary. If you do choose to include one you can just write a brief message asking them to read your manuscript and thanking them for their time. Never bother to go into what credentials and qualifications you have, or try to sell your novel to them by giving them a sales pitch or synopsis.
Keep a note of who you have sent your manuscript to. You should ideally only send to one publisher at a time but many authors are too eager to wait, and just send them all out to a bunch at the same time. Publishers vary hugely on getting back to people so no news doesn't generally mean bad news; it just means a slower or busier editor. If you haven't heard anything in more than two months then send a polite letter asking them for an update regarding your submission.
13.5 : Handling Rejection
Unfortunately most writers have to deal with a lot of rejection before they can celebrate any success. When you receive that first rejection letter it can be excruciatingly painful and disappointing and even though everyone tells you not to take it personally, you certainly will. However you need to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and send off your next submission just like it was your first. Make sure you keep your rejection letter in a file for your records. It's important to note that even authors we consider to be incredibly talented have mostly been rejected at one point or another. And it may not have been because the publisher didn't like their work but rather because of many other factors. Maybe they don't usually publish that certain type of work, maybe they just published something very similar, or maybe they're just too busy to take on a new book.
There are plenty of reasons why your work could get rejected and it doesn't mean you're a bad writer, or that your book isn't good enough. So even though it's difficult, try to be positive and carry on submitting your completed book and start work on your next book too.
13.6 : Handling Acceptance
When you get that first special letter and open it up, it's a feeling that you will remember for the rest of your life! Enjoy the moment, crack open the champagne; celebrate with your nearest and dearest. Once you've calmed down a bit you can start looking at the small print and read all the terms and conditions. You should have some kind of contract included with the letter, and maybe even a cheque.
The things you should expect to see in your contract are that for a certain amount of time this publisher will have exclusive rights to your story. That means that no-one else can publish or make money with your story. So if you've sent your manuscript off to multiple publishers you better get on the telephone quickly and try and get them all back. The publisher should also offer to copyright your work and give you the right to review and have the chance to approve or reject any changes they have made to your manuscript. One thing to watch out for is that you should never ever give away all rights to your work forever. This means that the publisher effectively owns your story and can do with it whatever they wish.
13.7 : Self-Publication and E-books
If you continue to receive rejection letters but are convinced that your story would sell, the only option you have to see your novel in print is to publish it yourself. bThis is not recommended as publishers usually know what they're doing so if your story isn't accepted there's usually a good reason for it. With self-publishing you will have to pay for every aspect yourself, from getting your book professionally edited, to have it printed and bound, to copyrighting it, to marketing it. It's a lengthy and costly process so you should only do it if you have the money spare and not if you are counting on making money from the books that you sell.
Another option is to publish your book as an e-book and this is a much more cost effective way to at least get your book out there and hopefully get some people to read it. You can charge what you want and then the website you use to sell it from will take a percentage of this for every book you sell.
FACT
40% of revenue from Amazon's e-book sales goes to indie published books
Source: http://authorearnings.com - 2015
Module Summary
Lessons Learned
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