How to Publish a Book in 2021 (Based on 45+ Years of Experience)

hi Jerry Jenkins here talking about writing so you finished writing your book and now you want to fulfill a lifelong dream and get it published where do you go from here maybe you found so much conflicting advice that you're overwhelmed well in this video I'll run down all your options and all the pros and cons then I'll give you my ultimate recommendation as an author of nearly 200 books over the last 45 years including experience running a publishing house through my blog at Jerry Jenkins calm and my private coaching community the Jerry Jenkins writers guild I train writers like you to compete in the crowded confusing publishing industry today I want to show you the publishing options for that book into which you've invested your entire self now before I get into all that you need to know that I have a special bonus for you if you hang with me to the end of this video it's a download you can use immediately to help fine-tune your manuscript before submitting it to a literary agent or publisher so be sure to stay with me to get that free bonus all right now let's talk about your publishing options broadly speaking you have two traditional publishing and self-publishing the difference between these two publishing models is really quite simple in traditional publishing the publishing house takes all the risks and pays all the bills including any advance against royalties to you it's extremely hard and rare to land a traditional book contract because those publishing houses are deluged with thousands and thousands of manuscripts and proposals every year and their success depends on their ability to select those titles they believe can make them money on the other side of the publishing fence is self-publishing and no matter all the styles and varieties of printing houses who serve this market your self-publishing if the deal cost you even a penny there are good and bad self-publishing companies and there are legitimate reasons when self-publishing makes sense but even if the company implies they have chosen your project from among many or that your only cost to some minimum initial order or your financing a certain level of marketing or distribution if you pay anything you're self-publishing so at the risk of oversimplifying it aches all the risks and pays for everything that means they pay for editing proofreading typesetting printing binding cover art and design promotion advertising warehousing shipping billing and paying author royalties self-publishing firms on the other hand may pay for some of these costs but naturally the elements you pay for are designed to cover all their costs and ideally make them a profit they might refer to themselves as a co-op or a hybrid publisher and they might indeed accept some manuscripts and reject others but they are not traditional publishers regardless what services you buy or suppliers you pay to have your book print this option is rightly referred to as self-publishing why because everything is on you you are the publisher the financier the decision-maker everything I listed under traditional publishing falls to you you decide who does it you approve or reject it and you pay for it the term self-publishing is a bit of a misnomer however because what you're paying for is not publishing but printing so the question becomes why pay to be printed if you could be paid to be published some say writers can make a lot more money by self-publishing because rather than settling for just fifteen percent or so royalty of the sales by a traditional publisher they enjoy all the profits the problem with this logic is that it too often underestimates what it costs to self publish the likelihood is that the profit per sold book often at best equals about the same as a traditional royalty the drawback then is that as a self publisher you have vastly less experience promoting advertising marketing selling delivering and billing than traditional publishers do besides the fact that this is a full-time job that'll likely rule out your having the time to read another book with rare exceptions traditional publishers sell many more copies than self publishers do and here's the reality while there are obvious and noisy exceptions The Guardian reports that the average self-published author makes around a thousand dollars per year and that includes many who have multiple titles and lots of fans in fact nearly a third of self-published authors make less than $500 a year and 90% of such books sell fewer than a hundred copies so how about digital-only self-published books were there are no hard copies only online downloads in these cases admittedly because virtually anyone can quote publish this way there are countless such titles the average book sells 250 copies total so how does that compare with traditional publishing if you sold fewer than 1500 copies through a traditional publisher you'd be considered a commercial disaster now lest you think I'm wholly opposed to self-publishing I'm not I simply want to clarify the realities of it and the vast differences between paying to be printed and getting paid to be published self-publishing may be a valid choice under certain circumstances such as you've exhausted your efforts to land a traditional deal that doesn't always indicate that your writing is inferior it could merely mean that your audience is limited making your book a less viable business proposition for the publisher or your book is of interest to hundreds of people as opposed to thousands I self-published a couple of items of my father's poetry because it was of interest to several hundred friends and relatives but not to a mass-market audience of thousands required by a traditional publisher maybe you're a college professor or in some similar occupation where you must publish or perish but your area of expertise is so esoteric that your books would not likely be commercial successes on a mess Yale in truth there are many reasons you might opt to self-publish so the issue becomes whom can you trust as a supplier for all the services you'll be paying for that's where you need to do your homework talk to others who have self-published to see whether they felt ripped off or over-promised or overcharged etc many vanity or subsidy or hybrid self-publishing suppliers have beautiful websites rave reviews and examples of beautifully produced books that will make your mouth water they'll use terms like if we accept your manuscript when the truth is many such firms would print anything you sent them as long as your cheque was attached they'll offer all the services I listed above but if you decide not to take advantage of those you'll pay less but you're also likely to wind up with an inferior final product that's why too many self-published books look self-published they have issues like amateur art on the cover little or no editing or proofreading minimal attention to interior design or even typeface choice many use sans-serif type while traditionally published books mostly use serif type many use the word buy before the author's name on the cover which you rarely see with traditionally published books some self-published books don't even spill forward correctly which is fo r e wo Rd meaning before the the main body but rather they spill it forward like fo RW ard or they try to get it right and spell it fo r wo Rd or even fo r e w ard and many use the British spelling of acknowledgments which adds another e and that's dead giveaway but those are the least of the potential issues with careful planning studying and comparing you should be able to self publish for much less than $10,000 or more that many of these companies charge for their so-called premium packages so given all this how do you decide we're in the busiest and noisiest era publishing history it's never been easier to get printed but never heard her to be published that should give you pause but don't let it discourage you people are landing traditional book publishing deals every day so someone is succeeding why not you I would urge you to be dead honest and evaluating your book manuscript as well as your own writing does the manuscript you've produced appeal to a wide commercial audience is it fresh and different enough and is your writing at a level where your book could become noisy and successful in the marketplace getting a literary agent or a publisher to take a chance on you or your manuscript does not happen by accident it requires time focus and excellence so begin by considering your books genre this determines your target audience your potential agent and even which publishers to pitch to also consider why your book will sell and to whom and resist the temptation to say it's for everybody naturally we all dream of everyone everywhere being as enamored with it as we are but the truth is that kind of thinking waits a red flag of amateurism to agents and publishers even mega best-selling books don't appeal to everyone they're written to specific audiences and if they cross over to other markets as for instance the harry potter young adult titles did that's a bonus also be realistic about your platform if platform is a new term to you it simply means your visibility outside your own family in orbit the extent of your influence realistically how many people are interested in you and what you do a fair or not this is a fairly recent phenomenon but it's one of the first questions an agent or publisher asks with the proliferation of social media building a following and interacting with potential readers has never been easier as much as we'd like to believe our book idea and our writing should determine its value to a publisher they're much more likely to take a chance on the writer with the larger platform alright once you've settled on which publishing route to pursue certain non-negotiables will give you the best chance of success first become a ferocious self editor this is every bit as important if you choose to self publish because the quality of your final product depends on it acquisitions editors the first readers at publishing houses who decide whether your manuscript is worth showing to their bosses and literary agents tell me they can often determine within two minutes or as few as two pages whether your manuscript is worth pursuing that may not sound fair and maybe it isn't fair but it's the hard truth if you think they should have at least stuck with your manuscript till they got to the good stuff next time start with the good stuff any professional writer will tell you that all writing is rewriting put your best foot forward by learning to aggressively self at it until you're happy with every word and remember should you land an agent and he or she places your manuscript with a traditional publishing house it will still undergo editing there so why do you need to edit and revise it first to get it past those first readers potential agents or acquisitions editors landing an agent can be just as difficult as landing a potion deal because agents are every bit as discerning they are also deluged with manuscripts and proposals and naturally they're looking for those rare authors and projects that can make them money that's not to say they're in the business only for the money my agents have all been lovers of books lovers of reading lovers of writing but they must be profitable to stay in business the advantage of an agent which makes them worth their 15% of whatever you make is that they serve as your manuscripts champion and cheerleader agents know the business who is publishing what and who might like what you've written they shop your manuscript to publishers and advocate on your behalf having land that an agent is a credit in itself it shows that you and your writing have already survived serious bedding some but not many traditional publishers consider unsolicited or uh native manuscripts but if you land an agent they make your life a lot easier they can coach you on your proposal help you understand the publishing process and handle the business side so you can stay in your creative lane find an agent by googling agents in your genre compiling a list of those who seem to be a good fit and when pitching them follow their guidelines to a tee one more caveat many agents tell me that it's a mistake to pitch multiple ideas at once go with your absolute best work and if you land an agent there'll be plenty of time to show them what else you have so how do you approach an agent start with a compelling query letter query means question so the point of such a letter is to determine whether an agent might be interested in seeing your manuscript to consider representing it that's your question it's your first impression your initial sales call you're not selling your writing just yet you're merely asking the agent to request your proposal or manuscript position yourself as a colleague not a fan keep it short and to the point limit it to one single space page and send it electronically it should include a one sentence summary of your books premise often referred to as an elevator pitch because it's what you would say to a publishing professional between the time they got on and off an elevator also include a one paragraph synopsis that explains what your manuscript is about and what you hope to accomplish with it for fiction explain the basics of your plot don't make the mistake of couching this in sales copy language which often poses questions like will he succeed or will she survive you're writing to a potential publishing partner so provide answers not questions indicate your intended target audience and why they should be interested in your book again avoid over selling by claiming everyone should love it of course include what qualifies you to write this book the extent of your platform that you've built and your contact information before you hit Send proofread your letter and get at least one other pair of eyes on it a few typos in a full-length manuscript are common but a one-page letter should be perfect the goal as I've said is getting the agent to ask to see your proposal the proposal is the document that determines whether an agent asks to see your manuscript so every word should serve that goal it should be only as long as necessary while giving the agent everything he needs to know for both fiction and nonfiction synopsize every chapter in present-tense proposals can contain any number of components including your premise your elevator pitch overview target audience chapter synopsis marketing ideas endorsements your analysis of competing books and where yours fits up to three sample chapters for fiction especially from a new author many agents ask for a complete manuscript proposals range from 10 to 25 pages keep it as tight as possible but cover all the bases ok let's talk about the distinctives of self-publishing the best way to set yourself apart in this overcrowded field besides becoming a ferocious self editor is paying for a professional editor and remember I have a great free resource for you at the end of this video that'll help you fine-tune your manuscript so stay with me for that many self-published authors spend more on design and marketing than on editing and proofreading but a great-looking cover and lots of promotion can still see a book Daiya quick death in the market if it's not tightly edited and carefully proof read resist the urge to hire a friend or relative who majored in English or even teaches English because book editing is a unique discipline the last thing you want is a handsome product that reads as if it made the rounds of traditional publishing houses and had to be self-published writing quality sets you apart in a saturated marketplace many companies offer all the services you need to self publish but some are more trustworthy than others know what you're getting into and remember it takes a lot of sales to recoup the costs of such services do your homework get references compare pricing now what about online publishing you have several options but here are the more popular ones Amazon CreateSpace is a print on demand option which means it will also print paperback copies for sale on Amazon with this option your ebook is available for purchase on Kindle and Kindle apps worldwide on iBooks your book is housed at the Apple iBooks store available to anyone on the Internet alright I hope you found that helpful I've made it my life's work to help writers elevate their craft to where it can compete in the traditional publishing marketplace even if you choose to self publish I urge you to strive to get your writing as close to that standard as you can that leads me to the free bonus I mention at the beginning which you can download by clicking the link on your screen it's 21 ferocious self editing tips a checklist you can use during the revision stage to give your writing the best chance to succeed regardless whether you compete for a traditional publishing deal or go the self-publishing route give everything you have to your writing your reader deserves it and so do you if you found this video useful please like it comment on it and share it you can also gain instant access to more of my in-depth writer training by subscribing to my channel by hitting the button below meanwhile I wish you all the best with your writing and I'll see you next time you [Music]

Channel: Jerry B. Jenkins

Views: 72,594

Rating: 4.9654865 out of 5

Keywords: how to publish a book, how to publish, how to self-publish a book, how to self-publish, publishing, self-publishing

Id: IX6LggnkxG8

Length: 19min 16sec (1156 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 17 2019