From the original manuscript to the bookstore shelf, publishing books is a worldwide tradition that never ceases to excite. And for good reason: what could be more rewarding than seeing your name on a cover? What could be more incredible than seeing your words read by others?
Publishing one's book, and in particular, one's first novel is a great feat and a dream for many! Millions of books are sold every year – and this statistic shows us that there are many writers but doesn’t show us that getting published is a complex, sometimes daunting and uncertain, process.
Despite a publishing world in perpetual turmoil, despite the mass of manuscripts received, many books still manage to establish themselves as a category in their own right in the literary world.
From the editorial line of the publishing house to the layout of the manuscript, via self-publishing, how can you get published? In a world where nothing is ever certain, here are all our tips for publishing your book!
Publishing Your Novel: How to Define Your Manuscript
When you think that you may want a book you have written to be published, this is an important first step. Indeed, it allows any aspiring writer to build up the prospect of submitting a book to a publishing house. But what you don't always realise is how many manuscripts each one receives every day: dozens and dozens!
From this vast panel of books, only a few will be selected for publication, and when sending your work through the mail, it is essential to give yourself every chance to stand out. To do this, a few questions need to be asked:
- What is its genre? Fantasy, romance, adventure, historical literature, etc.
- Is it a long novella or a novel, whose length allows it to be called such?
- Is its style very factual? Rather poetic? Conceptual? Documentary?
- Are you sure that the story holds together? That the narrative thread is solid?
- Have you included everything you wanted to include in the manuscript?
- And many more!
Indeed, sending your manuscript to a publishing house involves, in a way, introducing yourself. Of course, if it is accepted, the text is destined to be worked on with an editor. But the main challenge is to deliver a version that you think is as good as possible.
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Targeting Publishing Houses to Publish Your Novel
How much does it cost to self-publish a novel? Writing and publishing are two acts which, although not always correlated, often have a link that many people attribute to them. And when one wishes to make a written work public, when one judges that a manuscript is completed in such a way that it could be read, the first reflex is to look for a publisher.
The search for a publishing house is a crucial and nerve-wracking stage for many people, and it can be frustrating to receive rejection letters or even no response at all.
This is sometimes due to a bad referral or a flawed selection of the publishing houses to which you have sent your manuscript. To avoid wasting time and money (because yes, printing a manuscript and sending it out is sometimes expensive!), the ideal is not to send out a mass mailing.
Mass mailing means sending to all the publishing houses on the market. This is counterproductive for everyone, but above all: irrelevant for the publication.
It is important to know that not all publishing houses publish all types of books. Some publishers specialise in poetry, others in crime fiction, while others focus on romance, etc.
Patience is an important weapon!
This is why, even after the publication of some books, even as much as 2 years after you send the manuscript, other publishers to whom you had sent your work can reply! A word of advice: from experience, don't despair, your text will be read (but perhaps a little late)!
Typically, if you have a favourite author and your manuscript is close to his or her world, contacting his or her publishing house may be a good idea. Conversely, approaching a publisher who only publishes romance stories with a science fiction novel seems a losing proposition.
The key to "really" getting your book published is not to send it to everyone, but to target the publishing houses as best you can!
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Personalise Your Mailings to Get Published
How do you go from a manuscript to a book? When an author publishes their first book, they have succeeded in turning the manuscript into a potential book for a publisher, giving rise to a publishing contract.
But if the postal service is still one of the most widely used means of publishing a book, it must be realised that the traditional publishing world receives a very large number of texts every day.
However, when you want your book to be published by a carefully chosen publisher, the work does not stop there: after making a list of publishing houses likely to be interested, the way in which you send your book to the reading committee is also an element to take into account.
It is customary to send your text together with a cover letter. The latter is not compulsory but is sometimes a crucial element in deciding whether or not a publisher will publish a first novel.
The cover letter should briefly introduce both the author and the text, and above all should be personalised. This means that it is possible to include a few references to a book that is appreciated within the house, or to renowned authors published by them who inspired the writing of your text, etc.
The main thing is to make people want to read you without overdoing it while showing that you really know the house.
When writing a personalized cover letter to a publishing house, it should be serious. From experience, avoid lengthy summaries of the book, which take the professional reader for a beginner. Furthermore, overly grand or laudatory presentations are often prohibitive: it is the publisher's job to judge, not yours!
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Publishing a Novel: Tracking Down Mistakes Before Sending Your Manuscript
Still in this perspective of presenting one's manuscript in the best possible way, it is easy to understand that publishing novels means showing a certain interest in the French language, particularly in the way it is constructed.
In the cover letter as in the text itself, mistakes should therefore be tracked down as much as possible. Turns of phrase, spelling, conjugation problems, and proofreading is the most important tool to put all the chances on your side.
Moreover, while the whole novel should be of equal quality, often editors or readers who pick up a text will read the first few pages first. Like an introduction, they indicate a tone, and overall quality, and show the care taken in writing.
This will motivate (or not) the reader to continue reading until perhaps considering publication. All this is not trivial, and the manuscript must be as impeccable as possible.
If you have the budget and spelling is not your strong point, you may well consider having it proofread by a professional. An English teacher, for example? At Superprof, you're bound to find what you're looking for!
Self-Publishing Your Novel
When we think about how to publish a book, we instinctively think of a publishing institution, a book published by the publisher of our dreams, and, more generally, the traditional publisher. However, these days, more and more authors are taking up self-publishing.
Big names in contemporary English literature have made a name for themselves by publishing their first book on platforms of this type. And if self-publishing is an alternative way of reaching traditional publishers for the publication of books, it is nevertheless necessary to understand the basic inner workings.
Unlike a published novel, a self-published book is, as the name suggests, a long-term project that you carry out yourself! This means being everywhere at once, coordinating all the tasks for the publication of your book.
It is therefore essential to have confidence in your proofreading skills or, better still, to have it proofread and corrected by other people whose job it is.
Ebooks and digital platforms focused on writers self-publishing their work has transformed the reading landscape. There are plenty of these platforms to choose from, such as Kindle/Amazon, Kobo, iBook and more!
All these platforms have paying services which can however relieve the author of some of the hassle, starting with proofreading, or the creation of a cover.
Getting Published Via a Literary Agent
Today, the profession of a literary agent is increasingly popular, and more and more published authors are represented by an agent. However, even if this is rare, agents may sometimes be interested in representing new talent.
By submitting a manuscript to an agent, the agent may be seduced by the quality of the manuscript and decide to look for a publishing house to publish you. However, for the time being, this kind of case remains rare, and it is advisable not to bet everything on this solution!
Although this process can be challenging, the rest is up to the quality of your text! Let's not forget as well that getting your first novel published is always the hardest!
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