Get Published: A First-Time Writer's Guide to Publishing

by Infinite Ideas

It has never been easy for new authors to find a publisher but in the last few years it has become significantly harder. In 2008, the average author earned less than 7000 per annum. According to The Times approximately 200,000 books were available for sale in the UK in 2007. Of that total, 190,000 titles sold fewer than 3,500 copies. The top 5% of titles by sales volume accounted for over 60% of total book sales. No wonder publishers are careful about signing new writers. But there is good news in amongst all the doom and gloom. Right now, it has never been easier to be published. Everyone who posts something on Facebook is in effect a published author. And some blogs are read by tens of thousands of people daily, many more than might pick up a physical book by the same author. Then there's self-publishing, vanity publishing, print on demand and so on. But how do you find your way round this minefield? Get published has been written by publishing insiders to help new authors understand the way publishers think and set about publishing if they can't get a commercial publisher interested.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Self Help

123 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2010

Reviews

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this is essentially a piece of soulless anonymous corporate blurb for a self publishing service provider, it is actually a frank and informative introductory guide to the business of publication, covering traditional physical publishing, physical self-publishing (which this business promotes or, should I say, shamelessly promotes), and digital self-publishing. Despite being rather short, it’s more comprehensive and more realistic than many other “how to” books which only concentrate on digital self-publishing.

It is also pleasant to read, with a nice streak of cynical, self-deprecating humour throughout (the best jokes being in the glossary of all places), which makes quite clear it’s written by an insider looking out, rather than by an outsider extolling how they’ve broken in. Few corporates would allow this sort of stuff to go out in an informational, so kudos to them.

[Rebecca Lyons · Rating 1 out of 5]

Usage errors. Punctuation errors. Poor writing. Sometimes the writing makes no sense at all. Some of the information is simply, flat-out wrong. The constant "commercials" for the book's publisher got very annoying, very quickly. The author's occasional attempts at cracking jokes instead of providing usable information fell flat. And the writing is unbalanced. The author spent a lot of time explaining the types of binding and paper used to publish books, which, although interesting, is not necessary for a writer to know. But necessary information for a writer is too often given short shrift, with only a small paragraph written in vague language.

Pass on this one.

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly entertaining British humor, publishing advice that was mostly stuff I already knew.

Notes:
- press release about your book should have: a story about you and your book, a brief synopsis and a cover image, contact details
- press release distribution: PR Newswire, PR Web, Marketwire, Business Wire
- inspiration exercise: make a list of locations (bathroom, garage, church, etc.) and a list of abstract terms (love, anger, madness). Pick a pair and write a description using no abstract words, not even the ones you picked. Ex. what is the bathroom of madness like?

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm... Not bad, but there's definitely some dodgy stuff, like not submitting to multiple agents/editors at once etc. But it's fresh to read a UK perspective to publishing. Like so many ebooks on writing/publishing out there this is also basically an extended blurb for the publisher's self-publishing site.

[Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depressing but probably realistic view of publishing process in UK. Nice, beginner book. I appreciated the clarification (and cautions) between vanity publishing and self-publishing. Could not view some glossary terms in their entirety on Kindle version, no matter how small the font size chosen (but I'm new to Kindle, so that may just be confusion on my part).

[R. Scot Johns · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vapid and superficial. Stating the obvious as if it was inspired analysis. Little here of merit or use to any but the most oblivious and uninformed, who would do much better searching the web for "how to publish a book." Should be subtitled "A Moron's Guide to Book Publishing."

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful reference source

[Jim Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

short, but detailed in the process and nuances of publication.

definitely negative in tone, but easy to read.

[Carina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and humorous approach to writing and publishing. Would definitely recommend this even if just as a fun reference and quick read.

[Selina Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice basic guide I picked up for free a while ago. As I know nothing about the publishing world I appreciated a lot of the explanations and what self-publishing in print is and how it can work.