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How to Get a Book Publishing Deal

How To Get A Book Publishing Deal

If you want to know how to get a book publishing deal and you’ve been doing some online research, you’ve probably encountered these advice tidbits.

  • Work hard.
  • Edit your book a lot.
  • Contact a literary agent with a proper query letter.
  • Research publishers.
  • Be willing to change your story.

And on the surface of things, that’s not bad advice. Putting hard work into a book makes it better. Editing it multiple times will give it consistency and better overall quality. Agents can represent your work to a publisher. Certain publishers prefer to publish only specific genres of work. You may be asked to change some things to make your book more marketable.

Now here’s the problem: thousands of authors are doing these 5 steps every day and they’re still not getting published. It’s not because they don’t have good stuff that people will want to read. It is because they don’t know the secrets of the publishing industry.

5 Real Ways You Can Get Your Book Published

Here’s a brutal reality: publishers are desperate for books. They’re just not going to settle for any book though. They want a book that will make them money. In return, they’ll help you to make money as well.

That’s why you need to get beyond the basics and use these methods to get your book publishing deal.

#1. Create a Strong Concept

Your concept needs to be unique. It needs to be thorough. It also needs to be something that isn’t trying to hop onto the bandwagon of success. Publishers want authors who have something new to say from their own perspective. There needs to be a certain maturity to the work, backed up by specific expertise, yet a passion that comes straight from the heart. Without this, there is virtually no hope of landing a publishing deal.

#2. Get the Proposal Right

You need to have a complete proposal for your book to be considered by a publisher. Submissions are often formulaic in nature because authors are slamming hundreds of publishers with their work. Unless your book is revolutionary, a form letter submission will be ignored. Write a personal submission, follow the basics of a good query letter, and be precise with your wording for the best results.

#3. Find a Literary Agent

Most unrepresented books wind up in what is called the “slush” pile. Those are only reviewed if there is nothing else to review. Publishers will take a look at submissions from a respected agent, however, because that saves them time, energy, and cash. If you want a small publisher, then you may be able to skip this step. Otherwise, find the right agent who knows how to represent your genre is critical to your success. Be patient. It may take some time to find the right person.

#4. Read Your Book Out Loud

Most writers go through three edits of their story: the original draft, the concept draft, and then the line-item draft. To really polish your book up so that it is fit for publishing, a fourth draft needs to be done. Read your book out loud. Read it to your dog. Read it to your cat – if he/she will listen to you anyway. Read it to the wall. It doesn’t matter. By reading, you’ll catch more typos than any other editing method.

And make sure you edit your query letter the same way. Otherwise, you’re telling the publisher that you lack a certain level of professionalism.

#5. Create a Great Marketing Plan

The days of what an author was “willing” to do for marketing are gone. Publishers want to know how you plan to market your book. That means you need to develop a marketing plan right now, even if you haven’t started your book yet. Get a blog up and running about your book and its subject matter. Get on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook – everywhere. Ask to do sample readings at your local bookstore.

Put all of your ideas down and then create a schedule for implementation. This way you can show the publisher that you’ve explored the current market and know how to get sales for your book. Go beyond the ideas of advertising and book signings. Be creative. Be engaging. A complete plan for self-marketing will make a publisher look twice at your book.

Knowing how to get a book publishing deal has become more complicated thanks to the modern book industry, but that doesn’t mean your book isn’t wanted. It just needs to be prepared and presented properly. So go beyond the basics, follow these 5 enhanced tips, and you’ll improve your chances of being published.

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