Finding a Publisher

What the attendees will learn:
What factors a writer must consider in order to publish his/her work.

Overview:
The origin of this presentation is a question I am often asked at book signings, i.e. how did I find a publisher? There’s an often unasked question of whether or not to self-publish. In today’s world, the decision on what avenue the writer can take to bring his book to market should be made early in the writing process.

If you decide to self-publish, then you have suddenly decided to become a publisher and will become solely responsible for the quality of the end product along with advertising and promotion. If you want to pursue a more traditional route one of the most difficult challenges a first time author faces is finding an agent or a publisher willing to invest in you. So, unless you are well known public figure, i.e. athlete, businessman, Nobel prize winner, general or have publishing companies and agents knocking on your door or are a columnist for a major newspaper or magazine who has access to a publishing company, there’s a long and quirky road ahead.

When you sit down to write a manuscript, one of the first choices an author must make is what publishing method do you want to follow. Today, technology has given us options – self-publish, pay-to-publish along with traditional publishing by large and small independent presses.

Which one is best for you boils down to two considerations – economics and the target audience. Economics encompass how much you are willing to invest financially in the publishing process in terms of editing, proofreading, cover design, formatting the book, advertising and promotion.  All of the above are driven by who you want to read the book and your ability to work with technology.

Once you understand the economic components and who will most likely read your book, then the next is relatively straight forward – decide on how you want your book published. You’ve have many choices – self-publishing, “vanity” presses, pay to publish, small publishers and large publishers. Publishers and agents get hundreds of queries, and pick only a few to take to market.  In the presentation, Marc take you the through steps  and decisions you, as a prospective author, need to make once you have a manuscript.