Perhaps you’ve finally decided to write the book you’ve been wanting to create for years. Maybe you got an idea and just dived into it right away. Regardless of how your book came to be, you’ll come to realize, sooner or later, that writing the book was actually the easy part.
That didn’t feel too easy, though, did it? That’s because once you start asking around for ways to publish your book, you’ll be hard-hit with the answers you receive. Most of those working in the literature industry is going to tell you that writers looking to get published, especially newbies, have a long, arduous, and treacherous path ahead of them.
Is that really the case? Should you give up on writing altogether? Luckily for you, there are various ways to get published. Aside from traditional publishing, which is indeed the most challenging path, there are other ways aspiring writers can get their work published. Here, we’ve compiled six ways to easily and quickly get your book published.
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Form a Partnership with an Agent
A few years back, the most common way to get published was to sign a contract with a publisher. Although this traditional way of publishing still works today, the requirements and competition to land a contract are anything but easy or quick. That’s why you can consider the next best thing to traditional publishing, which is to partner with an agent.
Thanks to their network of connections, an agent can get you a contract with a traditional publishing agency, manage the publishing process, and take care of all the paperwork on your behalf. This will give you all the time and energy to focus on writing without distractions.
That said, landing a partnership with an agent is no walk in the park. You’ll need to somehow convince the agent that you’re worthy of being published. It’s not uncommon for agents to sift through dozens of query letters a day, giving each one only 20 seconds to accept or reject it.
Most of these 20 seconds are actually spent looking for reasons to reject the proposals. That’s why you’ll need to pick an agent who’s more likely to love your niche and genre and will be willing to go out and beyond to publish your book. After all, no agent will take on a book project if they don’t think it’s going to sell.
Sign with an Independent Publishing Service
Aside from traditional publishing, you can seek independent publishing services that specialize in your niche. These indie publishers will do the same job of publishing your work as a traditional one would: they’ll sign a contract with you, publish your work, distribute it, and get a percentage of your book’s sales.
Moreover, whether it’s a traditional publishing house or an indie agency, neither publisher would require any upfront payment for their services. Instead, they take a commission fee from your book’s sales according to the agreement in your contract. The main difference between an indie publisher and a traditional one is that the former likes to operate on their own without the shackles of rules and requirements imposed by large conglomerates and corporations, while the latter follows the regulations to the T.
As such, you’ll find much more freedom and leniency with indie publishers – that is, as long as you fit their standards. Since they’re independent, they get to be as picky about their publications as they want to be. They value quality above all else, and they’ll also be specific about the genre and style of writing.
Hire a Self-Publishing Service Provider
Thanks to the internet, now you have more options to publish your book, instead of relying on traditional and indie publishers. For instance, you can now hire an online self-publishing service provider for that. While you submit your writing, they’ll take care of designing the cover, editing and proofreading, formatting, and publishing your book. Most of these services only provide an e-book version that’s ready to be printed and not a hardcover book. They may also take a percentage of your sales as agreed upon previously.
Self-Publish an eBook
Nowadays, self-publishing ebooks have become an all-time favorite hobby. Thanks to ebook publishing platforms, virtually anyone can write a book and publish it on the internet. This practice of publishing an ebook can cost you next to nothing, all you have to invest is your time and effort in writing.
However, this option also means that you have to be your own editor, designer, publisher, and distributor. You’ll have to use your social network to market your book and make a profit. Otherwise, it’ll just be another ebook added to the archives of the internet.
Enter a Contest
If you take a closer look, you’ll find dozens of literary contests offering various kinds of rewards for the winners and contestants. Chances are, entering these kinds of contests can be your shortest cut to attracting the attention of an agent. If you’re really lucky, you may even land a contract from a major publisher. The best thing about these contests is that you can get prize money if you win, but you can also get exposed to a large audience base and build connections even if you’re not among the top winners.
Use a Distributor
Technically, a distributor will only do the end phase of the publishing process. While they’ll publish your book and distribute it to sellers, they’ll only print out what you’ve sent them. This means that you’ll have to edit, design, and format your book, as well as do all the administrative work on your own first.
Publishing a book can be as easy or complicated as you want it to be, it all depends on the path you choose to take. If you decide to take the long way of traditional publishing, you’re going to face a lot of difficulties, but the results can be the most worthwhile.
You can also seek more modern ways of publishing using the internet, but the results will vary depending on your strategy, effort, commitment, and resources. However, as long as you have a plan, you should be able to publish your book and make a good profit no matter the path you choose.
