(аrticle)

“When I was 26, I wrote my first mystery, ‘The Thomas Berryman Number’, and it was turned down by, I don’t know, 31 publishers. Then it won an Edgar for Best First Novel. Go figure.”
– James Patterson

There are two options for publishing your first book: do it yourself or with the help of a publisher. However, the second option is much more difficult, because, unfortunately, almost all publishers do not work with novice writers. But if you’re confident in yourself and in your publication, try approaching a publisher, and you might get lucky. But if you get rejected, don’t immediately get upset and think your book is bad, you just need to self-publish it, but with the help of some professionals, which I’ll write about a bit below. (And if you understand many aspects, you can do it without any help).

Therefore, if you want to try to get your book published, you need to keep these things in mind.

For one thing, before you save your work, check the manuscript requirements on the publishers’ websites and if you have something wrong, add or correct it. Furthermore, make sure that the publisher in question publishes the type of literature you want to offer them. It is important that your work be completely finished, which means you should not contact a publisher if you have not finished your book.

Further, you need to contact the publisher. To do this, you need to:

• send a letter to the publisher’s mail;

• your CV;

• an excerpt from the work.

After that, you have to wait for a response (which can take a long time). Of course, it is advisable to write to several publishers to increase your chances of success. The main thing is not to impose, do not call, and do not come to a publisher (without an invitation), because publishers do not like it.

When you wait for an answer, there are two situations: your book was accepted or not.

If your book is accepted, you contact the publisher and work things out. If everything is satisfactory to both of you, you sign a contract. It is important to check everything the publisher offers you in detail, and when you sign the contract be sure to check the clause stating that the publisher will publish the book and make sure that the contract is clear on how royalties will be paid.

If your book didn’t get picked up, foremost, don’t feel bad. Understand that not everything works right the first time, and there are often many obstacles to overcome in order to win. If no publisher wants to publish your book, consider literary contests, cover a part (or all) of the cost of circulation, publish an e-book, or publish online — on your own website, on social media, or through virtual publishers.

The second option is to publish your own book. This, on the one hand, is not difficult, but it also has its own difficulties and nuances.

You need to develop the design of the publication yourself. To write, to lay out (and here the main thing is to do it correctly, because if you neglect the technical characteristics, the book will be printed very badly), to make the design of the book and the cover, to find a printing house that will meet all your needs, to pay, and then even to advertise (if you want your book to see someone except your relatives, of course). All of this takes a lot of effort, time, and money.

As I wrote in the beginning, you can do it all yourself if you can, know, and want to do it, sure, if you have the money, too.

Also, you can do it with the help of professionals. Such as: the layout designer, designer and smm-manager. It won’t be cheap, but if you’re not confident in your abilities, it’s better to ask for help from people who will do it well, and you’ll end up benefiting from your work. All in all, it won’t be that hard for you to cope with it all.

So, the main thing is to write a great paper and be confident in it and in yourself. If you didn’t succeed at the first time, you would succeed the second time. The main thing is not to give up and bring your work to the end. Several years after, who knows, you could say like Eric Walters, “I don’t chase publishers. Publishers chase me!”