Guest Blogger: 5 Tips for Finding a Publisher in the Digital Age by Steven Boggs

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Our guest today is Steven Boggs.  Welcome Steven!

5 Tips for Finding a Publisher in the Digital Age

By Steven Boggs

Entering the literary world of publishers, agents and submissions is one of long, pronounced waits and one that requires bone-crushing patience and thick skin.Luckily, by using these five steps below, you can cut down on much of the time and anguish by circumventing the large percentage lost to the learning curve and get your book published as expediently and painlessly as possible.

Revise, Revise, Revise

It can be so tempting for writers who’ve just finished their book to want to get it out to the public as soon as possible, sending it off before a much needed round of copy editing and/or voice editing.While it’s true that most books accepted by a publisher will undergo at least one round of editing, not to mention galley edits, the publisher is only going to bite at your book if it already appears professional; it’s a way of proving yourself to the publisher and showing them the best you can do. A book filled with glaring typos, grammatical errors or inconsistent voice will overshadow the excellent of the plot or themes. Remember, this is a competitive industry and you’ve got to have the most competitive product possible.

Query Letters

This is your sales pitch.Query letters are basically one page advertisements for your book to get a publisher or agent interested enough to read even a page of your work and can be very, very tricky to nail down. Most effective query letters read like the descriptions on the jacket of the book: they should be intriguing and engrossing, encompassing the tone of the book without giving away too much information. Many writers find it helpful to have someone else who’s read their book write the description, as they are often too close to the book to do it effectively.

A Good Fit

When looking for publishers or agents, start by looking to your favorite books or books you think are similar to yours. If you’re writing literary fiction your book most likely will not be accepted by a mystery-only publisher, and vice-versa.You can usually find agent information in the opening pages of a book such as the copyright page. It’s all about finding the right fit.

Submission Hierarchy

Though it might sound defeatist, it may help to think of your submission process as that of college applications: you’ve got your dream or reach publishers, your middle ground publishers and your safety publisher (although there really is no such thing as a safety publisher). The big houses like Doubleday, FSG and Penguin only take submissions from agents, and those agents only take a small, tiny percentage of their clients from the query pile. As it’s every writer’s dream to have their work published by one of these power houses, the actuality is minimal; however, there are plenty of fantastic, highly regarded independent publishers that are much more accessible. University presses are often a writer’s best shot as are independent presses and contest submissions. Note: vanity presses are different than independent presses and are more or less scam publishers trying to take advantage of eager writers.

Follow up:

After you’ve submitted to an agent or publisher, send them a follow-up email regarding the status of your submission. Most agents and publishers will give you an estimate on when you can expect to hear back from them; only send inquiries after the estimated time. Because of the wealth of submissions publishers may not be able to respond to every manuscript and the inquiry is a great way to feel out the status of your submission. If you don’t receive anything back after the inquiry it may be time to move on to the next submission. This will help cut down on time spent waiting and will hopefully get you closer to the right publisher.

About the Author

Steven Boggs has been writing about digital technology and small business tools for 10 years. When he’s not writing, you can find him fishing with his two young sons.

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