How to Get Published

A Rerun
[The last in the series]

By Al Kalar

Write something every day

You’ve found a publishing house and they’ve agreed to publish your book. The editing/re-writing process is over. All the decisions about cover, dedication, and such have been made. It’s time to celebrate!

Maybe a trip to the Bahamas? A cruise? Why not? You’re gonna get rich off your book. Right?

Weeellllll, maybe. (more…)

A Rerun

By Al Kalar

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterward it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.       -Ernest Hemingway

If your publisher handles all packaging decisions, you can skip this section. However, if you will be called on to be part of the final publication process, you might get some ideas here.

Formats:

Books have many sections, which vary depending upon the type of book and often by books within a type. A book consists of one or more of the following: (more…)

by Al Kalar

Every publisher has standards for inquiries. If you ignore those standards, you have a very good chance of being rejected before your manuscript is even read.

The reason behind this is two-fold.

1. The publisher has set up a system in-house that depends upon the author’s cooperation. Some receive hundreds of submissions a day and don’t have time to wipe the drool off the chin of some prima-donna author who thinks the publishing world is drooling at the mouth while eagerly awaiting their particular “next best seller”. They need to have the elements requested, ONLY those elements, and in a format that is easy for them to handle.Those elements may include: submission by an agent (cuts down on the size of the pile), double spaced (allows room for handwritten notes), on paper (no electronic submissions), a cover letter, a synopsis, a particular portion of the entire ms (may be just a couple of chapters or the entire manuscripts), 12-point type (to save wear and tear on the eyes of the employee who has to read the submission), and so on. (more…)