I want to talk a little about publishing.

Some serious talk for once. I want to talk about how to get your book published. There are so many hopeful people who fall victim to the predators out there, and I hope this can save at least a few from emptying their bank account.

There are four routes to getting your exciting, well-written, polished, beta read, and self-edited book out to an audience:

1. Find an agent (no, I don’t have any connections, google is your friend) who specializes in your genre and who will pitch your book to publishers. It might take a long while, be a hit or miss. The agent takes a percentage of the royalties. Royalties is your share of the book income. The agent negotiates the contract with the publisher (but YOU ALWAYS need to be critical and know to question paragraphs). The publisher pays for editing, cover, and marketing. You may or may not get your book in a physical store. A publisher accepts your book if they believe it will sell and that they can get their money back. They make money by actually selling your book.
   

1. There are real (smaller) publishers who accept direct submissions. There is a contract, again- ALWAYS NEGOTIATE. You get a percentage from the sales (royalties). THEY pay for editing, cover, and marketing. With these you should also work on marketing yourself/your brand, for better reach. Have a FB page, a reader group, a newsletter, and so on. They also make their money back by actually selling your book.

1. Vanity press. AVOID! You pay a huge amount of money in advance, for them to edit the book, give it a cover, format it, and upload to retailers. They have now made their money, on YOU, not on sales, and their incentive to market the book is zero. AVOID!!!! Google it. There are lists on https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/ for instance, of the predators out there. NEVER PAY SOMEONE TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK. You will always lose, 

1. Self publish. Find an editor (be thorough, agree on fee and level of editing, and deadline-sign a contract). Optimally, you find a second editor for proofreading. You can take a look at this website for instance for cost, and a list of a few editors, but there are plenty more great professionals. https://kindlepreneur.com/book-editors/ Look at bestselling covers in your genre, and look around for a cover designer. A cover costs between $15-500, depending on exclusivity and level of art. Can cost even more, but that decision is YOURS.  Unless you have skills and the relevant education, don’t do your own cover- it will deter readers from even reading your blurb if the cover looks amateurish. Format your book. You can find someone who does this, you can buy a program that does it, there are free online tools, and it can even be done in Word. Write an enticing blurb. Upload your book to KDP for Amazon and decide of you want to be exclusive to them, or go wide (i.e. sell your book at more vendors). Hit publish, and voila, your book is out. Then you market. You can pay for ads, or promo for free in reader groups on FB, learn how to utilize for instance Instagram, and show your brand and your book. Self publishing is hard work. You have to be in charge of everything, but you also have full control, and you get all the royalties from sales after the vendors have taken their share. 

Best of luck, everyone!