My opinion on the first question is: It doesn't really matter. However, if you have problems with overediting, write the first draft on paper. It's harder to edit that way. Also, if you have access to paper more than a computer, use paper, then copy it over as time permits.

I'll post back here in a bit.

From a practical standpoint, I think it's way better to do it on the computer so that you can send copies to each publisher without having to copy it all down by hand (which would be a nightmare.) I'm not sure if all publishers accept written manuscripts in these days either.

You mean by a publisher or by other people?

You want to have it in a very revised work initially (try to get advice from peers/other friends if possible to get advice about your book) AND a literary agent. (See my note at the bottom for additional costs on this)

It really varies. It costs a lot though. For a whole book it will easily be at least a thousand I'd estimate.

Only if you think that you can do a lot of your own advertising for it. Really, what self-publishing does is it allows you to set prices/keep the story the way you want it/have your own covers and stuff, but you'll need to find a company to publish it, you'll have to make good covers, you'll have to really finish it, and you'll have to figure out how to advertise it really well. Personally I'm going for traditional publishing, but you could try it out this way.
Get a literary agent and have them help you find a publisher (see my note at the bottom of your post)

I haven't been published but I've read a lot of blogs on it. The publishers will be deciding who will draw the cover and what it will be like (though they might ask you for advice.) You won't have as much say as you might want, however, in how much the cover is your choosing, though they'll generally try to get your approval.

I haven't attended any, though from what I've read they're really helpful.

Anyways, I said I'd post stuff at the bottom so here is what I have. I did a blog post series on how to get published and literary agents and stuff so here are links for those posts:
http://worldpen.wordpress.com/2012/05/0 ... ed-101-16/
http://worldpen.wordpress.com/2012/05/1 ... hed-101-8/
http://worldpen.wordpress.com/2012/05/2 ... ished-101/

I post links to other blogs at the end of them. I suggest looking through what those bloggers (most of them are literary agents) have to say about this.

Anyways, I hope that all helps.

Ah... thanks so much for your answers Aratrea. When I said how to get my writings noticed, I meant more by people.

Are you talking about novels or short stories? If short stories, there are some online magazines I could suggest. If novels, I suggest trying to get a blog and build a platform (I haven't done much research into that, though. Michael Hyatt, the previous CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers, wrote a lot of blog posts on this subject though. You may want to google and check him out.)

I don't know if they accept handwritten manuscripts or not. Aratrea's point is valid, though: typing will save a TON of time, and it's much easier to delete passages or rewrite sentences as you're going along.


Besides friends and family, one of the best ways is to join a forum or two (like HW!), where you can share your work and receive feedback.


This one I'm not sure of. You certainly want a polished manuscript to submit to an agent, but I'm not sure if that means you have to hire a professional editor. The publishing company should provide that service.


From what I understand, you have two choices: hire one yourself or let your publishing company provide the service. If you work with an editor, the cost will be based on the length of your book. I've seen some people charge by the hour (which can be dicey if the person is lazy) and others charge per word, anywhere from $0.2 to $0.8 per word.


I've done a ton of research on publishing, and after waffling back and forth for a couple years, I decided that self publishing was a better route for me. It depends on what your goals are. Getting a traditionally published book can take years, especially if you don't have connections with agents or publishers. Plus, unless it's a really killer book, having an agent won't help (assuming they chose to work with you at all). This is more primarily for the bigger publishing firms.

From my perspective, self publishing is the best route for first-time authors. It might be easier to land a deal with a small publishing firm, but that won't gain you much exposure. Even if you do publish a book traditionally, if you're not a well-known author, the marketing is basically up to you. That's why I decided to do it myself, since if there wasn't going to be any publicizing done for me, I would just as soon have control of the entire process. This works better for people who are motivated enough to put in the work self publishing requires; and believe me, there is a lot of work involved. The upside is that you don't have to wait for a deal that might never happen, and you control the process.

One option in the self publishing vein is to put out ebooks. I decided to go this route for two reasons. First, it doesn't cost anything to print an ebook. All you have to do is upload it to the major distributors like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. If you're on a budget, not paying for priting physical copies is a big advantage.

Second, the process is more simplified. Instead of hiring a company to print your book, you can do it yourself (as long as you have a word processor).

This is a DIY approach, but one worth taking if you have the time, energy, and willingness to focus. You have to obtain a cover for the ebook, which can mean creating one yourself or paying someone. Formatting is another necessary step, and if you're not good at this, again, you can hire someone. The most important step besides the cover, is the editing phase. It's an absolute must if you want to have a successful book. Then there's the marketing aspect, which includes building an author platform, blogging, joining forums, the list goes on.

In my humble (and admittedly biased) opinion, printing an ebook is much easier and cost effective than self publishing a physical book. There are plenty of printers out there who can do this, but I think the drawbacks are more than they're worth. You have to beware of scams, where such companies rip you off and you end up paying a handsome fee for a terrible book. And whatever you do, don't pay someone else to publish your book. If they're a serious publishing company (not the same as printing), they should be willing to pay you. Their money is made from book sales, not the author's pocket.


First you have to look for an agent to represent you, as sending an unsolitcited query letter to a publishing house will get you nowhere. Bear in mind that acquiring an agent is nearly as difficult. Make sure you do some research and target agents in your genre.


I haven't been published by a publishing company, but Aratrea's comment was basically accurate. I heard that some companies give you more say than others.


Not as of yet, but I'm thinking I might want to. One consideration would be to join a writer's guild in your area, which a friend of mine said helped him more than any writings classes he's ever taken (although that was for poetry I think).

From what I understand, publishers that will accept handwritten manuscripts are vanishingly rare---many of the "how to succeed as a writer" books I've read predated computers, and they all made much of that point. Nowadays publishers that accept submissions by postal mail may be a dying breed.

Though this is something of a mixed blessing


Note that an agent is, at least in theory, not (strictly speaking) necessary---the idea is that an agent is someone with experience, contacts, and knowledge you lack who submits your manuscripts to publishers for you, negotiates your contract for you, and so on, and (from the publisher's side) makes sure that the manuscript is at least a cut above slush-pile material in quality before submitting it.

You definitely want a polished manuscript before submitting it anywhere, and you want someone knowledgeable (other than you) to go over it carefully to catch things that you (as the author) will certainly miss. But whether or not to hire an editor isn't a question with a definite, universal answer. (If you're self-publishing, it's probably wise, as editing is one of the services the publisher provides.)


My understanding is that a reputable and honorable agent won't agree to represent your book at all unless he thinks he can find a buyer for it.

It's true that getting a book traditionally published may take years, but most of that time is sending it out and waiting for a reply, then working with the publisher on revisions and such, then waiting for it to come out, time that you should be spending writing your next book If you self-publish, you have to either do all the non-writing stuff yourself, or (unless you have friends who will do it for free) hire somebody to do it out of pocket (now), while a publisher recoups their cost over time from the sales of the book.


Some publishers accept unsolicited queries. I advise you to look into references like Writer's Market (your local public library might have it) that list publishers and their guidelines to see which publishers do.

Ah... thank you. I could have access to the computer sometimes, but as my time on it is limited and I prefer not to spend hours in front of a computer screen.

That is very true. Thanks for the helpful insight everyone.
Though, I do have some more questions...
1: for the self publishers, how did you start getting your books in print?
2: Are you able to do hard-back? And have you done it?
3: For ebooks and whatnot, was it profitable? And did you put all of your story on it?

A word on submitting manuscripts to publishers/agents... (Forgive me if someone else already mentioned this--I haven't read everyone's responses.) There's one rule about that--read the publisher's guidelines! Every publisher is going to have different guidelines on how they want manuscripts submitted, and in what format. Read the rules and follow them. Neglecting to follow the publisher's submission guidelines is one of the easiest ways to get rejected! If the available guidelines don't answer your question, ask. My guess is that handwritten manuscripts are obsolete, and that most publishers are going to want typewritten or emailed manuscripts, but the only way to find out for sure is to research the publishers you're interested in submitting to.

I would thoroughly recommend typing your manuscript onto the computer ultimately, but that doesn't mean you have to write the rough draft (or even the first few rewrites) on the computer! During the rough draft and early revision stages, you should use which method of writing is most effective for you. There are no wrong ways to go about the drafting process; it's only when you're ready to start sharing your work that you need to worry about getting it into a specific format.

On whether to go with traditional publishing or self-publishing... The answer to that question depends entirely on your situation and your goals for the book. There are pros and cons to each method, and that's not a question anyone can answer for you outright. (And if anyone does try to tell you that only one method is right, don't listen to them!) Research both methods and decide which one is right for you.

As a self-published author, I can answer your technical questions. To get print editions, you can use any number of "print on demand" sites and similar services. Most of us use createspace.com, which does paperback. There are sites that do hardcover, such as lulu.com, but I haven't personally done it myself as of yet.

Ebooks can be extremely profitable, if you price them correctly. The royalty on ebook sales through sites like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and smashwords.com is fantastic--as much as 70%, depending on the program you use. Therefore, you can price your book reasonably (read: significantly less than the print edition) and still make excellent profit. Because ebooks have no "printing cost," they can be an extremely good money maker. Of course, this all depends on you being able to sell books, but ebooks are a fantastic opportunity. The ebook revolution was a very good turn of events for authors, in terms of profitability. I released my entire book in both print and ebook, yes.

Let me know if you have any other technical questions! I've been around the block two or three times with self-publishing, so in terms of technicality, I know at least a handful of useful things.

Exactly. The process will look different for everyone.


Now I might have to take you up on that.

Thanks so much Aubrey for your advice! As I look at the websites you suggested, I believe if I decide to go the self publishing way, then I will most likely use those sites!
Another question for you all... When you are self publishing, how much does a single book to print cost? And how do you make that money back?

I used Lulu some to print out some of my older (and not very good ) writing for my friends to read. There the base price was around $10-$12 depending on how long it was. I then got to set it to whatever I want above that base price, and however much more it was, that was the amount of money I'd get back.

Anytime, Tarin!

The cost of printing your book will vary depending on the length of your book (how many pages) and what printing site you use. Both Createspace and Lulu have calculators for estimating how much it will cost, and when you set your book up and select the price, it will tell you exactly how much royalty you will be earning per sale. I think you'll find that CS is cheaper than Lulu for paperbacks...

With a print on demand (POD) service like CS or Lulu, you do not pay anything up front. The printing costs are simply deducted from each sale. So you do not have to pay to have copies printed up-front, unless you order a box for yourself to sell in-person. It's very budget-friendly.

I had gotten the impression that (at least with some POD vendors) you had to buy at least one "proof copy." (Not that that makes it budget-unfriendly, but that would a small up-front cost.)

You are correct, Jon. However, I tally that more with the preproduction cost (along with cover design, etc.). Irregardless, with POD services like CS and Lulu, you do not have to pay anything up-front to print the finals.