If you want a traditional company to publish your book, make sure that your work catches their attention. If they see a good return of investment, then these companies will carry your book. It would be for the best if you look into the company’s market first. Check what genre/s they accept and market. These companies get thousands of manuscripts in a day and their acquisitions editors go over the slush pile to look for the one or two or three that has what they want. Take note, I said “what they want.” That means, if the house markets romance novels, then, submit your manuscript that has this theme, otherwise, you’ll raise the chance of getting that dreaded rejection slip.

You may probably ask me how to publish a book with a traditional publisher? Well, after you have done your writing and research, the next step is to get ready with your query letter and your book proposal. A query letter is a formal business letter that you as the author write to an agent or editor to explain to them that your book is worth taking a shot at publishing. To get them to read your book proposal, make sure that you will already get them interested with your query letter. Make sure that your letter is professionally written, brief, sufficient and precise, exciting and convincing.

Additionally, a very good book proposal will keep the editor looking forward to reading the entire manuscript or even better, publishing it. A book proposal is more than just a synopsis or an overview about your book. It is the make or break of your dream of becoming a published author. You can’t afford to lose this chance. Therefore, you have to stand out and make a lot of sense with your proposal. Now, there are two different versions of a book proposal: one for fiction and one for nonfiction, but, what the book is all about, the book’s importance or relevance, why you are the most eligible person to write about this book, identification of the target market and why they should publish your work, are the essential components of a book proposal.

Once you’re done with the query letter and the book proposal, you can get a move on by finding a literary agent. Many major commercial publishing houses do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. Unsolicited manuscripts are materials submitted by writers to the publishers even if there was no request to do so. As a result, several of these manuscripts are automatically thrown out for not following instructions and for adding load to the already overwhelming stack of manuscripts. Hiring a literary agent offers valuable assistance especially when you’re a novice in the publishing field, and you need someone to help you with the ins and outs of the business. Many publishers will only take a look at a proposal when it is from an agent. They have great connections with numerous publishers and they generally tell you ahead the types of books they pitch. They act as your representative and will mostly carry out the job of seeking potential publishers and negotiating a contract. For their compensation, they usually get a small percentage of the royalties after copies of the book are sold or a percentage of the book advance once the publisher pays the writer.

Lastly, once the publisher likes how everything is going, and decides to get the full manuscript, that in general, is a good sign. An offer is then made, some negotiations here and there before moving forward. After everyone has reached a positive agreement, you can now start accepting congratulatory smiles and handshakes.

Publishing a book traditionally requires hard work, persistence and competence. The outcome may or may not be satisfying but as long as you are determined to get what you want, then, you may just be on your way to realizing that dream. Read the second instalment of this article to find out the other way on how to publish a book.