Your Ghostwriter Online

How to Publish My Story

By T.R. Locke on May 12th, 2011

Frustrated because you haven’t told your story yet? Here’s how to change that today.

Why is it that only some people get to tell their stories? Go into your local bookstore, grocery store, or online and you see books by different people from various backgrounds telling their stories to the world. Why not you?

Okay, some people have not really lived lives worth sharing with the world, but if your life has been one of overcoming great challenges, achieving great outcomes, enduring great pain, gaining great wisdom, or some combination of all the above, perhaps your story is one that the world needs to hear as well. With more outlets for publishing and distributing books available today than ever, this may be your time to share your story with the world.

When you write a book, you have the freedom to put whatever ideas, thoughts, and stories you want in it.  You get to decide which genre the book should fall under and what type of audience you are trying to target. Writing a book yourself allows you to have unlimited creative possibilities. However, when you want to get your book published by a traditional publishing house, you may need a little guidance and marketing savvy.

Getting a book published by a traditional house takes time unless you are a very well-known celebrity appearing on the news every night.  Someone who suddenly makes the news and commands attention daily can push publishers into overdrive to assign editors, ghostwriters, and PR people to get a book to press before the media heat dies down. Such was the case with  Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. He landed his plan on the Hudson River in January 2009 and his book was published in October 2009. Publishing houses do not move faster than that.  For everyone else, the process takes one and a half to two years after turning in your manuscript.

Getting a publishing contract in the first place usually takes 5-10 years. To land that deal you would generally have to send your book out to many agents hoping to secure representation. If you get an agent, the agent will shop the book to publishers in hopes that one will agree to publish the book, otherwise you can query publishers and editors directly. If you get a publishing deal, the company with have full responsibility for producing the book and distributing it to the world.  You will have little say in how it is marketed and produced, and you may even be asked to alter your content to the market, but it is guaranteed that the book will reach a wide audience. However, many first-time authors are surprised that even though the publishing house publishes the book, distributes it, and takes the majority of the profit, the author still must bear the majority of the public cost and effort.

Another option for getting a book published is to self-publish it.  In the case of self-publishing, you will not only be the one writing the book, you will also be the one responsible for marketing and distributing it.  There are a few different ways to get your book published through self-publishing.  One way is to use a self-publishing company.  There are many available, some are better than others, some cost more and some less, but all will have a fee.  The benefits of self-publishing are that you have complete control over the content and you can publish faster. In addition, you keep much more profit from the sale of the books. If your plan is to sell to people only in the circles in which you work or conduct your business, self-publishing is a better way to go. But given the many new methods of distribution online and through electronic readers like Nook, Kindle, Sony E-book, and I-pad; your ability as a self-publisher to have your book read around the world is better now than it has ever been.

One of the best investments you could make as a first-time author is to hire a professional ghostwriter.  Professional ghostwriters usually have connections to agents and publishers, and they have experience with self-publishing as well. As a first-time writer, having someone familiar with the publishing business to guide you through the process can save you a lot of time, money, and frustration.

Getting your story published requires many things, but there are more routes available to help you achieve that goal now than ever. When you’re ready to get going on making your dream a reality, contact Your Ghostwriter Online.

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