Publishing Question

[ej]

Hi everyone!

A few minutes ago my boyfriend's father was asking me if I wrote any and what I wrote. So we sort of hem-hawed around about my writing. Well, that then led to a conversation about my boyfriend's writing (obviously, we're starving artists haha). A few years ago he wrote this amazing and phenomenal (no, really, it's great, I'm not just biased) children's story.

So, he wants to look into getting it published. He doesn't want to self-publish, because his opinion on that is that yes, some people have luck, but that that route rarely works out. Neither of us know anyone in the publishing industry. But anyway, my question is this: does anyone on here have any advice about pursuing this and working on getting something published and/or know anyone that could help with this process?

Many thanks and hope you're all doing welL!

[devogirl]

EJ, traditional publishing is really hard. That's why so many people have gone toward self-publishing instead. That route does in fact work out much more often, if your goal is to have people read the story. Traditional publishers are motivated by profit, not aesthetics. It can be the most beautiful, amazing story, but if they don't see a market for it, they won't buy. And increasingly publishers are only interested in signing authors who can produce series. There's not much profit in a one-hit wonder.

Most publishers do not contract with individuals who approach them directly. You need to find an agent. Most agents also will not contract with people who write them out of the blue, it happens only rarely. And getting an agent is not a guarantee that a publisher will buy your book.

There are literally thousands of websites on breaking into the publishing industry, in all types of genres. Publisher's Marketplace is a good place to start:
publishersmarketplace.com/
Read as much as you can. And don't discount self-publishing. If you don't want to make finding an agent into a full-time job, but just want to get the book out quickly, self-publishing is the way to go.

[Ath]

Talk to Ruth, even if childrens books arent her thing she probably has a lot of connections

[ruthmadison]

I agree with DG. But with children's books, a trad publisher might still be the best option. I guess it depends on what age. Like if it's a book that would benefit from having illustrations, a trad publisher will coordinate that.

The traditional route is to go a book like Writer's Market (latest copy available in the reference section of most libraries) and look up publishers or agents looking for children's books. Put together a proposal in which you write a query letter explaining what the story is and how it's a fresh take on something. That book will tell you whether the publisher accepts unsolicited queries, which are those that don't come through an agent. Few of them do, but a small publisher still might.

That process can take years and a lot of heartbreak. But it's like dating, you have to find the right match for your story.

Self-publishing is easy to figure out, but also requires that you be interested in learning the other sides to book publishing other than just the writing. It can be enormously fulfilling, though, to know that you did that all yourself!

Publisher's Marketplace is definitely a good place to start, as DG said. You don't need to start with connections, but work on making those connections. You can read agent's blogs to get to know them, for example. I love to read Rachelle Gardner's blog even though she is a Christian agent and only represents Christian books, which I definitely don't write! These days with blogs and twitter and FB, meeting agents and making personal connections with people in publishing is easier than ever (though that doesn't mean that it's easy!)

[janewheeler]

EJ, I actually know some people. Get in touch

[ej]

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies! You all are awesome!

It is a children's book with illustrations so I think that is why he's wanting to go the traditional route. I'll definitely tell him to check out Publisher's Marketplace, thanks Devogirl and Ruth ! And also, I've emailed you, Jane.