How Does a Book Get Published?

by Kristen L. Depken

Find a Literary Agent

The first and often most important step to getting a book published is finding a literary agent. An agent's job is to represent an author by selling the author's work to a publisher and representing the author in contract negotiations. A literary agent maintains relationships with a variety of editors at major publishing houses, and thus knows what types of projects each editor is looking for. This allows the agent to target only the most appropriate editors when attempting to sell an author's work. To find an agent, consult Literary Market Place, a listing of agents that can be found in your local library or bookstore, or visit Writer's Market online. Prepare a pitch letter and a sample of your work, and then select several agents to submit these to, being sure to follow up after your initial query. If an agent is interested, he will contact you and offer to take you on as a client. Be aware that reputable agents will not charge you an advance fee. Agents are only paid when they sell your work to a publisher.

Pitch Your Work

Once you find an agent, you'll need to help your agent pitch your work. A good pitch includes a concise cover letter that lets an editor know why your work is valuable, as well as several sample chapters of your manuscript. Editors typically prefer to receive only the first few chapters of a manuscript in a pitch. If they are interested, they will request the rest of the work. A key piece of information to include in a pitch is what type of sales hook your work includes. Is it a perfect title for the holiday season? Does it target baseball fans? Does it fill a hole in the current marketplace? Positioning your work with regard to a particular market or sales potential creates added appeal for an editor.
Choose a Publisher

Once your work has been pitched to a publisher, or multiple publishers, you will (hopefully!) receive feedback from one or more editors. You can submit to multiple publishers at once if they state that they'll take simultaneous submissions. If more than one publisher is interested in your work, you'll want to consider factors such as the size of the publisher, the markets it targets, the company's marketing and publicity resources, the editor's area of expertise, and, of course, the advance and royalties offered. These are all elements that your agent can help you to evaluate and negotiate.