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Getting Your Book Published For Dummies [Paperback]

Sarah Parsons Zackheim (Author), Adrian Zackheim (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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Book Description

0764552570 978-0764552571 July 31, 2000 1
There’s never been a better time to be an author. Books like the Harry Potter series create a media phenomenon, with people lining up and camping outside bookstores to purchase newly released titles. Yet book sales overall – not just those of mega-sellers – are on the rise, as more and more people seek knowledge and entertainment through reading. The Library of Congress currently registers about 60,000 new titles for copyright each year. 60,000 books by 60,000 authors. Imagine yourself as one.

Getting Your Book Published For Dummies is your complete guide to realizing whatever gem of an idea you’ve been carrying with you. If you’ve ever thought, “this would make a really good book,” be it the next great American novel or a guide to naming babies, here’s your chance to put pen to paper and find out! Written from both sides of the editor’s desk – by a widely published writer and a HarperCollins veteran publisher – this guide puts in your hand the advice you need to:

  • Pick an idea
  • Approach the publisher
  • Craft proposals and queries
  • Work with agents, or act as your own
  • Self-publish
  • Negotiate a contract
  • Create the actual book
  • Sell your published book

Full of examples, proposals, query letters, and war stories drawn from the authors’ extensive experience, Getting Your Book Published For Dummies shows you how to clear all the hurdles faced by today’s writers – freeing up precious time for you to refine your manuscript. You’ll get the inside scoop on:

  • Titling your book
  • Major publishers, smaller houses, niche publishers, university presses, and spiritual and religious publishers
  • The 12 elements of a successful nonfiction proposal
  • How editors read queries
  • Submitting fiction
  • Publishing outside the box
  • And much more

Getting Your Book Published For Dummies is the clear, A-Z handbook that makes the entire process  plain and practicable. You don’t need to be a celebrity. You don’t need to be some kind of publishing insider. All you need to do is write.


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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Discover how to:

Choose a book idea
Get inspired to write
Find a market for your work
Choose a publisher
Act as your own agent
Negotiate your contract
Self-publish your book on the Web

From the Back Cover

"This book is the clearest map to book publishing you’ll find."
—Scott Adams, creator, Dilbert

Find out how to draft attention-getting proposals and queries

"A must read for any aspiring professional writer."
—Peter Maas, author, Underboss and The Terrible Hours

Consider this friendly guide your tour of the publishing industry – from understanding the business and its players to the art of negotiating advances, options, and rights. Take advantage of industry insider Sarah Parsons Zackheim’s decades of experience and find out how to refine your book idea, submit winning queries, get an agent, and more!

Praise for Getting Your Book Published For Dummies®

"Dig your well before you’re thirsty, and before you write your first book, don’t just read Getting Your Book Published For Dummies . . . study it!."
– Harvey Mackay, author of Swim with the Sharks: Without Being Eaten Alive

"An excellent common-sense guide filled with inspiring anecdotes."
— Vicky Bijur, President, AAR, Association of Authors’ Representatives, Inc.

Discover how to:

  • Choose a book idea
  • Get inspired to write
  • Find a market for your work
  • Choose a publisher
  • Act as your own agent
  • Negotiate your contract
  • Self-publish your book on the Web

Product Details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (July 31, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0764552570
  • ISBN-13: 978-0764552571
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
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 (4)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
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1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars This book made me look like an idiot..., October 23, 2003
By 
Reds Fan (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Getting Your Book Published For Dummies (Paperback)
Earlier this year I had a book fall in my lap. A publishing company had an idea for a book, and I just happened to be the expert in the book's topic. I had a journalism background, so the publisher offered me the job. We set up a meeting to talk about the specifics of my duties and my contract a few days later.

I ran out and sifted throught the limited section of books on publishing at my local bookstore. I chose this book and began to read through the chapters. Although the organization of the book is pretty good and there is some good information (probably more suited for the publishing market a few years ago), some really bad advice nearly cost me the job.

The standard royalty rates weren't really put into context (for example, my specific situation was hard to apply to the text). I felt like all of the information was too general, and because of that, I looked like an idiot in front of my editor, marketing coordinator and the VP of acquisitions.

I got a lot out of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published, The Self-Publishing Manual and a few other books. For the money, I got very little out of this title.

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48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Dummies buy this book, March 18, 2002
By 
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Getting Your Book Published For Dummies (Paperback)
Too general to be useful. Too trite to be tolerated. I read the whole thing in about an hour, and realized it was geared mostly to non-fiction writers, held dubious advice about calling editors directly (against a mountain of evidence to the contrary about how much editors do not want to receive phone calls), and was really only a superficial glossing over the topic. The 'Sell-Your-Novel Toolkit' by Elizabeth Lyon seems more helpful.
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Getting your book published for those who already have, March 25, 2004
By 
This review is from: Getting Your Book Published For Dummies (Paperback)
This book was a disappointment. The reviews below pretty much reflect my problems with the book. Another problem I had concerned promotion. The authors assume that every aspiring author already has extensive media contacts. The sample proposal they give is from 2 college professors who have already published 2 books and have been featured on national TV and raidio. Now come on, most people who buy this book have not been on national TV and have no idea where to begin a promotional campaign. That's why they buy this book in the first place! Instead of telling us how to establish media contacts to use in the proposal, the authors simply tell us to use all our media contacts in the proposal. If I already had media contacts I wouldn't have needed the book.

In sum, if you havn't already published a few books and havn't been on national TV, this book will leave you with many lingering questions.

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
There's never been a better time to be an author. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
accepts query letters, trade paperback titles, getting your book published, regular trade channels, most publishing contracts, editorial contacts, general fiction, unsolicited proposals, auction notice, floor bid, narrative nonfiction, accepts queries, book packagers, launch meeting, pub date, submission materials, author questionnaire, submission guidelines, general nonfiction, unsolicited manuscripts, typeset pages, baby name books
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Random House, United States, Little Brown, Dress Your House for Success, Getting Your Book Published For Dummies, Martin's Press, William Morrow, Books Worldwide, Literary Market Place, Overcoming Depression, Park Avenue, Warner Books, Houghton Mifflin, Jeff Herman, San Francisco, Clarkson Potter, Getting Rich, Henry Holt, Ken Blanchard, Martha Webb, San Diego, Stephen King, Three Rivers Press, John Grisham
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