Getting Your Book Published for Dummies (Paperback)

~ (Author), Adrian Zackheim (Author) "There's never been a better time to be an author..." (more)
Key Phrases: accepts query letters, trade paperback titles, getting your book published, New York, Random House, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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.

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (July 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764552570
• ISBN-13: 978-0764552571
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #61,608 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #44 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Library & Information Science
  #83 in	Books > Reference > Publishing & Books > Authorship

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 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

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.

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dummies buy this book, March 18, 2002

By	Stephanie Dray (Owings Mills, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

20 of 22 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	Robert H. Wilson (San Deigo, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.