I've finished my book, now what?

'I've finished my book Sarah, but now what?'

This is one of the most common conversations I have with authors. These are the ones who get hold of me when they feel they have finished their book.  

We sit sometimes thinking….. I've written this book. I'm done and dusted.

But truthfully, writing the book is only one step of the process.

 I want to guide you through your next steps.

My first question is – you sure you are finished? 

Finished (for me as a literary agent and potentially as a publisher) means you've done your first draft, your second, your third and your fourth draft. Then you've had beta readers; you've got crits from your friends who tell you 'it's wonderful', and from others who tell you to 'fix some things'.

Then you've done your fifth rewrite, maybe your sixth. Now you're sitting with what you think is a good manuscript.

That’s the point at which you're going to start lifting your head and looking at what's next.

You will be submitting to publishers soon

And at this point, I just want to separate out the words “publisher and agent. They're two different people, but it's the same process. So, when you are sending your book out to publishers, you can do the exact same thing to agents. 

You are going to be pitching your book. Now, this sounds terrible. This sounds like a printer salesperson trying to sell ink. Thankfully it doesn't really work like that in the literary world. It's all very quiet, dignified, and it's all done on a screen via email. Phew. 

You need your pitch documents solid

Your are going to start sending your book out into the world and for that you need pitch documents.

• For your novel, it's a synopsis along with the full manuscript.

• For a non-fiction, it is your book proposal, along with your manuscript.

Both of those go with what we call a query letter, which is basically the body of the email you send with these two documents attached. Don't get too fixated on it. But what you do need to know is that after you've written a book, these documents become incredibly important. Because these documents are what you actually end up sending out. Please don't make a mistake and send your book out too early. Before you clear, you've got a great document.

• So you have got the best possible book on the planet that you can provide.

• And then you've got your pitch documents, right? 

And that really is the first time that you know that you really look at submitting your book to agents or publishers.

 Compile a hit list of about 20 names. 

They can be agents or publishers. Do some research. 

You will get the publisher’s name, the email address, the exact person you're going to send your book to, and potentially how send it. It could be that they have an online platform like Submittable, or via an email. 

Start sending out your book.

• Each time you send your book out, you may get nothing back. 

• You may get a reply back saying ‘we've received it’

• You may get a 

• Hopefully, at some point, you may get a yes.

If you do get any feedback, use it to adjust your next query letter. I do recommend is that you allocate a good year to this process of submitting your book for publication. It sounds like a terribly long time.

Q. What if it all goes nowhere? 

If you go all the way down this road, if you've submitted, and you've got nothing and you're exhausted, and you want your book out there then I would definitely consider self-publishing. 

That means you are going to pay the costs of bringing a book out, of birthing a book into the world.

There are many ways you can do that. You can do that hand-in-hand with the publisher (which we call a hybrid solution), where they help you do all of that, which I would recommend by the way.  

Q. Where does the editor sit in all of this?

The answer is really – nowhere.

If you're an author of a book, you get your book to a place where you've got a great story, it is as you think it should be. Particularly in the novel realm. 

Only when you begin the publishing process is really where you engage an editor to start working with your book and getting it ready for publication. 

Sure, clean up any obvious errors, but when you submit a book, you will find that publishers and agents are looking for your story.

They're looking particularly at who you are and your market, and they're making an assessment.

The assessment is, can I sell these books? So stop worrying about an editor for now. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrzMCvTjrZw