How to get a book published

Writing a book has become common place in the business community over the last few years. The question ‘how to get a book published?’ is one asked by many.

With the rise in partnership publishing, self-publishing, and eBooks, it’s easier than ever to see your name on the front cover of a book.

Most well known ‘experts’ have published at least one book, as they know it’s a great way to reach more people and build their credibility. But it can be a struggle to get clear on your message, know who you’re writing a book for, and using your book to attract more clients and grow your business.

So what are the steps you need to take to get a book published and who needs to be on your book publishing team?

Your publishing team

If you want to be an expert in your field and do what you do well, then it makes sense to have a team of people around you who are experts in their field. They will help you to get your book published better and more effectively than you can do with your own experience. I’m sure that you want to ensure that your book does what you wanted it to do, i.e. build your business. These are the people who can help you.

Book writing coach or book mentor

The first person you need is a good book writing coach or book mentor. When you choose the right person they will help you to clarify your ideas, craft your message, and put together a great plan for your book. As they are impartial and don’t know your stuff, they should also be able to see any holes in your writing and help you to formulate your thoughts.

A good book mentor will help you to write your book. If you’re stuck or procrastinating, they’ll keep you accountable. They’ll also be able to help you if your critic gets in your way or you lose focus on what you want to achieve. Some of my clients send me each chapter they write it. They also have a plan working back from their book launch date. This helps them to see the mini milestones that they need to meet to make it happen.

As well as working one-to-one with clients, mentoring them through the process to plan, write, publish and market a book, my team and I run 2 day planning and writing mini-retreats in the UK, a writing retreat in Spain and also a Book Marketing weekend. These are great affordable ways to focus on your book, create a great plan, make time for writing, and learn how to build your business through your book. We also cover the publishing process in more detail in the 2 day planning and writing mini-retreat.

A good book mentor won’t let you write any old book. They’ll make sure it’s aligned to your business, and work with you on your business strategies alongside helping you to write it.

Developmental editor

For some books you might need a developmental editor. This person takes your words and helps you to develop your content. This is a role that your book writing coach or book mentor may take, or it may be a specialist. When I wrote The Mouse That Roars, I used a developmental editor because it’s really hard to see your own stuff when it’s so close!

Peer reviewers

Although not a paid role, having a group of people who can review your first draft is essential. If you’re the only person who has read your book to date, having a group of people who can give you unbiased feedback, and give you tips on how you can improve it, is important before you get your editor on the case. These people may be your clients, your business friends, your book mentor and will ideally be people who are in your ideal client bracket.

Copy editor and proofreader

It’s important that your published book is well presented and error free. Otherwise it will put off people buying your book and will affect your business brand. That’s why you need a good copy editor and proofreader. Although these tasks are separate, I use a great lady who does both the editing and proofreading for mine and my client’s books. In Your Book is the Hook she gives her tips in chapter 10 on how to choose the best editorial support for you.

Louise Lubke-Cuss says in my book “An edit may include structural changes and suggestions, as well as corrections to grammar, punctuation, spelling and style, whereas a proofreader will give your work a final polish, eradicating any errors which have been missed, ensuring consistency of format and style, and only changing or querying things that are absolute clangers which, without attention, could spoil your book”.

Illustrator

If you want to include diagrams or illustrations in your book, then you may also wish to have an illustrator or graphic designer on your book publishing team. I’m currently working with an illustrator on one of my client’s books, who is the same lady who illustrated Your Book is the Hook. Although illustrations aren’t essential, for some books they’ll bring your work alive and help you to explain pertinent points.

Designer

The next step is to engage a designer. A good designer will do multiple things. They’ll help you with the artwork on your book jacket cover, whether you choose an illustration, stock image, personal image or simply text.

They’ll also design the inside of your book, known as typesetting. Although you may think that you can do this yourself, there’s certain etiquette that’s involved with typesetting a book, and a great designer can make or break your book’s success. There’s nothing worse than a dodgy layout where the text falls off the page, or font that’s too big or too small. They’ll also prepare your eBook for publishing on Kindle and other online platforms, which is more than just uploading a PDF and hoping!

Book publishing

Now you’re ready to actually get your book published. I normally advise that you allow around three months to go from your draft to having your published book in your hand, and slightly longer for your book to be available on Amazon. As you can see, there are various stages in the process, and you can’t simply finish your book on a Friday and hope you’ll see it in print on the Monday! And if you get a traditional publisher, this process can take around a year or more.

When it comes to publishing, there are various options available to you. I mention these and their pros and cons in chapter 13 of Your Book is the Hook. In a nutshell, there are three main options – traditional publishing, partnership publishing and self-publishing.

Most, but not all, of my clients go down the self-publishing route and this is actually a good route to take if you want to create a business building book. That’s because it is quicker, so you can get your book working for you in a more timely fashion,. When you have your team in place as I’ve outlined and you’ve followed my process for writing the manuscript, you’ll be able to produce a high quality book.

If you go down the self-publishing route, it’s important to consider how to get your book printed. You’ll usually need an ISBN unless your publisher provides this for you. Also consider how your publisher will distribute your book. Will they list it on Amazon or will you need to do this yourself? Feel free to contact me to find out how I can help you with this through Librotas Books.

Marketing support

Lastly you need to market your book. Your book won’t sell itself! Even if you get a traditional publisher or employ a publicist, there are still fundamentals that you need in place. It’s important that you don’t wait until your book is published to focus on your marketing too.

In my new book – which takes you through all the steps involved to market a book from the day you start it to long after your book launch – I’ll be telling you more about the different strategies that you can employ at each stage.

How I can help you

If you’re writing a book to be an expert in your field, you probably won’t want to be an expert in book publishing as well. That’s why I’m here to help you so that you can do the thing that you’re good at instead.

One of the things that you may not realise is that I help you with all of the above, including the publishing. I have a great team in place who can make it easy for you, so that you don’t have to do everything yourself.

To discuss how my team and I can help you to plan, write, publish and market your book, then do get in touch and arrange a call.

And if you’d like us to take you through the process, then join us for the next Planning and Writing Mini-retreat. You’ll get the time and support to get clear on what you’re writing, who it’s for, and how you can use your book as a brilliant marketing tool!

I look forward to helping you to write and publish your book.