Tips on Getting Published Without An Agent

So you want to get your book published but you have no idea where to start. Well, it can be very confusing at first, and after that it can become very frustrating. Here are some tips for the new writer to start marketing their book to publishing companies, and some tips about which company you should choose to go with.

The first thing you should do is evaluate the currant economic state of your country. If you are seeing hard times right now you will probably need to wait until things get better. Most publishing companies will not have any money to invest in an unknown author at the moment so you will have to be patient. Check out the local book stores for an indication on how the book economy itself is. You might find out that there are only a handful of books that have been published within the last year. If that is so you should wait until business gets better.

Another thing you can do to publish is look for every book in your personal collection, and any others you come across that are a similar genre to the one you are trying to publish and find there publisher. On newer books there will probably be a web sight of the publisher in the information page. If not you can look up the company online and try to find the website. Be careful because you might run into a false company, or a similar company with the same name.

Once you are on the web site go to the frequently asked questions or FAQ part. You should be able to find a question about the subject such as "how do I submit a manuscript to..." normally the company will say that it does not except unsolicited manuscripts at this time. This probably means in order to publish with them you will need in agent. If that is the case you should probably keep searching for a better company to publish with.

There is a good chance that there is at least one publishing company that will give you a chance to submit unsolicited work. It could take you several tries but keep searching. Eventually you will run across one.

Self publishing companies are almost never a good idea. Most of them are just looking to get your start up fee payment. If you do decide to take a chance on a self publishing company at least inspect the work they will put into the book. Sometimes they do not do much at all that you can not get for free from a print on demand publisher. So be careful.