Where Can I Publish My Book?
By Arthur Zulu
Part 1
"If you write without getting published, then there is no use in writing at all"
Those are words of wisdom from someone who wants you to seriously consider publishing
your book. But before you really do so, you will do well to consider these questions:
1.Have I actually written a best – seller?
2.Do I believe that people will read my book?
3.Is my theme such a timely one that the public should know?
4.Am I expecting responses from my readers?
5.Will I benefit in one way or the other from the publication of this book?
6.Will I be contented even if I don’t make money?
If you answer in the affirmative to one or more of the above questions, then do not
hesitate to listen to the above advice to publish.
It will, therefore, be nice for you to know different publishing channels available,
so as to enable you make an informed decision.
Trade Publishers Also called commercial publishers, these are the big fish in the
publishing industry. They include Longman, Macmillan, Heinemann, Random House,
Houghton Mifflin, Doubleday Books, Little Brown and Co., and Brace Jovanovich, among
others. They publish without asking for payment from authors.
My advice to you is that if you are pre – published, if you are a new writer, do not
waste your time submitting your books to these elephants. Because they will not publish
you! Yes, they have published a few unknowns like Eric Segal (Love Story) and
Kathleen Winsor (Forever Amber) But what about the countless others who got the
polite rejection slip: "We are sorry your book does not meet our present needs. Good luck".
I am among that number. I got a rejection slip from one of them, one year after
submission! Can you imagine that? Twelve calendar months! And in the end, you would
have to pray to the god of good luck, to get a publisher. And after another one year,
another rejection slip. Another prayer. So you would have to spend a lifetime looking
for a publisher, after months or years of hard work, writing your book.
The point is that they don’t have the time to read your book. Or they can’t recognize
a good book if they see one. Or, they can’t afford to risk their money publishing a
new comer like you, without hope of getting huge profits. Or, all of the above.
But consider: If you were a great writer, perhaps a Nobel Laureate who had written a
magnum opus. Or, if you were some celebrated politician with a memoir about your
dalliance with some red – lipped prostitutes. Or, if as a scientist, you had written
a book about how time travels backwards, titled The Theory of Backward Movement.
And you even promise to take your readers in a space ship to witness some epochal events
- pick your choice - the fall of Carthage, (history), the splitting of the continents
(geography), Noah’s flood (religion), and the real thing -- the Big Bang (Science).
Do you know how the publishers would react?
All of them, the above ones I have mentioned, and others not named, would rush to
dangle certified Bank checks with ten digit figures before your smiling face! But try
sending your unsolicited manuscript, you unknown writer; and be damned!
Part 2
Let’s illustrate this point further. Do you know Jerzy Kosinski’s The Thirty – Nine
Steps? Yes, one writer had that best – seller typed, and submitted, as a manuscript
by a new writer, and waited for an answer. And what reply did he get? All the trade
publishers rejected it. All the agents told him, "no way". And to worst the experiment,
Random House which originally published the book, threw it out as an insignificant book.
Yet, this was a National Book Award Winner.
Even, some other best- sellers were "randomly" rejected. Like The Jungle by Upton
Sinclair. Like Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. Like Magnificent Obsession by
Lloyd C. Douglas. Do you now understand what I mean when I say you should not go to them?
But you have another chance.
Subsidy Publishers Also known as private or commission publishers, subsidy publishers
are a better choice; if you can pay to get your book published. And they pay higher
commission or royalties, than the trade publishers. They include Vantage Press,
Minerva Press and Avon Books.
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