Publishing Your Story! (Guide)

(Skip first paragraph to go straight to guide)

First of all, congratulations are in order: you finally finished your story! Now you have to publish it. However, this can be a difficult journey for even the best of writers. With this guide, I will try and help you figure things out, or at the very least give you an idea for what you have to do. After all, the publishing process depends on the scale and on the genre of your story.

#1 - Make sure it really is done.

All writers want to be able to finally publish their story, share it to the world, and hopefully be able to make a career out of something they love doing. However, writing is a long process (check out my other related articles for tips and guides for writing). In order to ensure the highest possibility of publication, well, your story has to be good (in regards to your story's genre, style, etc). You have to read your story over and over again and see if you like it not only as a creator, but as a reader. Sometimes taking a break and coming back to your story after a few weeks helps you remove that creator's bias in order to properly edit your story. Make sure to get out of your "editor mode" when trying to read your story, or just get someone else to read it. The most important question you can ask yourself though is: is it good enough for publishing yet? Don't be too hard on yourself though.

#2 - Traditional or Self-Published?

There are two ways to publish your story: either the traditional way (which is the best way) or self-published. I went down the self-publishing route to try it out and unless you know how to do all the things a publishing house and literary agency can do, then I'd suggest to do the traditional and more practical route. TLDR: traditional publishing (less money, but an easier publication process and wider coverage of your story) vs. self-publishing (more money, but overall harder to make your story into a book and make it known). It's up to you to chose depending on what you like. Again, traditional publishing is highly recommended and is what the rest of this guide is going to talk about.

#3 - Find your literary agent/agency.

A publishing agent is the person who you will submit your story to. Literary agents will then submit your story to publishing houses. You can try to skip this and submit your story directly to a publishing house, but most big-name ones do not accept self-submitted stories. It is important not only to find a reliable agent but one that makes you feel comfortable. They will read over your story, tell you of any edits that must be done, etc. This is of course if they accept your story. IMPORTANT: Literary agents/agencies (like Robert Lecker Agency, or 8th House Publishing) do not get paid by you directly. They get paid about 10-15% of the book's sales. The publishing house will take another cut as well. Do you research and find a publishing agent/agency that you feel will give your story the light of day. I prefer a local one.

#4 - Prepare for rejection.

As good as your story may be, it will most likely take time as an unknown author for your story to be published the first time around. Harry Potter got rejected many times before it got published. Just because you get denied a few dozen times does not mean your story is bad, but use the opportunity to go over some final edits until it finally gets published. Patience is needed.

#5 - Things You Can Do to Ensure It Will Get Published

Of course, edit your story over and over again. Check if there's any little details you can change or anything of the like. Check out YouTube videos and read articles for tips and guides (like mine). It is in your best interest to make your story good and unique.

That's all I can give based on my experience. Thank you for reading and I hope my fellow writers that you can share your passion to the world. Good luck.

You got this!