Saturday, February 4, 2012

Assuming a writer had the where-for-all to complete writing an entire manuscript and tenacity to edit it, then comes the business end of the bargain—trying to get that manuscript made into an actual book.  There are several options to make this happen.  One can go the traditional route by trying to convince a publisher to sell their book.  Or the writer can self-publish.  The latter can be done through a company that will collect a fee for setting up the manuscript in the proper publication format and may also provide cover design work.  Or the writer can self-publish through a number of companies where all the set up legwork will need to be done themselves, not getting charged as a result.

No matter which method a person uses to get their manuscript published, a certain amount of patience and resilience will be needed to make it through.  Attempting to sell one’s story to a publisher will no doubt be plagued with numerous rejection letters that can make anyone question if they truly are a good writer.   Having to come up with the money to pay to have a self-publishing company do the labor to get one’s manuscript published can be daunting.  Even trying to set up the formatting to self-publish through a no-cost company has its set backs, the writer stressing over if they’ve laid everything out just so or if—horror of horrors—they’ll recognize glaring errors only after the book is published and in circulation.

Many are under the misconception that writing a book is as simple as that—putting words down on paper.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Hopefully, readers now have better insight as to what perseverance and effort is required to get one’s manuscript(s) published.