How do I go about becoming an author and publishing my first book?
I want to become an author writing children’s stories. How do I go about becoming an author and publishing my 1st book?
Do I have to fork out my own money to publish my book in small quantity? How to go about doing it?
Forking out money for your own book is called Self Publishing. You have to find a printer that actually prints bound books in your area. Then, as you said, you pay to print all of the books yourself and then you solicit bookstores in your area to buy them from you. It can be a huge money pit if you do not have the right kind of book for your area and if your marketing is not done properly. Unless you are making a chap book for friends or a family memoir that only requires a few copies, Self Publishing is a huge investment and highly risky.
To get a publishing company to do all of the work for you, you have to write a book proposal, then submit it to a literary agent.
Depending on whether or not the book is fiction or nonfiction, there are different steps and requirements for the book proposal.
www.writersonlineworkshops.com has classes on
"Writing the Novel Proposal"
"Writing the Non Fiction Book Proposal"
"Focus on Writing Fiction for Children"
"Focus on Writing Nonfiction for Children"
Here is a link to their class descriptions: http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/retail/faculty.aspx?r=workshops
The magazine, Writers Digest, has a plethora of literary agents to contact, articles about submitting prose, poetry, and nonfiction.
I have taken several classes on Writers Online Workshops, which is run by the Writers Digest magazine. The classes are excellent and all of the instructors are published authors.
You can also search the yellow pages for a Book Consultant in your area. But they usually offer legal advice and it is not free. You will end up having to go to a literary agent anyway.
P.S. There are several books on the market about writing book proposals, but beware. Some of them geared toward nonfiction books. Others were written for fiction proposals. And their titles do not always indicate which they are for. If you are short on cash for the workshops, purchase the textbooks for these classes, write your book proposal, and submit it to a literary agent found in the back of Writers Digest magazine or to a literary agent in your home town.
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there are publishing companies online that will help you. if you go in the phone book or online you can search book publishing companies and they’ll be glad to help.
References :
Forking out money for your own book is called Self Publishing. You have to find a printer that actually prints bound books in your area. Then, as you said, you pay to print all of the books yourself and then you solicit bookstores in your area to buy them from you. It can be a huge money pit if you do not have the right kind of book for your area and if your marketing is not done properly. Unless you are making a chap book for friends or a family memoir that only requires a few copies, Self Publishing is a huge investment and highly risky.
To get a publishing company to do all of the work for you, you have to write a book proposal, then submit it to a literary agent.
Depending on whether or not the book is fiction or nonfiction, there are different steps and requirements for the book proposal.
http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com has classes on
"Writing the Novel Proposal"
"Writing the Non Fiction Book Proposal"
"Focus on Writing Fiction for Children"
"Focus on Writing Nonfiction for Children"
Here is a link to their class descriptions: http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/retail/faculty.aspx?r=workshops
The magazine, Writers Digest, has a plethora of literary agents to contact, articles about submitting prose, poetry, and nonfiction.
I have taken several classes on Writers Online Workshops, which is run by the Writers Digest magazine. The classes are excellent and all of the instructors are published authors.
You can also search the yellow pages for a Book Consultant in your area. But they usually offer legal advice and it is not free. You will end up having to go to a literary agent anyway.
P.S. There are several books on the market about writing book proposals, but beware. Some of them geared toward nonfiction books. Others were written for fiction proposals. And their titles do not always indicate which they are for. If you are short on cash for the workshops, purchase the textbooks for these classes, write your book proposal, and submit it to a literary agent found in the back of Writers Digest magazine or to a literary agent in your home town.
References :
Writers Digest magazine
http://www.writersdigest.com
http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com