Getting your book published is not just a walk in the park. However, it can feel like a dream come true to see the documents that were once saved on your laptop making their way to the shelves of your local bookstores. It is indeed an exciting feeling to make your book accessible to the world through publishing. However, this is often one of the biggest challenges of most authors today, as they often get stuck in the mud of indecision when looking for a book publisher — and the industry isn’t the most forgiving. But the question that begs for an answer here is how do you find your book publisher?
Interestingly, there are many ways to find a publisher. But in this article, we will discuss the easiest steps to finding them. Read along!
1. Use Recommendations and Feedback from Authors
The best way to get out of a web of indecision is to always seek counsel from people who have faced similar situations in the past. This is also the case when you are looking for a book publisher. It would help to seek recommendations from authors and their feedback on the publishers they’ve collaborated with in the past. Doing so would help you decide the right publisher for your project.
This strategy is relatively straightforward; all you have to do is join an active social media community of authors and seek their recommendations and feedback on some publishers they worked with in the past. Or, find authors you like and ping them with the question of what publishing houses they’ve come to work with (it might work, especially if you’re a fan of indie literature or follow the recent debuts.)
2. Check the List of Best Publishers
Another easy way to find a book publisher is to look for the list of the best publishers in your niche. Doing so would help you find a publisher that is best suited for you.
Generally, checking the list of best publishers can be simply done by checking all the books they have published in a particular category and then writing to authors you feel most drawn to for feedback.
3. Use Agent Services to Find Your Publisher
You are probably reading this post because you need a convenient way to easily find publishers. Admittedly, getting your books published through an agent offers a considerable level of convenience. When you employ the services of an agent to help you find a publisher, the agent would bear the burden (it is a burden if you’re not that into socializing) of doing extensive research across the whole industry.
Overall, allowing an agency to help you find a publisher comes with many perks. The agents often ensure that your books are ready to be published before sending the copies to the publisher. In most cases, the agents carry out the task of performing the relevant negotiations with the publishing house, drafting the proposals, and more. Using the services of an agent comes with a specific fee, which is most often constituted as a percentage of the estimated revenue from the book sales.
4. Find Services Online: Check Most Known Publishing Platforms
It is 2022 already, and the entire world is transforming into a digital hub more than ever. The online space offers so many benefits in today’s world. Information on various topics is readily available on the network, and as such, you can easily find your publisher through a simple Google search with the relevant keywords or LinkedIn, or Twitter (there, they often put their association with a publishing house in bio.)
The online space also offers you the added advantage of looking up a recommended publisher to know more about their portfolio, including their previous jobs, and determine if they are a good fit for your project. Generally, resorting to an online search for your publisher could be perfect for saving time and getting the project done with so much ease.
5. Check Relevant Forums to Find a Good Fit
Although searching online for a publisher is a good idea, it would also help to check out, and join various publishing forums to find the right publisher for your book. The main essence of these forums is to connect with fellow writers in your niche and evaluate publication projects’ authenticity by reading several reviews of their past jobs and discussing them. Therefore, it could become a good avenue to land a good publisher in your niche.
Final Thoughts
One of the biggest myths that authors believe is that writing is the most difficult aspect of creating a book. But this is not actually true. Many people underestimate the number of efforts to find the right publisher. Fortunately, finding the right publisher can become relatively easy with the right guidelines, such as those that were discussed in this post. Once you find a suitable publisher for yourself, your book will be on its way to the shelves in the bookstores.