How a Book Gets Published

Working in the publishing industry means I inevitably get emails from friends or friends of friends or long lost relatives asking, “how can I get my book published?”.   I have no problem assisting them, so long as the query is for guidance rather than magical fairy wand flicking to get their book published by my contacts within the next month. Publishing is a mysterious industry for those who aren’t in it and aspiring writers often don’t know where to look first for information.  So, here we go: How a book gets published.*

A writer, let’s call her Wendy, writes a manuscript.  She writes and edits and polishes and then has trusted people critique her manuscript. Then Writer Wendy writes and edits and polishes some more.  Eventually, after many drafts, she thinks she is done and decides that she wants to get this manuscript published.

Writer Wendy then begins researching literary agents.  She does this online or through books at her local library, discovering not only which agents represent the genre of her manuscript, but which are accepting new queries, what the agents have sold to publishing houses recently, etc.  Full of that knowledge, Writer Wendy picks a handful of agents to query. 

The query Writer Wendy writers is very carefully constructed.  A query gives her less than five hundred words to present her manuscript to a potential agent, illustrating the main character and his/her conflict within the story. Writer Wendy researches how to write a good query, using websites like Query Shark.  She writes and edits and polishes and then has trusted people critique her query.  Next Writer Wendy writes and edits and polishes some more.  Eventually, after many drafts, she thinks she is done and decides that she wants to send this query out to the agents she has selected.  Sometimes this query is submitted electronically, sometimes by snail mail.  Sometimes it is accompanied by none of her manuscript, sometimes by a few (normally between 10-20) sample pages.  Writer Wendy makes sure to send each agent the appropriate materials because of her careful research. 

Then Writer Wendy waits. Then she gets a rejection, from Agent Adam.   Then another rejection from Agent Alyssa.  Then another rejection from Agent Allen.  Writer Wendy is disappointed, but realized that perhaps her manuscript and query letter weren’t quite polished enough. She writes and edits and polishes and then has trusted people critique her manuscript and query letter.  Next Writer Wendy writes and edits and polishes some more.  Eventually, after many drafts, she thinks she is done and sends out query letters again.

Writer Wendy waits.  This time she receives positive feedback from Agent Amanda. Agent Amanda requests to see the full manuscript.  Then Agent Amanda wants to be Writer Wendy’s agent, and will help Writer Wendy find a publishing house to publish her manuscript and will look out for Writer Wendy’s behalf during complicated contract negotiations, payments, and so forth.  Writer Wendy is so happy!

Agent Amanda gives Writer Wendy feedback on her manuscript on how to make it more appealing to publishing houses.  Writer Wendy writes and edits and polishes and then has Agent Amanda critique her manuscript again.  Next Writer Wendy writes and edits and polishes some more.  Eventually, after many revisions, she and Agent Amanda think it is done and decide that they want to submit this manuscript to publishing houses.

Agent Amanda knows all about the industry, so she carefully selects a few editors to whom to send Writer Wendy’s manuscript. Agent Amanda waits.  She gets positive feedback from Editor Emily.  Editor Emily wants to publish the manuscript.  Agent Amanda and Editor Emily negotiate the contract, such as when the final draft of the manuscript is due, how large Writer Wendy’s advance is, and what rights (world, audio, eBook, etc.) the publishing house is buying.

Editor Emily gives Writer Wendy feedback on her manuscript on how to make it more appealing to readers.  Writer Wendy writes and edits and polishes and then has Editor Emily critique her manuscript again.  Next Writer Wendy writes and edits and polishes some more.  Eventually, after many revisions, she and Editor Emily think it is done.

In the meantime, Editor Emily has been the champion for Writer Wendy’s manuscript, getting sales/marketing/publicity/ librarians/booksellers/the reading public excited about Writer Wendy’s manuscript.  Editor Emily also works with design to make a cover for the book. 

Writer Wendy’s job isn’t complete either, even after revisions are finished.  She provides Editor Emily with ‘extra’ writing blurbs to help publicize her book and is also hopefully on social networking sites getting librarians/booksellers/the reading public excited about her book.

Finally, at least a year later from when Editor Emily acquired the manuscript, Writer Wendy’s book is published.  Now all the readers out there can enjoy it!

* This post isn’t meant to be representative of all the ways in which a book can get published; it is just one explanation of the complicated journey a book may go through from manuscript to bookshelf.