These are the publishers that have been around for years and most of us recognize at least some of the names, such as Wiley, Knopf, McGraw-Hill, Simon & Schuster and many University Presses. These publishers have very specific subject interests and will only consider titles that fit within very structured guidelines.

If you decide to submit your book to one of these traditional publishers, you should first contact them via their website to obtain a “Guide to Authors.” Next, almost invariably (unless you are a celebrity) you must submit a proposal. The book proposal is a detailed description of your idea, table of contents, two or three sample chapters, timeline for completion, your background and qualifications for writing on the particular subject and a marketing plan for selling you book. If your idea is to be considered, the publisher will respond to you, usually within 6 months. If they are not interested, they may not respond at all, which can be extremely frustrating.

At this point, many authors decide to find an agent to pitch their work to a publisher. But an agent will require the same type of proposal and may be at least as hard to snare as a publisher. Agents do have more knowledge about the publishing world and individual publishers than most authors, especially new authors. They help negotiate contracts and work in the author’s favor, for a percentage of the profits from the book.

If the agent wants to see more of you chapters, great! However, this is far from a publisher promising to buy your work or a publishing contract. Much more hard work is ahead, but, at least you have someone’s ear. At this point or even earlier, many authors look elsewhere to publish their work. The electronic age has provided many new alternatives.

 

 Self-publishing as a business model is as all-American as it gets, but it carries a stigma in some people's eyes. If you're worried about how people will perceive your books, don't use your family name as the publisher name or consider writing under a pen name. That's literally the only difference between self-publishing and any other kind of publishing, at least as far as the public can tell. The advantages of self-publishing your own books in terms of author relations , which should not be a problem,  and minimizing out of pocket expenses are obvious. As is true for other self employment ventures, you have to be honest with yourself about how hard you're willing to work to start a publishing business and you have to be realistic about the probable outcome.

 

What is the difference between a "small press" and an "independent press"?Many independent presses may also qualify as, but are not always, small presses. As a general rule, independent publishers are non-conglomerate, non-publicly listed publishers. As you can see from this, the demarcation lines are blurred. The definition, in itself, is not that important. These publishers are often even more focused as to what subjects they will publish than are the traditional publishers. Being small, they publish fewer titles, therefore, they are more selective. These, of course, are generalities. To select a publisher, look at titles of books in the field in which you are writing in bookstores and libraries to see which publishers are active in your field. Most publishers have websites where you can find information about what they are looking for and how they require submissions to be presented.

 

When publishing your book electronically your costs are incredibly low (relative to hardcopy publishing). You will need to get the software to create the eBook, but, depending on the software package you choose, you can even get that free of charge. Whether you sell or distribute 1000 copies of your eBook or just one copy, your cost of producing the eBook remains the same fixed cost it took to produce the first copy. Actually, once you've bought your software, you can produce any number of eBooks without incurring any additional cost.

No hassles with publishers accepting your work. You can say what you want, how you want. You can be your own publisher and distributor. It’s another form of self-publishing, but requires less investment and, perhaps, is more “socially” acceptable.