How do you go from manuscript to a book on a shelf?

GETTING PUBLISHED—Lesson One

© Elaine Masters, March 2002

I just got off the phone.
“Elaine Masters?” the voice had asked. “Elaine Masters, the author?”
“Yes?”
“Oh. My name is Mariella Gomes, and I’ve written a book.”
“Oh? That’s wonderful.”
“Yes, and now I want it to be a real book and be in the libraries and bookstores and places like that.”
“Yes. Of course.” (Don’t we all.)
“And the librarian told me I should call you.”

I recalled an earlier conversation with a librarian. One of her patrons was tickled that a publisher was actually going to make her story into a book—for only $3,000. I told the librarian that, for $3,000, I would be glad to make her story into a book.

“What do I need to do? Where do I begin?” continued Mariella.

I questioned her a bit. She had written a book of poems, helpful poems to teach children how to be polite and honest and to have faith in themselves. And of course, she had made illustrations for the book. Of course. Black and white line drawings.

We talked about self-publishing.

“Why pay that company $3,000 to publish your book if you don’t have total control?” I asked. “If I pay for a book to be published, I want to have control over the marketing. And you can get it printed for a lot less than $3,000.”

“Can I send you the book?” she asked.

I didn’t encourage her to do that. I’m an author, just like she is, and sending it to me would do no good whatsoever. Maybe because I’ve had thirteen books published, she thought I had an edge on getting manuscripts in front of publishers. I wish!

But it occurred to me that her book may be excellent. The drawings may be charming. A publisher may just be waiting for that manuscript to cross her desk. It could happen.

Since she was not internet savvy, I advised her to start with WRITERS MARKET. It’s available in all Hawaii’s state libraries—you have to leave your drivers license along with your first-born child as a deposit, but you can read it in the library and then get back your license and also your child, if you still want him.

I advised her to look for children’s book publishers listed in a separate section of WRITERS MARKET, to discover which ones might be interested in her type of book.

I also advised her to go to a book store and buy a copy of Writers Digest, Byline Magazine, The Writer, or some other such periodical to start getting a feel for the publishing industry. That bothered her a bit, having to actually put out some money to get information.

Someone had advised her to try for a grant to publish the book. That, too, may be a valid way to go. She could approach organizations that have an interest in character training. I’ve never applied for a grant myself, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work.

After we hung up our phones, I pondered the conversation. How many of you in cyberspace don’t know the first thing about getting your little masterpiece into book form? This series of articles will be aimed at you, the beginning beginner, you who don’t know “nothing from nothing”, who just may be our next Maya Angelou or James Clavell. It could happen!

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Read it to the end. There's always funny stuff to wrap it up.