How to Write and Publish a Novel

1. Read the type of novel you want to write. Lots of them.
2. Study genres and subgenres. Which one best suits the story you have in mind?
3. In the selected genre, what are the publisher's length constraints?
4. Make a list of possible publishers. What are they looking for? Do they accept queries from authors, or only agents?
5. Learn the craft. Take classes. Read books on writing. I found some great online classes.
6. Write a synopsis. Include story question, main characters and settings. See sample synopses.
7. Write an outline of scenes. Identify point of view character, scene goal, conflict, and, if it is important, date, time, weather. Estimate 2,000 words per scene.
8. Prepare bios of the main characters. Add other characters as needed.
9. Write the first three chapters. Don't ask me what a chapter is. You'll know it when you see it.
10. Revise the synopsis when needed.
11. Revise the outline when needed.
12. Edit the first three chapters until you are ready to share your writing with others.
13. Join a writers' support group where others will critique your work in return for your comments about their work. There are a lot of ways to do this. Some publishers will get new authors together to help each other. Organizations such as the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) have local chapters or online groups that do this. Romance Writers of America have subchapters. You Write On.com where you are assigned readings randomly. For each story you critique, you get a credit for a critique of your work.
14. Send copies of your work to your friends and ask for honest feedback, but believe in yourself.
15. Find manuscript contests you can enter. This is an excellent way to get useful feedback. The first level of the contests are usually handled by authors. But, if you come in first, second or third, you have an excellent chance of getting your work read by an agent or a publisher's editor.
16. Keep writing. If you are unpublished, agents and publishers don't care too much about how great those first three chapters are. They want to know you can finish the book.
17. Polish, polish, polish. Hire a professional copyeditor if you need to. It cost about $1,200 for each of my books. Unless you are an English major, this could be your largest expense.
18. Write a query letter. These are described in novel writing books and writing classes.
19. Update the list of possible publishers you made when you studied genres.
20. Make a list of possible agents.
21. Don't bother trying for an agent or publisher until the book is complete and has been professionally copyedited.
22. Editors and publishers want exclusive review time and they are sometimes slow, requiring three or more months to respond. Some authors send their queries out simultaneously anyway.
23. If you get an agent, great. Having an agent opens the door to more markets. There are many publishers that will not accept proposals from anyone except agents.
24. If no agent, send queries to publishers. Publisher's websites tell you how. They are slower than agents. Usually, you will need to send a query letter, a synopsis, and the first three chapters. If they like what you've sent, they will ask to see the entire manuscript.
25. Traditional publishing should be your first choice, because the publisher has the ability to market your book in many more places than you can otherwise.
26. If traditional publishing not possible, select a self-publishing company. I used CreateSpace.com for the print edition and the Kindle edition. I used lulu.com for the other eBook editions, including Apple's iPad. Research this.
27. You are the publisher and will need to make decisions about book size, font, cover, ISBN, barcodes, setting a price, etc. It can be learned, but it is not all intuitive. In my town, many of the members of writers league have done this and will be glad to help. It's much easier the second time.
28. CreateSpace and Lulu both use Print on Demand (POD) methods. The cost of the printed version is the same no matter how many copies you buy. Also, they will sell and ship books for you so that you don't have to do that yourself.
29. Bookstores will not stock books unless you allow for refunds. This can be costly, so most self-published books don't appear in bookstores. My book is available on consignment in two local bookstores on consignment.
30. If you self-publish you also have to do all the marketing. However, you would need to get involved in this with a traditional publisher as well. I've found that book signings with or without talks is the best ways to sell books.
31. Maintain a presence on the Internet and the social networks. I write a blog and maintain a website. Also, I work with other authors throughout the country to help advertise each others books.
32. Encourage people to review your book and provide free copies for reviewers. You need to have a strong Amazon.com page since they are the largest online bookstore. My book was a best seller on Amazon.com one day due to my concentrating sales on a particular day.
33. Write another book. 

 
   

Selling POD Books in Big Boxes

When I first started my print of demand (POD) publishing project with CreateSpace, I chose the most expensive approach they had which included what they called Expanded Distribution Channel and Pro Plan. By doing so, I was promised my book would be available to major online and offline retailers as well as libraries and academic institutions throughout the United States.
As it turns out the wording may be slightly misleading. Yes, Where Love Once Lived is available to offline retailers as long as they are willing to accept certain guidelines. Which, by the way, are guidelines they are not going to accept.
I happen to know the Community Relations Manager for the Barnes & Noble store nearest to me because he has come to our writers club meeting to sell books from time to time. So, I know he did his best when I asked about a book signing opportunity.
Here’s what he wrote to me.
Barnes & Noble policy states that in order to bring merchandise in for an author event, the title must be available from a wholesale distributor on a returnable basis. While I can order your book for an individual customer on a pre-paid basis, I cannot place an order for a quantity of this title because in the event that there are unsold copies, I cannot return them to a vendor for credit.
Barnes & Noble does not buy from individuals as vendors nor do we take merchandise on a consignment basis.
Also, your book does not have a retail price point printed anywhere on it. Even if I could bring this book into our store, it’s highly unlikely that people will buy something that doesn’t have a price on it.
I suggest you check with your publisher and see how much it will cost you to make this book returnable and to print a retail price point on it.
I didn’t ask CreateSpace about making the book returnable because I know that would be too costly. However, I did ask about adding the price to the book. It took three attempts to find out. They didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. Finally, I talked to someone on the phone and they checked with someone else who said they could add the price for $75. However, they would have to make the book unavailable for two to three weeks while it was being changed. Since I have a book signing ahead I decided to wait.
The price of the book couldn’t be set until the costs were determined. The costs couldn't be determined until the book was complete. Therefore, I didn’t know what price to put on the book until after it was printed. I shouldn’t have let that happened. But, in my defense, this was the first time I had done this and relied heavily on the expertise of the publisher. Too heavily, as it turns out.
As it turns out, I am the publisher, not CreateSpace, and I’ll know more about many things next time. And, who knows, maybe you, dear reader, are thinking about the POD approach and something I say here might help you.

My Book Is In the Largest Bookstore in Texas

Where Love Once Lived is now on the shelves of BookPeople, the largest bookstore in Texas.

BookPeople opened in Austin in 1970, and was named Best Bookstore in the United States in 2005 by Publishers Weekly. Many famous authors include BookPeople in their book-signing tours. Laura Bush was there recently and Jimmy Carter will be signing his latest book at BookPeople on October 29, 2010. They’re selling tickets to the Carter event for crowd control.

Even with their national fame, BookPeople has a special place on its shelves for local authors. Just inside the front door, on the way to the coffee shop, there is a shelf on the left with a sign that says Texas Authors. There are some famous names there, including one of my favorites, Susan Wittig Albert. Five of my books are in the same shelf. Well, hopefully, there are fewer now. My friend Rollo Newsom has written a community comment card for this shelf.

You’ll find five more copies of Where Love Once Lived on the second floor in the inspiration section right along with Jan Karon’s books. I picked that shelf because of Karon, and added a community comment card with quotes from Sandy Althaus’ review.

So what, you’re thinking. Bookstores sell books. They stock books. That’s what they do.

Well, most don’t stock print-on-demand (POD) books like mine. The big chain bookstores won’t stock Where Love Once Lived. They’ll sell it to you and get one for you, but only if you pay in advance and wait a week.

BookPeople in Austin and Hill Country Bookstore in Georgetown both stock my book because on their consignment programs. I furnish the books and they sell them. I end up making a little less than books sold on Amazon.com, but not by much. Also, I’m responsible for costs due to theft or damage.

Is this a reason to avoid publishing POD books? I don’t know yet. With a new book almost ready to pitch, I wish I knew. I’ll be looking at the pros and cons of self publishing and traditional publishing and reporting my findings to you in a future post. If you have knowledge about it, please comment here.