How Traditional Publishing Works for Novel-Length Manuscripts
Your future as a writer may seem murky at best. It's difficult to dream beyond your latest notebook or Google Doc if you don't know how publishing works.
Today we're going to talk a bit about that! This post will be for publishing longer manuscripts. Eventually, I'll make another one for publishing short stories.
Step 1: Finish That Manuscript
You may have heard that you can start contacting literary agents or publishers after you have a decent chunk of your manuscript done. While there are a few here and there that could be fine with that, it's best to always finish your manuscript before querying begins.
How do you know when it's finished? I'll write more on that later, but for now here's a basic checklist:
Edit your story for flow, character development and pacing. This may involve storyboarding again or even talking through your book with a friend.
Edit your work for line-edits (spelling, punctuation, etc.)
Give your work to a beta reader! That could be your partner, best friend, family member, etc. They'll have a fresh pair of eyes for things like plot holes, confusing arcs, unfinished story lines, and tension that never resolves.
Double check that your themes get resolved.
Step 2: Draft Your Query Letter
I already made a post showing how to draft a query letter and the answers to common query questions, but here's a summary: you need a good query letter for your finished manuscript. They're the first impression an agent gets of you and your work.
Query letters always include:
An introduction to your work (the title, the genre, the word count, a one-sentence summary)
An explanation of the plot (don't hold back—it should include your beginning, middle, and end, plus any tropes and themes)
Comparative titles (novels in the same genre as your work that were published in the last ~2 years or less)
The reason why you wrote your novel (what makes you the best person to write about that theme/plot/character growth, etc)
There are a few ways to find agents and you can try different methods throughout your querying journey.
Use QueryTracker to find agents by genre, availability, location, etc. Then track your queries with the same website to find out who's read your work, who's rejected it and who wants to get in touch. (The free version does most of this, but there's a paid version for people who want to hardcore dedicate themselves to querying).
Check out those comparative titles—authors almost always thank their agents in the Acknowledgements section. Start a running list and note their publishers.
Search Twitter for agents who are open to queries. It may seem strange, but most agents have Twitter accounts and announce when they're open or closed to queries. You can always follow them on your personal or writing account, but you can also search for them by looking up hashtags like “open for queries" and “submissions are open.” If you want more details, check out this great resource for more hashtags and strategies. Note—you should never direct message an agent on Twitter. Always contact them through their preferred methods, usually located in their bio or pinned tweet (if they’re open to queries).
Step 4: Sign With an Agent
This step can take weeks, months, or years. Every writer’s querying journey is different. Sometimes the market isn’t right for a specific genre or storyline. Other times, you may need time to revise and polish your manuscript or shelve it entirely for a more developed idea.
Searching “amquerying” on Twitter is a great way to read other writers’ experiences. You’re not alone if you’re frustrated, exhausted, tired, or just plain sad. It’s hard to get rejections and try again when you’re likely the only person who currently believes in your specific manuscript.
Agents have to pick projects based on what they want to represent, but also what they can sell. If your story is too new or different, they may pass until it’s more culturally relevant or more popular with readers.
When an interested agent offers representation (likely after requesting a full manuscript), ask plenty of questions to get to know them. You don’t have to accept the first agent who comes along. They should align with your vision for your book and who you want to reach with it.
When you do sign with an agent, celebrate! It’s a big step that you should recognize! Lots of hard work and dedication went into getting an agent, and it’s only the start of your publishing journey.
Step 5: Look Forward to Your Book Deal
Your agent has a few roles. They’re supposed to look out for your best interests with publishers and all the legal aspects that come along with book deals.
But first, they have to land a deal. That means they write pitch letters or decks and send them to publishers they think will be the best fit for your manuscript. Letters are more common, but pitch decks are more necessary for writers of children’s books and graphic novels who have pictures integrated into their work.
This process can take a while. Don’t expect to sign a book deal overnight or even in the first month. As long as your agent keeps up communication with you about the process, you’ll know you’re in good hands.
Things That Will Be in Your Book Deal
Contracts include all the information related to your deal. Your agent will use it to potentially negotiate for more money, better control over your film rights or foreign publication rights, and basically all the little details that go along with those things.
When writer’s sign a book deal, the get a check. That check is called your advance. The advance is a sum of money that the publishing house or imprint gives you for the right to publish that book. It could vary from $1,000 to six figures, but new authors (and especially women and people of color) typically get around $5,000 for their first book.
Smaller amounts will arrive in a single check. Larger amounts are split into multiple checks spanning the time from your signing date to publication.
Every time your book sells a copy, you’ll earn royalties on that sale. However, writers don’t see royalty earnings until those royalties out-earn their advance.
If you got the average $5k advance, you’ll have to sell enough books to earn $5k in royalties before you see routine checks in the mail for royalties after that point. Your agent will negotiate your royalty percentage during…well, negotiations.
Step 6: Figure Out the Pre-Production Details
You’ve signed your book deal—throw a party! Then it’s time to get to work.
Your agent will connect you with an editor, who then sends you an editorial letter after reading your manuscript. It will contain everything they think could improve plus their marked-up copy. You’ll dive into structural changes if necessary, but mostly line edits.
You don’t have to agree with everything your editor suggests. It’s still your book. However, they know the industry the best and will want your work to succeed as much as you do. Talk things out and come to a compromise, but stay true to your book’s intended purpose throughout editing.
Your publisher’s legal team will go over your edited copy when it’s close to perfect to ensure there are no issues. They typically find things like the use of song lyrics that you haven’t bought the rights to and mentions of real persons or brands that may result in lawsuits.
Next, your design team will work with you on potential cover designs. interior layouts, jacket versus hardcover designs and blurb placement. They have most of the say over your final cover, but your agent can go to bat for you if you think the options are truly ugly.
Next, you’ll come up with a marketing plan. Imprints and publishing houses typically have marketing teams and publicity experts that work with authors. You’ll talk about which stores will sell your book and which websites will get ads based on your target reader audience’s known shopping habits/website preferences. Ads on social media and your involvement with posting about your book will also come up.
Proofreaders and beta readers are also part of this stage. They’re the fresh sets of eyes every writer needs to know if their readers will understand how they wrapped up their themes, character development paths and plot. They’ll point out when things don’t make sense, need more expansion or could be cut as they read through your Advanced Readers Copies (ARCs).
Step 7: Marketing and Blurbs
A bit more about the marketing stage—your agent has a hand in this too. Based on their previous or current authors, they may have personal connections with influencers and big names in the book world. They’ll send those people ARCs and ask those people for blurbs if they think those famous people have audiences who would be interested in your manuscript.
You can also talk with your agent about getting blurbs from similar debut authors in your genre or only authors from marginalized communities, depending on your priorities. The only time they might say no to this idea would be if your preferred people hardly have audiences or if their audiences have shown interest (via book sales) in other genres.
Your team will decide other things like:
If you’ll send some ARCs through contests
Which retail stores will stock your book
If you’ll pitch your book to get sponsored by big book clubs
If you’ll pitch for your book to be included in book subscription services
Where you’ll post digital ads and for how long
How you’ll create marketing campaigns with sites like Goodreads and other book sites popular with readers
Most writers also have to market their book on their personal Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter accounts. You’ll likely only get out of this step if you’re already an established author who can sell books without blinking (think: James Patterson or Nora Roberts).
If you need help putting together a posting plan, your marketing team and agent can help with that. Most publishers request that their writers’ develop online followings because it creates personal, instant connections with readers/allows for free advertising via posts/generates direct feedback.
Step 8: Negotiate Your Media Rights
Most writers negotiate their media rights after landing a publishing deal. The publisher needs to know that your work has a chance of being picked up as a movie or TV show. Debut authors have a lot to prove, unless you’re one of the rare writers who snags a movie deal alongside a mega-advance because your work is once in a generation.
Your agent will negotiate this for you and possibly let you keep your media rights. If you keep them, you can sell them separately later on. When you or your publisher is ready to sell, production company scouts will see the announcement on book deal websites. They may contact your agent to negotiate with you before you start selling copies, but it may happen after your book has shown promise on the market for a while too.
Step 9: Sign Copies of Your Books
About a month before readers can buy your books, you’ll get copies to sign! Prepare your hand and wrist, because this step surprises most writers. If you have more than a handful of books to sign, you’ll need to pace yourself.
Still, this is an exciting step in your publishing journey. Take lots of selfies and enjoy the moment!
Potential Step 10: Start Your Book Tour
Big names in the book world get book tours set up by their publishers. Debut authors often don’t. If you want to do a book tour, talk with your agent early in the process. They can work with your publicist to schedule a few speaking engagements, but you’d mostly be in charge of contacting bookstores to reserve an hour or two for signing books and meeting with readers.
If your publisher does want you to do a book tour, regardless of whether you’ve been published or not, they might pay for your transportation and accommodations. It depends on your unique situation.
This is a very brief, not super specific outline of traditional publishing. I hope it gives you some perspective on the process. After landing a book deal, it can be a year or more before your debut day arrives. There’s so much happening behind the scenes—but now you know a bit more about it.
