Hi, you mentioned having some resources for people considering Indie publishing? I would love to know more!
Hi! Yes!
So you mentioned not having a big budget, which was discouraging you from going the indie route, and I did a metric tonne of research before publishing Changeling, and came across a handful of really good, free resources so thought I could pass some along in case it's helpful!
The only thing I don't have a good, free, replacement for is an editor I'm afraid, but a robust series of self edits could work well, or possibly a kickstarter for the editing costs? Something to look into maybe.
If you do decide to run a kickstarter to cover your editing costs, I'd highly recommend the Facebook Group "Kickstarter for Authors", loads and loads of free advice can be found in there, but that's all I can really suggest since I've not run one myself.
When it comes to preparing a book for publication, however, I have a couple of helpful free or low-cost resources.
is Reedsy Book Formatter.
Now, Reedsy recently updated their platform and pricing, so I just (24th May 2025) went in and checked if their formatter was still free to use. It is!
You have to make a Reedsy account, or login with a Facebook or Gmail account. Additionally, there's lots of buttons suggesting their "paid features", which makes sense. However the formatter, and the ability to download your formatted manuscript either as a PDF (for Print Books aka Paperback or Hardcover) or an EPub (Ebooks) is still a free function.
The only 'catch' to the Reedsy formatter is that, on the bottom of the Copyright Page, they will input something like "Formatted with Reedsy Free Formatter" or something along those lines. I don't remember exactly.
I was on a bit of an ego trip when I was researching my debut novel, so that was a No-go for me and I saved up and paid for Atticus to format my books, but that's NOT budget friendly and runs about $147, but I digress.
Once you HAVE a formatted Book File — and if it's a PDF for Paperback, you know how many pages your book will be, then next expense is going to be a Cover.
You can make your own book cover, but unless you're (A) A graphic Designer and (B) have your thumb on the pulse of the book cover market in your genre, I wouldn't recommend it.
What I would recommend is...
Getcover Design Services. Getcovers are a professional design company based in Ukraine, and they designed the cover for my Reader Magnet "Whatever Happened to Madeline Hail?" and my debut novel, "Changeling" (I'll put pictures of the covers below.)
Getcovers has a sister company called Miblart, which charges a closer-to-market-average for their design services, although still cheaper than many designers. I have NO PROOF of the following statement, but I suspect the designers at Getcovers are new with the company, and being trained up, before they're moved over to Miblart.
Again, I have no proof of this, it's only a suspicion on my part. And that's NOT to say I have any complaints over Getcovers quality. What I would say is that, being based in Ukraine, somethings a little bit of back and forth is required before the designer understands what you're looking for. (In one particularly memorable moment, I ended up doing a mockup in MSPaint, and that seemed to solve ALL communication issues lol)
But, on the flip side, all of Getcovers cover design packages come with unlimited revisions, so as long as you have a bit of patience, they're well worth it.
Which brings me to cost. Getcovers isn't free, of course, but in my humble opinion they might as well be. Getcovers will design an Ebook Only Cover for $10. They will design an Ebook & Paperback Cover for $20. They have a premium service, for detailed covers, which is a Ebook & Paperback for $35. If you want a Hardcover Design added on, that's an additional $10.
It's not free, but you cannot buy a PREMADE cover for that price. It's a little bit insane.
Getcovers over other design services as well, such as author branding (My author branding was developed by them as well), marketing materials, and merchandise design, but again, I digress.
Finally, uploading your files. You have self edited as best you can, you've formatted your book, and you have your cover files. Now, all that's left to do is upload the book for sale somewhere.
This is, honestly, the easiest part.
Draft2Digital is a free platform to upload your books. They are a distributor, which means they take a small cut of your royalties for doing all the labour of sending your book out to a dozen other storefronts, but for ease of use, and time saved, it's a negligable amount (10% if I remember correctly).
KDP or Kindle Direct Publishing is basically Amazon. You CANNOT have more than ONE KDP account, so if you're not sure if you've made a KDP account before, I'd reach out to customer service and check if you have a KDP account linked to your Amazon account. They'll be happy to let you know if that's the case, before you try making a new account and end up in hot water. But, essentially, it's also free to upload your book to KDP.
When it comes to your EBook on KDP you have a choice between exclusive and wide. If you want to upload your Ebook to other platforms like Draft2digital, you CANNOT put your Ebook into Kindle Unlimited (aka KU). This is because Amazon requires exclusive rights to your book, so if it's uploaded anywhere else, they'll kick up a fuss. I've never had my books in KU, I prefer to keep Changeling widely available so take this next part with a pinch of salt, but I THINK KU is a 90day rolling contract. So you can have your book in KU for 90 days, and then choose to go wide.
It's more difficult to be Wide, and THEN go KU, because you have to pull your book from all storefronts and make sure it's not available anywhere before putting it back into KU.
The only "Cost" of publishing on KDP is if you decide to have a paperback or hardcover book, and want them to print a physical proof copy. This is a recommended step to make sure the files all uploaded correctly, however it's not a requirement. And if you do decide to print a proof, it's not too expensive. I think Changeling, which is a 5.5x8.5 trim, 399 pages, usually costs me less than $12
If you decide to publish Wide, and no Exclusive to Amazon, then other storefronts I recommend uploading to directly, instead of through Draft2Digital are Barnes & Noble, Googlebooks, and Kobo.
Itch.io is also free to upload to, and is beginning to pick up steam with Ebooks! You can also turn on tips, so people can choose to pay you more than the book price is set to. The only 'Downside' to Itch.io is that is has a minimum withdrawl cost, which I THINK is $10 before you can have it paid out to your paypal account. Again, I'm pulling those numbers from memory, so I might be off a little.
But, essentially, you can publish an Ebook for as little as $10, and a paperback for as little as... what... $45? Tops?
I know that's still a handful of cash, but it's much, much, more reasonable than initial research suggests when you start looking into it <3
I hope ANY of this helped!!
EDIT!! I forgot to add the covers for "Whatever Happened To Madeline Hail?" and "Changeling" for examples of Getcovers work!!
Whatever Happened To Madeline Hail is the reader magnet for my newsletter, so I only really needed an Ebook Cover. I could have just spent $10 on this, but I want to offer it as a paperback once the main trilogy is complete, so I decided to go for the full package $35. Mainly because I was VERY new and didn't know how many stock images the designer would need to bring my vision to life. In hindsight, and for future reader magnets, I'll probably settle with the $20 option.
Changeling is the cover of my debut novel, and I've lost count of how many compliments I've gotten for it. I chose the $35 bracket for this cover design, and I actually ordered the entire trilogy all at once, so I also have books 2 and 3 covers matching.
Since Changeling is available in Paperback and Hardcover, I paid an additional $10 for the Hardcover version, the picture below is the full wrap for the paperback...
And for Xmas my Dad gave me the extra I needed for Getcovers to make custom Title Pages based on the cover design. I don't have a picture of that immediately to hand, as they're on my laptop, but a screenshot from inside of my ebook file looks like...
Possible artists for you to commission for book cover art, character art, and/or merch - part 2 [press here for part 1]
[I started collecting this for myself but it felt worth sharing ❤️]
**Please note that the prices vary a lot from artist to artist, so just because one artist is out of your budget, it doesn't mean there isn't another on this list that might be a great fit for you!**
navigation post get my book, Throne of Vengeance! TNV anthologies ToV community!
hi, fools! this was long overdue. forgive me—i got distracted. anyhow! welcome to the official guide to self-publishing, as requested by satoh (@@satohqbanana). i’m going to give you tips based on my own process, but by all means, feel free to deviate and add/remove steps for your own process. some steps are mandatory though. no skipping 😤
okay i’m not going to yamble too much, lets get into it.
1.0 finishing the draft
2.0 the editing process (copyediting vs line editing vs beta reading)
3.0 the latent period (!!!)
4.0 pre-publication marketing
5.0 the cover + blurb
6.0 the final read-through
7.0 pre-orders and marketing
8.0 publish!
1.0 finishing the draft:
stop procrastinating and write, dodohead. words on the page. it doesn’t have to be perfect. you don’t have to agonize over that one line for an entire afternoon. stick to the vision and get the words on the page.
if you’re wondering why i’m saying it doesn’t have to be perfect when we’re talking about publishing a (hopefully good) book, it’s because there’s still the editing process later down the line to worry about typos, grammar issues, beta reader feedback, and all that jazzy good stuff. right now, you need to have your vision and get it down. this isn’t your polished copy. but you need to have your draft completed before you go anyways. so stop moping over whether “elucidate” is the word you want to use in that sentence and finish the sentence.
lol. with love <333
2.0 the editing process:
now you can worry about elucidate and its purpose in the sentence. the editing stage has many sub phases. copy-editing and the line editing. you can hire someone to do this for you or do it yourself. maybe get a friend to help. doesn’t matter. you just have to be critical and thorough. no sugarcoating. no, “oh ill just let this slide” or “i don’t wanna be mean so i won’t give real helpful feedback” editors. proper editors who will say it as it is.
copy-editing (as i understand it) is big book concept editing:
are there plot holes? is the lore consistent? does it make sense? is it unclear? is the story even interesting? how’s the pacing? what about the characters? too many? not enough? the voices aren’t distinct? the style is inconsistent? none of the characters feel like separate or fully formed people?
this is the phase where all those questions are addressed. once the overall concepts and structure of the book has been editing, constructively analyzed, and you’ve gotten feedback for it, go back to step one and revise your draft based on the critique. you don’t move on until those big concept issues are addressed.
done? okay, now it’s time for line editing.
exactly as the name implies, you’re going line per line, word per word, and catching any typos, grammar errors, punctuation—all that jazzy good stuff. REALLY BE THOROUGH. get a fresh pair of eyes on it. hire someone. put it through an editing software like grammarly. but be THOROUGH.
do the words you use make sense? are you using british or american english? slang? are you writing too much purple prose? do the sentences flow? are you using too many commas (stop that. don’t be afraid of periods).
you really need to understand the grammar and syntax rules of the english language to do this step on your own. otherwise, get help. or learn. whatever works with your budget lol.
done line editing? great! send it to a beta reader/ a friend, a writeblr mutual, someone you hired—just make sure they aren’t dancing around feedback and they give it to you as it is. i had a friend straight up tell me one of my drafts was ass LOL because the characters voices were too blurry and she never knew who was talking. there were some slow pointless chapters and the pacing was inconsistent. thus, i went back to step 1 and revised based off her feedback and came back with another draft.
don’t be afraid of critique. you need it to grow.
3.0 the latent period:
this is where you take a step back from the draft, preferably for months, and avoid interacting with it to give your mind a break and reset your eyes. this is a huge stage because this is where i want you fools to get your copyright and isbns in order.
it costs ~$60 to make sure no one can steal your shit. this is nonnegotiable. do this.
i also got an isbn for my book so i could publish it with other services apart from KDP and expand the market. hence why some people were able to buy it off barnes and noble, for example. i highly recommend.
this is also the phase i started looking at platforms i wanted to publish on/with and reading the contracts. i’m being serious. read the contracts. make sure it aligns with what you want and what you’re comfortable with. don’t skim. don’t just accept. you’re putting your signature on that, bro. read it properly.
the publishing platforms i used were ingramspark and KDP. you’re gonna need to know your book dimensions too. so have an idea so you can estimate the printing costs.
the settings i did for mine were off white, 6x9 paper with the recommended gutter margins (used KDPs excel calculator to determine) and black and white ink (no colour) to get the lowest printing cost per book. ingram spark was similar. only thing with ingram spark is you need your page number to be even (no 575–it has to be 576) and KDP has a 600 page limit. so bear that in mind.
4.0 pre-publishing marketing:
you have to generate hype for your book. now that its copyrighted, its safe to share excerpts, little quotes, make edits for your characters or oc profiles to generate an audience. i did this mainly on tumblr vis tag games and whatnot, but honestly? that's the BARE MINIMUM lol.
don't be like me. i hate social media so i honestly did not market my book the way i know i should have (and still should). i still don't market my book because lol... i dont wanna 🥲
BUT! like it said--dont be like me. make an author website (a proper one. pay for the domain if you can, otherwise use the free domain, but make a professional author platform for yourself and your biography. you'll need this to set up a goodreads author account and claim your book on there). use instagram and make an author instagram profile (i technially have one here, but i never use it lol womp womp i just hate instagram sue me) and promote your book with the teasers. go on pinterest and make moodboards or "book trailers" through a carousel of images. USE TIKTOK. i know it's a plague platform (i dont like it, clearly), but it is where you will find the most fruits for your marketing.
this stage is all about generating hype for your book. why? so when you set your book up for preorder (and, yes, you will be doing that so you have a general idea of market demand and interest), you have people who are genuinely invested and want to buy your book.
marketing ideas because apparently i'm your free publicist:
oc edits
character moodboards
quotes and excerpts
that one trend on tiktok where you give the vibe of the book and a soundtrack // song to it
oc / book soundtracks
"would you read a book about..." [list the themes / enticing tagline elements of your story] -- it's a trend on tiktok
platforms to promote your book:
tiktok (#booktok)
instagram (#books, #readers, #bookstagram)
tumblr (#readers, #bookblr, #writers of tumblr, #reading, #writers, #book reccs; don't just use writer hashtags, is what i'm saying)
wix or the like to make your website
twitter (a lot of authors have official twitter accounts. once again, i never bothered OOPS)
youtube (making videos talking about your book--the ogs of this blog know LOL-- compiling playlists, etc)
also, don't be afraid to make or commission art for your ocs. speaking of which...
5.0 the cover and the blurb
you can't avoid it anymore. you need to make a cover and write a back of the book blurb // synopsis for your book.
YES i know its hard to describe your book in a non-spoilery, enticing way. work on it. struggle through it. get help. but get it done. you can't finish your cover until it is done.
NOTE! if you are making your own cover, the dimensions are only going to be .25" longer than your page dimensions if it is hardcover. ALSO you gotta make it a pdf file. one pdf file that contains the back of the book, the spine, and the front of the book laid out as one page. this is why you need to get the blurb down.
if you're making it by yourself: play around with fonts, use canva + photopea // photoshop. add chrome, but not too much chrome. use references and easter eggs of important plot elements for your visual pieces. current book trend is text-dominant covers with interesting font and stylistic elements. i.e. tov has the title "throne of vengeance" as the main eye-catcher, in a metallic, legible but stylistic font, BUT there is the dragon ouroborous ring and the iron-rose dagger on the cover as well. the colours are intentional. the entire cover is an easter egg for the book, almost like a spoiler for those who know. make it engaging. enticing. you wanna draw readers in, but also make fans hyperanalyze and interpret the elements you chose.
another thing--you'll need to know your page count to know how thick the spine should be. so bear that in mind.
commissioning an artist may be expensive. i actually did commission someone for tov. i probably wont for the remainder of the series since this was the most expensive part for me. depending on who you get, it can range from $300 - >$1000. so just keep that in mind. i queried a lot before i commissioned the artist for my cover. and she was very in tune with the books themes, the symbolic motifs, and the general aura of the story when she created the cover. that is a good cover artist. don't pay someone if they dont take the time to learn about your book before making the cover.
resources to use:
photoshop/photopea
canva
reedsy (for finding artists to commission)
i can't think of anymore on the top of my head oops. ALSO if you're gonna use images, pay attention to copyright. you can't use copyrighted pinterest images for your covers. just saying.
6.0 the final read-through:
it should have been some months by now. time to read through your own book, start to finish, and see how you like it. catch any last minute errors, see whether you're satisfied with the end product, make any final revisions. this is the draft you're going to submit for preorder. the pdf cover will be your cover. the blurb will be your blurb.
also, in this phase, add your dedications, your acknowledgements, and your author blurb. oh yeah babes you need a headshot. i just used a picture from vacation LOL oops i dont like taking headshot pictures i got lazy womp womp.
anyways, your author blurb should describe you in a tag line (G.K> Multani, otherwise known as Naveena Khedar, is a pre-med student with a passion for writing... or something like that). then describe your credentials. have you written before? doesn't have to be same genre, but you want to represent your portfolio. list other books, articles, or journals you've written. then you as a person--hobbies, interest, etc outside of writing. finally, list your socials or where people can find you.
7.0 preorders and marketing:
publish the draft on KDP and ingram spark for preorder. announce that your book is available for preorder. it should take about a week for it to be approved and the preorder link to go live. and then repeat the marketing steps from step 4, but this time with your cover and a link to shove down people's throats :)
8.0 publish!
the date it goes live, make it an event! host a live-publish session! do something fun! have a party! do a book signing! go buckwild go crazy!
i did a live-vc session and unboxing.
oh yeah, also... while we're here. go buy/read my book.
Throne of Vengeance Official Synopsis
Buy my book, Throne of Vengeance: Volume One
Read Throne of Vengeance: Volume One PDF
lol :)
--
okay i have to go back to studying for exams. let me know if i missed anything.
hello, it's me, your favourite publishing student. let's talk acquisition.
so you've managed to secure an agent with your manuscript. then what?
most agents will do a developmental edit on first deciding to work with you. plot, character, pace, continuity and worldbuilding all come under this. what makes a good agent (and editor) is whether they are offering you suggestions on what to do instead of outright rewriting your work.
once you've made those changes (or gone back and forth depending on how much you do or don't want to make that change), your agent will send your manuscript to editors in publishing houses.
a key question on their mind is: can i sell this book? agents (and editors, but i'm getting to that) look at a book's merit, and they look at what they can compare it to. you need some sort of USP (unique selling point)
is it pride and prejudice but trans? most ardently by gabe cole novoa. is it black mirror in south east asia? red dust , white snow by pan huiting. (highly rec both, btw)
key note here - if you are submitting to a publishing house that accepts unsolicited manuscripts, you will skip straight to this next step.
your manuscript will land on an editor's desk, along with the pitch your agent has given them, usually tailored to that editor's or that house's tastes. in a big house, that editor will usually pass that manuscript to an assistant, to do a reader's report, in which the assistant will sum up the plot, point out strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, tell them whether it is worth publishing. some manuscripts don't make it past this step, and in that case, the agent will send it to another house.
if the editor likes the sound of this manuscript, they will then read it. usually, they will read it three times: one for first glance edits, two for developmental edits, and three for line edits (line by line, spelling/grammar, vocabulary, etc). once this is done, they will tell the agent that they plan to put their house in the running for acquisition. then comes the acquisition meeting.
the acquisition meeting is where your editor will fight to get the publishing house on board with your book. remember that USP? here's where that comes into play. your editor needs, above all else, to get sales and marketing on board. how can i sell this book? editors often ask other members of the meeting to read the book beforehand to have some support, and to point to the book's readability.
the literary qualities of the book certainly come into play, but what sales and marketing want to hear is how your book is both familiar and new. so your editor will construct a pitch that both highlights the excitement of your book, but also point to previous successes with books like yours. i know that comparing books to other books is tedious, but sales are notoriously pessimistic. they control the money, after all.
but your book makes it through the meeting, and you have the whole team on board. now comes the editorial letter. this is where the editor is going to do their best to sweet talk you (and your agent) into accepting their offer of publishing your book. however, they will both gush about your work, and tell you the edits they want you to make to it, from the big developmental changes all the way down to the way a character moves in a scene. don't be discouraged if the list of changes is long; if the editor didn't want to publish the book, it wouldn't have made it past their assistant.
this of course is assuming you decide to accept their offer immediately. you could have offers from other houses, and in that case you usually won't receive the editorial letter - or at least, not in such great depth - until you have signed a contract with the house of your choice. that is more complicated.
hope you found this useful! my dms are open if anyone has any questions :)
5 Things I Learned While Querying + Helpful Resources
Writing and publishing a novel has been a lifelong ambition for me. I achieved the first half of that dream when I wrote my first novel at age 9 or 10. It was called The Pharaoh’s Ghost, which is, well, extremely on-brand for me. Although I’ve worked on many other writing projects over the years, I didn’t make a serious effort to get a book published until 2022. My debut novel will be coming out next year, shortly after my 40th birthday. It only took me 30 years to get there!
I hit the querying trenches in the summer of 2022 with little sense of how it all worked. By February 2023, I had signed a contract with CamCat Books. The whole process was an exhausting emotional thrill ride and one of the most interesting learning experiences of my life.
I’m by no means a grizzled veteran of the querying and publication process at this point, but as someone fresh from the trenches, I have a pretty good sense of what it looks like right now. I thought it might be helpful to other writers starting their own querying journeys—or coming back after a long hiatus—if I discussed a few of the things I learned along the way.
If you’d rather skip my rambling and get straight to the helpful resources, scroll down to the end of the post. Every link I’ve listed there played an immensely valuable role in the querying process for me.
It helps to go in with a game plan.
Querying a manuscript for the first time feels nebulous and scary. One thing I’ve seen a lot of my fellow authors grappling with is the question of how long to keep at it before shelving a project. How many agents should you query before you set it aside and move on to the next book—or go to Plan B (which, for many authors, is self-pub)?
The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It depends on your personal goals, the nature of the book you’re trying to publish, and your stomach for dealing with the querying grind, which takes a lot of time and emotional energy. But one of the best decisions I made for the sake of my mental health during this process was setting those limits for myself ahead of time.
I read an article that advised querying 80 agents before giving up on finding representation for a project. I’ve also seen similar pieces recommending other numbers, like 100 or 150. Those are arbitrary numbers, of course. Some (incredibly lucky!) writers get picked up after querying fewer than a dozen agents, and others query hundreds before getting their “yes”. But I liked 80—it felt attainable, realistic, and not completely overwhelming.
(By the way, no matter how many agents you decide to query, you’ll want to make a spreadsheet. There are a lot of moving parts to keep track of when you’re querying multiple agents. I had a big spreadsheet o’ agents and publishers that I made in Excel that helped me stay on top of things like who I’d already queried and who I still planned to query, expected response times, whether I’d heard back from an agent yet, whether I had already queried someone else at the same agency, etc. There’s no way I could have managed it all without the spreadsheet.)
I also came up with a backup plan. Two of them, actually—for me, plan B was to submit my book directly to presses that take unagented manuscripts. Plan C was to self-publish. Having these other options in place was incredibly comforting as I waded around in the querying trenches. I knew that one way or another, my story would find a home. Ultimately, no matter what happened, I was in control of its final destiny.
I didn’t get all the way through Plan A before my path took an unexpected and delightful turn. I had queried 70-some agents and gotten a few bites (but no offers yet) when I joined an indie press’s Twitter pitching event on the spur of the moment. One of the editors liked my pitch, so I submitted my MS to them. A couple months later, I had a book deal. Which brings me to my next point:
2. Getting an agent and self-publishing aren’t the only paths to publication.
If you’re gearing up to try and get a book traditionally published, brace yourself. You’re going to be buried under an avalanche of well-meaning friends, relatives, and total strangers advising you to self-publish.
Self-pub is a completely viable and valid path to publication, and some authors are mind-bogglingly successful at it. I have nothing but admiration for those who can pull it off, and as I mentioned above, it was on my list of options if other avenues didn’t work out for me. I wanted to try the trad approach first, though. I may be a personage of many talents, but I have the business acumen of a sea sponge. I went into this venture knowing that I would benefit greatly from the support and guidance of a professional team that knows the ins and outs of bringing a newborn book into the world.
But for those who are struggling to connect with an agent, there is an alternative that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough—submitting directly to presses that take unagented manuscripts. These are not typically Big Five publishers. They may refer to themselves as indie presses or small presses, but they publish on the traditional model. This means that they take care of the costs and logistics of designing, printing, and distributing your book. They also pay their authors (in the form of royalties, advances, or both).
This is the path I ended up taking, and I couldn’t be happier. The publication process is personalized and collaborative in a way that, from my understanding, you aren’t likely to get with one of the Big Five. I'll still need to do a lot of my own marketing, but that's increasingly true of authors working with major publishing houses as well.
All that said, be careful. Do your research before signing with any press (or agent, for that matter). Read up on them on forums like Absolute Write and check if they have a Writer Beware entry. Talk to other authors who have worked with them, if possible. And if a publisher asks you for money, either run away or go in fully informed about what you are dealing with—i.e., not a traditional publisher, but a hybrid, assisted, or vanity press. Also keep in mind that even established trad publishers sometimes engage in unsavory business practices (or they might just not be the best fit for you, personally, for whatever reason), so dig a little deeper even if you’re pretty sure you’re dealing with an outfit that’s legit.
(Incidentally, one of the big green flags for me with CamCat was that the publisher, Sue, advised me right up front to get my contract reviewed by the legal team at The Authors Guild before I signed it. This is excellent advice for any writer, whether you’re signing with an agent or a publisher. The Authors Guild gives free legal advice and support to all dues-paying members, so your only investment is the price of membership—we’re talking about $100-ish per year, depending on your membership level—which is much, much more affordable than hiring a lawyer.)
For more information about the possible paths to publication and the pros and cons of each, check out this helpful breakdown from Jane Friedman.
3. The waiting is the worst part (or it was for me, anyway).
Querying a book takes forever. There is so. Much. Waiting. Most agents are overwhelmed. Some of them take months or even years to get back to querying authors . . . that is, if they respond to you at all. For me, the waiting was harder than the actual rejections. At least a quick rejection brings closure! You know you can move on and stop worrying about it.
Waiting to hear back after you’ve gotten a request for additional pages or a full manuscript is even harder. Once you get a request, you have a tantalizing sliver of hope to hold onto, but a request is no guarantee you’ll get an offer of rep. So you spend the next several weeks (or months) on tenterhooks, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And if you do get an offer, then you get to hurry up and wait some more. Authors who manage to land an agent and crawl out of the hell that is querying are then plunged into the purgatory of being “on sub.” Your agent must shop your book around to different potential publishers, another process that can take months or years.
Since I skipped the agent bit, I was lucky enough to be spared some of that additional waiting. But even after you sign with a publisher, there’s still a lot of waiting involved in the process of preparing a book for publication. The time from signing the contract to release is typically about 12-18 months. At this point it’s happy waiting, of course. There’s light at the end of the tunnel! Really exciting things are happening during the waiting! Still, if you’re an anxious or impatient sort of person, just . . . be prepared. It’s a looooong process.
4. The Twitter writing community is incredibly helpful.
Twitter is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, we all know this. It’s always had these tendencies, and the recent Muskening has only made them worse. If you want to use it for, well, anything, it’s important to curate your experience carefully. Be judicious about the accounts you follow. Be prepared to block liberally. I’ve found it helpful to use my writing Twitter strictly for writing stuff. Honing in with a laser focus will help you avoid the soul-deadening morass of literal Nazis, flat-Earthers, and Bitcoin bros.
Despite all those caveats, the Twitter writing community is full of kind, helpful, brilliant, and creative people. Dive into tags like #WritingCommunity, #amquerying, and #MSWL to connect with both authors in the trenches and agents/editors who are open to queries. You’ll find people who are happy to discuss writing, commiserate about the woes of querying or being on sub, help you come up with comps or fine-tune your pitches and query letters, and trade advice in DMs about which agents and presses are good to work with and which ones to avoid. It’s a great place to look for beta readers and critique partners.
You’ll also see agents, publishers/editors, and writers behaving badly, which can be alarming and discouraging. But that stuff is helpful in its own way. You’ll get a sense of the major pitfalls to watch out for and how to keep yourself safe.
One of the most useful things, for me, has been participating in Twitter pitching events. As the name suggests, these are events where you post pitches for books you are querying—sometimes accompanied by moodboards or other visuals, sometimes not—and industry people will like pitches they are interested in. A like from an agent or a publisher is an invitation to query them. Sometimes industry folks who are otherwise closed for submissions will consider queries based on pitch event likes. This tweet contains a list of upcoming pitching events (although it is not exhaustive).
Some pitching events, like #moodpitch, have several days of bonus activities leading up to the main event. This can be a fantastic opportunity to network with other writers and finetune your pitches.
Not only are these events good for connecting with potential agents and publishers, but they’re amazing community building opportunities. Querying writers get together to critique each other’s pitches, swap support during the event (this involves retweeting and commenting on each other’s pitches so the algorithm doesn’t eat them--no liking, since that's just for agents and publishers), and cheer each other on. I’ve seen some incredible pitches and found a lot of writing community mutuals this way.
I connected with CamCat Books through #CamCatPitMad, a pitching event just for CamCat that currently takes place four times a year. You can check out the dates and event rules here. Although this particular event is more limited in scope than your average Twitter pitchfest since it’s just for one publisher instead of an industry free-for-all, the rules and setup are pretty typical.
Unfortunately, agents and authors alike have recently raised alarms about sharing pitches and snippets online at events like these due to concerns about the theft of ideas—both by humans and AIs. You can see a thread about this issue here. I honestly don’t know how concerned anyone should be about either possibility, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re weighing the risks and benefits of joining a pitching event.
5. You don’t need a massive social media following to get published.
When you’re new to the querying process, you’ll see a lot of well-meaning advice that isn’t necessarily accurate. One thing I’ve seen pop up a few times is this idea that agents and publishers won’t even look at you unless you already have a major social media presence and tons of followers. This is alarming news for new writers trying to break into the industry, but fortunately, it’s simply not true.
Sure, it’s a good idea to already have a basic author website and some social media platforms set up, and a lot of agents and publishers will ask to see them. But you don’t need to be a successful influencer with a huge ready-made fanbase to find representation or get a book deal. Just relax, focus on the monumental tasks of writing and querying your books, and put yourself out there on social media whenever you have the spoons to manage it. Engage with other writers and readers and just have fun. After a while, you’ll start to build a following naturally. Don’t sweat it.
On a related note, you don't necessarily have to hire a pro editor before querying, either. Get your book as polished as possible before you query or submit it, of course. But keep in mind that if you get an agent, they'll most likely help you edit your book, and then it will be edited again once it hits the publishing house. In the meantime, find some readers with a good grasp of the things you struggle with the most, whether it's SPAG or story structure.
Finally, here are some invaluable resources I stumbled across during my querying journey:
Manuscript Wish List: If you’re not sure where to look for agents or publishers, this is an excellent place to start. Industry people post information here about what they want (and don’t want!) as well as instructions for querying them. Make sure to check the agency or publisher website before submitting, since the info on the MSWL website isn’t always up-to-date.
QueryTracker: Any writer who’s seriously querying a book is going to end up using this website in some capacity. Many agents require you to query them through forms on the industry-end website, QueryManager. You can then monitor the status of your queries through the sister site, QueryTracker. QueryTracker also allows you to search for agents by genre and other filters. I found it worthwhile to subscribe to the premium version (just $25 per year) and get access to the additional features, such as the ability to view individual agents’ query response rates and other data.
Writer Beware: One of the biggest industry watchdogs. Want to find out if a potential agent, agency, or publisher is legit? Start here.
Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity: Erica Verrillo does a great job keeping on top of industry news. Her website is an invaluable source of information about agents, publishers, writing contests, conferences, and other resources and opportunities for writers at all stages of the querying and publication journey.
Jane Friedman’s website: Jane Friedman has decades of experience in various aspects of the publishing industry, and her website is a great resource for new writers trying to get a sense of how it all works. She offers tips on topics like how to find agents and publishers, the differences between trad and self-publishing, and how to write an effective query letter.
Absolute Write Water Cooler: This is a forum for authors and an excellent place to find advice and informative industry gossip. If you’re wondering whether a particular agent or publisher is good to work with, search for them here. You’re likely to find a discussion thread where writers are sharing their experiences.
The Authors Guild: This is America’s oldest professional organization for authors. In addition to offering free legal services to members, they provide website hosting and building services, discussion forums, educational materials and events, and assistance for writers seeking various types of insurance (from media liability to dental!).
I have a book coming out this week(!!??), which I'm releasing on Amazon & my website for now, so I was thinking about doing a post or two where I share my step-by-step process for getting my e-books ready to sell.
Feel free to send me a message if you would like me to include something specific about the process - or have any other questions about self-publishing!
We Need Diverse Books is pleased to announce the launch of an Emergency Fund for Diverse Creatives in Children’s Publishing. The emergency fund will provide financial aid to diverse authors, illustrators, and publishing professionals who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Go here for more information and to apply.
