About This Book: Writing makes intuitive sense. One sentence follows another. Anne Lamott might have phrased it best when she said, “Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. . . the act of writing turns out to be its own reward.”
Trying to publish a manuscript is not always intuitive or rewarding. There is a lot of work involved and most of it, like self-promotion, research, and conferences have nothing to do with writing. Because of this, publishing your first book can seem overwhelming.
When it comes to publishing, everyone has an opinion of what is the best thing to do for your book. Some say it is best to self-publish. Others argue for an agent. Some writers say you should approach a publisher directly.
This book isn’t about the “best” way to get published. I don’t claim to know the best way. Neither do the ten authors whose essays are contained in this book.
Each of these authors followed a very different path, some self-published, others obtained an agent, still more approached publishers directly. No matter which path they pursued, all paths led to the same place: successful publication.
Some of these authors, like Kathryn Olsen, are just about to publish their first book. Others, like Shirley Raye Redmond, write full-time, with a number of successful books under their belts.
None of these essays will reveal exactly how to get your book published, but they will give concrete examples of how other people did it.
In the back of this book there is additional information pertaining to agents, publishers, and other resources that will help you publish your manuscript successfully.