I wanna publish my books does anyone know how to get started?

-iv been writing ever since i was in 6th grade and i love it so much. I have these stories that i wanna publish but it seems like im on my own with this. Even though im 15 im willing to work my a$$ off. I know that i need to get a editor and idk what else..see im clueless. well anyways i know tons of book publishers like St. Martins for example. Iv gone on allll these websites and thers nothing on there about being able to publish.

Does anyone have any tips? id love your help.There is always self-publishing! Basically you just pay and self-publish your book. It's not quite the same I don't think because you don't get the publicity you would if it was a legitimate publisher, but it'll work. Otherwise, yes you have to get an editor, possibly an agent, send the books to MANY different publishing companies and be prepared for tons and tons of rejections. Publishing a book is especially hard nowadays.
try www.lulu.com



it turns your books into hardcover and people on the site can buy them. Its at least a start
Just write those publishers a letter and ask them.
This is my generic answer:



How to Publish a Story

Many young writers and authors these days will ask the question 鈥淗ow much does it cost to get published?" The answer? Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Of course, there is vanity publishing, but that isn鈥檛 ideal.



So, what鈥檚 the difference between 鈥渧anity publishing鈥?and the other type?

Vanity publishing is where you do everything yourself. You get the books printed, you design the cover, you bind them, and you sell them. Some may think that sounds appealing, but there is one major flaw to this: Very few book shops will accept your story, so if you have dreams of seeing your book underneath the 鈥淣ew Releases鈥?sign in a bookshop, steer away from vanity publishing. Obviously, publishing with the large companies such as Harper Collins etc won鈥檛 cost you a penny. If you find a publisher who claims to be a 鈥渕ain-stream鈥?publisher yet they demand money, walk away.

Before you start thinking about getting published, ask yourself if your book is really ready for that. There are times when you are seven years old and draw a wonderful picture, you think it鈥檚 the best piece of art ever but then you look at it when you are older and it turns out it isn鈥檛 that good. It鈥檚 the same with writing a story. Your mum, dad, or teacher might have said it was good, but not necessarily good enough to be published. Make sure it is 100% ready. If you are young and just wrote a book, don鈥檛 rush to get it published. Put it away, then a few months later take it out to edit it. You need to be harsh on yourself, edit it until it is perfect.

Now you鈥檝e got your book ready, here is how to format it ready for the world of publishing:



* 2-inch margin

* Double line-spacing

* Times New Roman font size 12

* Print on one side of the paper.

* Make sure the pages are numbered. Be careful if you have parts of your story on different Word Documents鈥?When you click 鈥渘umber pages鈥?it won鈥檛 carry on from the last number on your other word document. In other words, it will start as 1 on each new document. If you don鈥檛 want this happening, put all of your story into the same Word Document, save it, then number it.

* On the header, beside the page number, have something which will identify your story such as your name or the title.

* When you fix your book together, whatever you do DO NOT glue, staple, or otherwise permanently fix the pages together. Use either a paper clip or an elastic band.



What you will need to do next is find an agent. Yup, an agent. Sorry to tell you, but not many publishers will accept work straight off unpublished authors (That鈥檚 what no unsolicited mss mean under many publishers these days). What you need to do is pick up either the Writers Handbook 2011 (http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Handbook-2鈥?/a> or the Writers Market 2011 (http://www.amazon.com/2011-Writers-Marke鈥?/a> In those books you will find a long, long list of agents. Read their requirements carefully. Some of them might want to see the whole thing, others might only want a short snippet, others might just want a sypnosis. Do not just dive in head-first without knowing what they require.

Last of all, if you get rejected don鈥檛 be disheartened. Rowling was even rejected when she tried to publish Harry Potter鈥?It didn鈥檛 stop her. :)
This question is asked about every hour in this section.



I wrote this answer up a while ago, for anyone who needed a guide on how to get published. Remember that this is just an overview, and you should do some deeper research of your own.



First, you need to finish your manuscript. Then, edit, revise and rewrite, if you haven't done so already. Print out the whole story, as your eyes will catch mistakes on hard paper better than on the computer. Sit down with your manuscript and a red pen and REALLY, REALLY be critical. Be harsh. Rewrite, revise, check for spelling and grammar mistakes, even read the book out loud. The more editing you do now, the less you'll have to do with your agent and editor.



Once that's done, you have a few options: Self publish, Digitally publish, or publish the ol' fashioned way. Self publishing and digital publishing aren't recommended, and if you do choose to do so, you'll most likely never see your book in a bookstore. Because I think the ol' fashioned way is best, here are the steps:



Format your manuscript. This should be pretty easy. All you have to do is change a few fonts in MS Word. Look here for the proper format: http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html



Get an agent. An agent is vital if you want to be published by a reputable publisher like Scholastic or Harper Collins. They will go to various publishing houses and give your work to editors, making sure to get you out of the dreaded "slush pile". First you'll need to find an agency that you think will work for you. Look online for one--a good and trusted site is AgentQuery.com -- http://www.agentquery.com/ -- To get an agent, you will need to query them in a letter. Here is a good article on how to write one, as it's a very specific format: http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx Keep in mind that this is only a basic outline, and that many different agencies have different submission guidelines and you should follow the SPECIFIC guidelines laid out on the agency's site. REMEMBER: YOU NEVER PAY AN AGENT OR EDITOR UP FRONT. THEY TAKE A CUT FROM YOUR BOOK'S PROFITS.



Now that you've written your query and sent it off to the agent... well, wait. You may want to query multiple agents at once, as you WILL be rejected a few times, and a response may sometimes take months. Just make sure your query agents from different agencies, not the same one.



After that, there's not much more you need to do. If/when you get an agent, they will talk with you about any changes to be made to the book, and it's your decision to make them or not. Then your manuscript will go to an editor, and it will be the same sort of process--it's your choice to make the changes or not. Then your book goes to the design stage where you do book covers, typography, etc, then it goes to printing and you're officially a published author!