Determine what to look for in a publishing firm. Be aware of copyright issues, and finding taking pride in their work. Learn how much money they can make in return.
Need a publisher? So do one million other writers. Finding a company to publish your work is more difficult than people think. There are numerous publishers with different standards; by standards I mean criteria. Does that mean that you need to change the theme or character(s) of your book? The answer is no.
Take pride in your work. If you want character X to be character X leave him/her be. Don't change him/her because a publisher tells you to. This is common with modern publishers for one reason or another. Beware of any publisher that conflict with your author integrity. It's your work, not theirs.
That leads us to the next issue: copyrighting your work. Your work is your work and no one else's. Make sure that any publishing company you go to lets you keep the rights to your material. When you make contact with a publisher, make sure you ask them about their copyright policies. If they don't for one reason or another do not sign a contract with them. By protecting your work, you can change it to your liking, or sell it if it has some measure of success, i.e movie companies.
Finding out what kind of services publishing companies offer is also key in determining who you should go to. If they have a full-time editing staff, graphic designers for book covers, layout artists for your book, marketing, etc. chances are that company is set up to succeed and will take care of you and your book.
Publishing houses that ask you for an author investment isn't at all a bad idea. Look into it and research it thoroughly. Some will ask for a heftier investment but will offer more royalties in return. Be sure to read in their contracts for more incentives. Tate Publishing offers 15 percent royalties for their book sales and offer 40 percent royalties on anything that's sold online. If you sell 5000 copies of the book, you will receive your author investment back. Look for deals like this when you are looking for publishers.
One thing to check on in all publishing houses is the amount of royalties they plan on giving you. If they don't offer at least 10 percent, don't sign with them. You should maximize the amount of royalties you deserve. After all, you wrote the book, not them. Why should they reap off of your reward? The answer is they shouldn't. Be very aware of what other promotional items they are willing to give you for your book: bookmarks, promotional posters, audio books, etc…This goes a long way in determining how much you're going to make off of your product.
Self-Publishing your work is another ball game altogether. Sure you call your own shots, but beware of the dangers. More and more book stores such as Barnes and Noble, Hastings, and Borders are not shelving self-published books for reasons of credibility. A representative at either of these stores isn't going to listen to you if you tell them your book is self-published. They will ask you first and foremost what your book is about. They are not going to read it so you could essentially lie to them. On average self-publishers lose 70 percent of their investment they put into the book in accordance with the number of book sales. Did I mention you call the shots? On the surface that sounds great, but when you dig deeper, you need to spend lots of money to get self-published. Here is a list of all the things you have to pay for: book cover design (unless you know someone who's an artist), layout of your book (this isn't as expensive as finding a cover designer), and printing your book (with the cost of printing with the cover). If you start by printing 100 copies of your book, congratulations you just spent approximately $4,000-8,000 with the non-guarantee that you're going to get any of your books on the shelves at any book store.
The publishing industry is tricky, but believe it or not there are good ones that won't scam you for your money. The key is to find the one that will get you the most revenue in return with the type of material that you're writing. You've written a book; you just did what a million writers have done. Considering there are 6.7 billion people on the earth, that's a pretty good ratio. Take pride in your work and find a company that won't rob you of that pride. Good luck to you and may you find success wherever you go.
