How Publishing Works
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What's Next (Proofread, edit, and submission checklist)
Define Your Goals
Before your actually put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, you need to have specific goals in mind. The old adage, “He who aims at nothing usually hits it,” is just as true in publishing as it is in any field of endeavor.
• Why are you writing?
Are you going to write for fun or for profit? Are you writing because you have a story to tell, a lesson to share, or knowledge to teach? Do you feel compelled to get a message out, do you want to help brighten the lives of others, or do you hope being a writer will be your ticket to fame and fortune? Knowing why you are writing will help you answer other important questions as you proceed and will help you track how well you are doing in achieving your goals.
• Who is your intended audience?
Are you writing for family and friends? For a congregation or denomination? Are you writing for believers? The lost? For women or men? For children? Families? Are you hoping to reach a specific group or just people in general? Your book needs to be tailored to speak to your intended audience, so you need to decide who that is going to be.
• How much post-publication marketing are you willing to do yourself?
Marketing and promotion are essential to getting people interested in your book so that they will buy it and read it. How much time, effort, and other resources are you willing to invest in marketing and publicity? Are you willing to do personal appearances (book signings, radio and television interviews, perhaps speaking at a conference)? How often and how far are you willing to travel?
• What’s the point?
The biggest and most important question you have to ask all the way through the process of creating, editing, publishing, marketing and selling your book is, “What’s the point?” Is the point to get the message out, make people laugh, change people’s way of thinking, get a tool in their hands, tell a good story, or to make a lot of money? What do you expect to accomplish with your work? What’s the point of investing the time and energy and making sacrifices to get your book published?
Aspiring authors must “categorize” their books accurately. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, you need to know where a bookseller will “shelve” your book after publication. Miscategorizing your work can be fatal for book sales. The process for discovering the correct category for your book takes patience and not a little research to do successfully. Categorizing your book correctly will not only go a long way to helping make your book more saleable, but it may also result in helping you improve the focus of your manuscript overall.
Genres and Subgenres
There are two main types of reading material—fiction and non-fiction. Both types are then further divided into what are called genres (pronounced zháanrə). Genre is a fancy name for one of the main categories into which artistic works of all kinds can be divided. These main categories are based on form, style, or subject matter (example: the detective novels of Agatha Christie are fiction and fall under the category of fiction, and the genre of mystery/suspense).
The all-important subgenres we will delve into as we go, but keep the issue in mind.
Fiction
Fiction is what literary works of imagination are called. They are novels and stories that describe imaginary people and events. Fiction has three main categories: mainstream, literary, and genre. Each of these is then divided into a myriad of subgenres like sci-fi, historical, romance, historical romance, suspense, mystery, and many, many others.
Mainstream fiction is the general term publishers and booksellers use to describe literary works that represent, illustrate, describe, or otherwise portray a daily reality that is familiar to most people today. These books are usually set in the 20th or present-day 21st century, and have at their core a universal theme that attracts a broad audience.
Mainstream books deal with such topics as family issues, coming-of-age stories, courtroom dramas, physical or mental disabilities, social pressures, political intrigue, and more. Regardless of original genre or category, most of the novels that appear on the bestseller list at any one time are considered mainstream.
Literary fiction tends to appeal to a smaller, more intellectually adventurous audience. A work of literary fiction can fall into any of the subgenres described in the following sections. What sets literary fiction apart, however, are the notable qualities it contains—superior writing, originality of thought and style, depth of insight—that raise it above the level of ordinary written works into the realm of excellence and superiority.
Genre fiction refers to the more narrowly defined categories of popular fiction that appeal to specific audiences. Each type of genre fiction has its own set of rules and conventions. Being solidly grounded in the conventions of your chosen genre helps a great deal, so the more familiar you are with it, the better. Genre fiction has several general categories: Mystery, Romance, Women’s Fiction, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Suspense/Thriller, Western, Horror, and Young Adult. Each of these, in turn, has several subgenres, which further help to categorize books for potential readers.
Mystery is a popular genre that has an enormous established audience. All mysteries focus on a crime, usually either murder or a complicated robbery of some sort. The action usually centers on the efforts of a clever detective-type individual to solve the crime. The climax, which usually occurs near the end of the tale, is generally set-up in a leisurely setting where the elements of the mystery are neatly laid out for the reader's convenience. The solution, complete with twists, turns, and surprises, is then delivered to the characters and the reader at the same time. Mystery subgenres include spy stories, detective stories, and crime stories.
Romance is one of the largest genres today. Books in the category seek to entertain women and divert them from the humdrum of their everyday lives. In romance novels, you have elements of adventure, fantasy, love, naïveté, and grand extravagance. There is always a heroic lover who overcomes impossible odds in order to be with his one, true love. Most romances have an easy-to-follow formula—a young, inexperienced, naïve girl living in unusual circumstances or a remote location is courted or threatened by a powerful and evil man. The story climaxes when the young damsel in distress is rescued by a valiant and dashing young hero. Romance subgenres include gothic, historical, regency (dealing with royalty), bodice-rippers (which we do not publish at TILC), western, and contemporary.
Women’s fiction. There are several key characteristics common to books in this genre. They include a focus on relationships, one or more strong female central characters/heroines, tales of women triumphing despite overwhelming circumstances, and they unify the experiences of women in some way. This is perhaps the largest subgenre in mainstream fiction today.
Science fiction/fantasy books are imaginative, thought-provoking, and other-worldly. They will most times describe far-off lands, unknown worlds, futuristic technologies, or mysterious pasts. The underlying goal for most writers in this genre is to cause the reader to contemplate contemporary issues from a different perspective.
Suspense/thrillers are tense, exciting, nerve-wracking, tense tales with clever and imaginative plotting, swift action, and constant suspense. In this genre, a writer's objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, and an ever-present sense of impending doom that keeps the reader up all night, unable to put the book down. Unlike mysteries, thrillers are dominated by action in which physical threat and impending doom and failure are constant companions, and a hero is pitted against a wicked, despicable villain. There is also generally a beautiful woman involved who brings out the buried and somewhat vulnerable humanity of the hero into the open, making the reading root for him even more. Subgenres include spy, espionage, courtroom drama, and police procedures.
Western denotes those literary works that depict life in post-Civil War America, particularly along the western frontier. They usually involve conflicts between cowboys and evil land barons, peace officers and outlaws, cowboys and Native Americans, or Easterners and Westerners.
Horror is the genre defined by those books written with the intent of terrifying readers by exploiting their fears. Graphic descriptions of violence, madness, brutality, dismemberment, death, and supernatural or alien visitations characterize these works, and also constitute the subgenres of this category. Rarely will TILC consider publishing a work that falls under this category.
Young adult is the category for those works where the central character or hero is between twelve and sixteen years old. Books in this genre deal specifically with issues that speak to the hearts and minds of readers of that age group. Believable characters, a voice and tone that these younger readers can identify with, and a willingness to and adeptness at addressing the issues that trouble and worry teens are critical to being successful in this genre.
Non-fiction
Non-fiction works present true and accurate information for the education and instruction of the reader. They can be written to teach, inform, edify, or even to change a culture—it’s all in the presentation of the material. While there may be elements of imagination, supposition, or deduction, for the most part, all of the information in a non-fiction book is based on known, true, and verifiable information. Even when an author injects personal insight or experience, it must always line-up with the known facts and/or reasoned deduction.
Non-fiction includes technical manuals, histories, biographies, autobiographies, science books, how-to manuals, and an almost limitless number of subjects. There are so many options available for categorizing works of non-fiction that it is difficult o find one list used by every publisher and bookseller. A tour through your local major book store and library will give you a good idea of how difficult the task may seem. The following is the current list of non-fiction categories employed by TILC, which are patterned after the BISAC Subject Headings List of 2007.
(Note: Due to the restrictions our philosophy of ministry and our Statement of Faith place on what we will or will not publish, we do not utilize all of the BISAC Subject headings or subheadings.)
[Insert List]
If you are not sure which non-fiction category your book would best fit into, your Project Manager will be able to help you further.
Write Your Book
• Make an outline.
(Nonfiction)
Define the main subject of your book and the basic concepts you intend to talk about. Sketch out a rough outline of the main subtopics of that subject and break down the key points of each one that you intend to make. Note key words and phrases that need to be included in each chapter.
(Fiction)
Write a couple of sentences about what the gist of your story is. Outline the high points or your storyline. Separate the story into blocks from which you will build your chapters. Write a brief description of your key characters (it is absolutely critical that your character information is consistent throughout your book.) Jot down under each section of your outline important elements that you want to include.
· Put it on paper!
This is where the greatest concentration of passion and anxiety collide. It is time to tell you tale, make your case, defend your hypothesis, teach your lesson, share your deepest thoughts, your greatest ideas, your strongest feelings.
One of the most common traps to fall into and one that defeats more aspiring authors than any other is over-editing. Do not expect a finished, polished, show-room masterpiece on the first writing (or even the second). Allow for unlimited mistakes, errors, and foolishness. Take what is in your head and in your heart and start getting it down on paper. You can fix all of the typo’s, correct all of the spelling, punctuation, and grammar problems later. After you first draft is done, you can fill in gaps and collect needed information. For now, the most important thing is to produce, to get your thoughts out of your head and onto the page.
· Do your follow-up research.
Make sure that the factual statements you have made are accurate and complete. Use the internet, the library, magazines, books on your shelf, interviews with experts—any resource necessary to ensure that what you state as fact is indeed fact. Cite your sources in the appropriate place. Nothing destroys an author’s credibility more quickly or more surely than inaccurate facts and assertions.
What's Next
• Proofread
Run the Spell Check and the Grammar Check tools of your word processing program. Follow the Editorial Checklist and make any corrections necessary. Now, go through and read the entire manuscript from title page to final page. Keep in mind that no matter what your personal goals are, everything we do is to be done to the glory of God. He always gives us His best—we should do no less for Him in return.
Before you go any further, it is always a good idea to have another set of eyes go through and proofread your manuscript. It is a rare thing indeed for us to catch all of our own errors. This can save a great deal of time and money down the road, as well as help to ensure that your readers will be getting the professional-grade product they will be expecting when they buy your book.
• Decide on level of additional editorial services you want to have done.
Once a manuscript is submitted to TILC for publication, we automatically do an Editorial Analysis. We will make an initial assessment for acceptance as well as advise you of any suggestions or recommendations we have. Part of this will be the minimum level of editorial services that we feel you should seek. We do not do this in an attempt to increase our profits—there are none for us from these services. We do this to help you meet your goals, maintain the credibility you, the author, and of TILC, as well as ensure that every book we offer meets or exceeds the industry standards.
Professional editing does incur costs, so the final decision is yours. Your Author Liaison can help you determine how best to meet those standards while also accomplishing your goals.
Note: Any manuscript that falls outside the parameters that TILC has established in its Manuscript Preparation and Submission Guidelines, its Quality and Content Standards, and its Editorial Guideline, will be turned down for publishing with us if the necessary changes or modifications are not made. The Editor-In-Chief is always involved in that decision and his decision is final.
• Complete each pertinent item on the Submission Checklist.
There are a lot of details and information that we need each author to take care of before their project is ready for submission to us for publishing The Submission Checklist is a thorough guide for making sure everything we need to get started is completed and provided.
Submit To Publisher
• Perform a final polish.
Read through the entire manuscript one more time. Make sure that every component of your book is included and in its proper place. Save your book, image and other files in the proper format (see Submission Checklist for this information). That will go a long way to preventing confusion and delays on our end. Attention to simple details like this can help everyone involved in publishing your book quickly do the most efficient job they can.
• Fill out the Basic Publishing Agreement.
We need to have a Basic Publishing Agreement signed electronically by the author and submitted with the manuscript for us to begin. This gives us the authorization to actually begin the process of getting your book published and out into the marketplace! The final publishing agreement will be executed once the initial editorial analysis is completed and we are confident that we can meet your publishing needs.
• If at all possible, send us your submission via email.
Email is the quickest and most efficient method of submission. For those who do not have email, we can still help you publish your book—the process will just take a bit longer. Every step will need to be handled through the United States Postal Service or other document-handling carrier.
Type “Submission Email” in the subject line of the email. Make sure that the necessary files are sent along as attachments.
Legal "Musts"
Whether you're an experienced professional or this is your first venture as an author, the nuts and bolts of publishing law can be confusing and overwhelming. We have included some basic information to help you better understand your legal rights and responsibilities. Our aim is to help you minimize your exposure to legal risk.
While we are not attorneys and cannot give you legal advice, we feel it is our obligations to inform you of some of the fundamental publishing laws before you finalize your manuscript. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the Legal “Musts” we have included here before you submit your manuscript. If there are issues with your book that you are unsure of, you will need to seek the advice of a qualified publishing attorney.
• Your Rights
All rights to your original work belong to you in their entirety. Before you sign any publishing contract, read it over very carefully so that you are completely aware of what rights you may be giving up to the publisher. If you are unsure about what you are signing or if the language is confusing, this would be the perfect time to get the advice of a qualified publishing attorney.
At TILC, you retain full control of your publishing rights. When you sign a contract with TILC, all you are granting us is a non-exclusive license to publish your work (in English) and to sell it worldwide. You continue to hold the copyright. You can terminate the contract at any time to allow someone else to assume the work of publishing and distribution.
Make certain that the phrase non-exclusive is in any publishing contract that you sign. If you see the term exclusive in the contract, what you will be doing is surrendering your copyright to the publisher for a minimum of forty years, worldwide.
• Your Responsibilities
When you sign the TILC contract, you are stating that the work you are publishing with us is your own original work and that you have requested and obtained permission for any material used in your work that has been copyrighted by someone else. You also state that your manuscript does not infringe on any copyrights or trademark rights; that it does not violate the privacy rights or publicity rights of anyone else; and you state that it is not in any way “defamatory or obscene”. These “warranties” are standard in all publishing agreements and are included in the Truth In Love Communications Author Agreement.
One other important point to make here: following the “Warranties” clause is another clause titled, “Indemnities”. What that paragraph states is that, should there be any violation or infringement of anything in the “Warranties” clause, you accept full responsibility for lawsuits, claims, criminal charges or damages damages.
The best course of action is to take every step necessary to prevent and avoid these issues by requesting and obtaining all necessary permissions (including licenses) before submitting your work to us for publishing. Be sure to cite the sources of all third-party material you have used. Be very careful to make sure that you have avoided any statements or other content that could be interpreted as harmful to another living person.
• Basic Copyright, Trademark and Permission Information
If you have been unable to find or obtain permission from the copyright or trademark owner to include part of their work in your project, you have two choices: (1) completely delete the material from your work, or (2) adapt it so that it fits within the limits of what is known as “fair use”. Never include copyrighted material in your book without the specific permission of the copyright owner.
Market, Market, Market
Coming Soon!
Celebrate!
Of the thousands and thousands of people who dream of one day becoming a published author, you have done it! You have poured your heart into your project; you have invested countless hours, weeks, months—perhaps, even years!
Your book is finished, it’s been published, and now it has been presented to the public. You did it! Rejoicing over a task of this magnitude being completed is not to be shied away from. God has given you everything you needed to get this far—honor Him by celebrating. That, after all, is part of what worship is all about, isn’t it?