How can I publish a book?

Question

my friend's looking on how to get a book published, she's writing a book and would like to publish it. is it cheep and does it matter that she's under 15?

Answer 1

Publishing a book is SOOOOOOO easy!!! Just go to http://www.cafepress.com Sign up for free. What they do is you can send them artwork or poster design or CDs and yes even books, and they will print them for you on demand. You can open up an online store, for free and you can buy the books yourself or you can allow other people on cafe press to buy it too. You don't have to worry about whether or not a publisher likes your book.

Here's the link to the page about printing books:

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/pr...

I don't think age is an issue either.

Hopefully my answer is useful. I'm sick of the lack of information available on yahoo answers. You can never get a straight useful answer. It's always, "Oh you can't do that." or "Oh you have to pay millions of dollar and jump through all these hoops." There's my rant for the day.

Answer 2

Nope, It's the quality of the work that matters to a publisher. Look at S.E Hinton

When you print out the pages, put it away for at least 6 weeks. After that, take a red pen and go over it very thoroughly. Look for grammar, syntax, punctuation. Also, look at stuff you want to add or delete. There is no limit to how many times you edit

After the manuscript is perfect, time to shop for an agent (optional, but a great advantage). Buy a copy of the most recent Writer's Market or Literary Marketplace. Look for an agent that suits your manuscript needs. Once you've decided, send a query (or not, depending on the agency). If they wan't to see the manuscript, send it off. If they accept, you're ahead.

The same rule pretty much applies. Query, or not, and wait for a response. If they say yes, send the manuscript. If they agree, good job! Expect to see in in shelves in a few months

But expect rejection. Everybody gets it, just move on.

http://www.ehow.com/how_3165_write-query...

http://www.ehow.com/how_8792_write-cover...

http://www.ehow.com/how_18029_handle-rej...

Answer 3

If self-publishing (which is very hard to make a profit off, or get a distributer) is right for your friend, the second post is fine.  If, however, your friend want to get paid (instead of pay) to write, they have to study and hone their craft.  There are a number of online workshops geared toward such endeavors, and the Writers of the Future contest (for speculative fiction writers) is an excellent source of learning--as well as their forum (which is listed below).  In short, it's difficult to get picked up by a publisher--were it easy, everyone would.