Book Publishing Q&A: Requirements to Get a Book Published

Book Publishing Question

I was interested in getting a book published. I just wanted to know the requirements. What are they?

John’s Book Publishing Answer

Selling Your Book

First, that question is really too general since it provides me with no info about your book: topic, length, how much completed, audience, author platform, etc. Or about you. Both are necessary to give you the best and most specific advice.

In general, though, your best option in today’s world is to publish your book yourself as a Kindle ebook on Amazon (http://kdp.amazon.com) and via Ingram Spark (https://www1.ingramspark.com) for print-on-demand copies. These solutions are quick, easy, and inexpensive.

Now, to answer you key question, the requirements for getting a book published are simple: A great book, an author platform, and a book proposal (if you want to submit your book to a major publisher).

If you are self-publishing via Kindle and Ingram Spark, you still need a great book. You still need an author platform (a ready-made audience for your book). And you need a book marketing plan [a book proposal is simply a book marketing plan presented to a prospective publisher].

So, again, here are the three key requirements for publishing a book (and have it be a success):

1. A great book. All book publishing and book marketing begin with a really good book. It’s tough to sell a not-so-great book. The better the book, the easier it is to sell.

2. An author platform. You need a ready-made audience: a group of people who you already have some sort of relationship with, a group of people eager to love you or your book or your book’s topic, a group of people who will buy your book right away and begin the word of mouth for your book.

An author platform could consist of any of the following (or a combination of the following): a radio show, a newspaper column, a popular Huffington Post blog, 50,000 social media followers, an on-going podcast, a YouTube channel with lots of followers, a speaking career, on-going guest spots on relevant TV shows, an Internet radio show, or a group of influential JV partners.

3. A book marketing plan. If you want to sell books, you need to develop a plan of how you will reach your target audience, how you will pitch your book, what sales channels will you use, who will support your campaign, will you do any advertising, etc. An effective plan also includes a timetable that stretches from about 6 to 8 weeks prior to your book’s publication date to at least a year later.

About John Kremer

John Kremer is author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, the Relationships Matter Marketing program, and many other books and reports on book marketing, Internet marketing, social media, and book publicity. -- .

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