How to Write a Novel. Part 10: Preparing to Publish
Summary
- Choose your publishing route: traditional, independent, or hybrid. Understand their distinct processes, trade-offs, and control levels.
- Prepare essential submission materials, including a concise query letter, clear synopsis, and polished opening pages for traditional approaches.
- Approach publishing with professionalism and maintain writing.
Publishing begins long before a book appears on any shelf. It starts with choosing how your work will enter the world—and how much of that world you’re prepared to navigate on your own. There are three main publishing routes: traditional, independent, and hybrid. Each is an industry with its own gatekeepers, systems, and traps. What matters is not just where your book ends up, but what trade-offs you’re prepared to make along the way.
Traditional Publishing
This route leads through agents, editors, and established publishing houses. You submit a polished manuscript, first to a literary agent, then, if accepted, to editors at publishing houses. If your book is acquired, the publisher handles editing, cover design, layout and formatting for print and digital versions, printing, and distribution. You may get an advance (a loan against future royalties) and access to professional publicity and reviews.
This path is selective. Agents receive hundreds of queries a week. Most only consider previously unpublished authors if the book is extraordinary and marketable. Finding an agent means learning their submission preferences, understanding how to write a query letter, and researching whether they actually represent your genre. Good agents are paid by commission only, typically 15% and never upfront.
Traditional publishing moves slowly. Expect months of silence, rejection, or both. But it’s still the main route to visibility in bookstores, literary prizes, and traditional media.
Independent Publishing
This is often called self-publishing, though in truth it demands collaboration. You control the entire process: hiring freelance editors, choosing your own cover designer, deciding how and where the book will be distributed – usually via print-on-demand platforms like Amazon KDP or IngramSpark.
Indie authors keep higher royalties, but pay upfront. A professional edit alone can cost over a thousand dollars; cover design, formatting, and marketing add more. Success here depends on being both author and business owner. Readers expect professional quality. A rushed or poorly designed book will sink without trace.
The benefits are real: speed, control, and direct access to your audience. But the cost is steep: time, money, and often the burden of obscurity unless you actively market your work.
Hybrid Publishing
This is a vague and varied category. Some hybrid publishers are reputable, combining professional services with author involvement for a fee. Others are predatory, charging thousands for minimal return. The key distinction is that reputable hybrids are selective. They do not accept everything. Their fees are transparent, and rights are shared fairly.
It’s essential to differentiate legitimate hybrid publishers from vanity presses. Vanity presses accept anything and charge authors for production, often with inflated promises and contracts full of traps. A legitimate hybrid publisher won’t ask for full rights to your work. If they do, it’s a red flag. Legitimate publishers only request specific, limited rights while you retain ownership. Research thoroughly before signing anything. If it sounds like a shortcut, it probably isn’t one.
Submission Materials
If you’re pursuing a traditional deal, you’ll need three key items:
A query letter: a one-page pitch addressed to a specific agent or editor. It includes a short paragraph about the book (the hook), relevant metadata (title, genre, word count, comparables — recent successful books similar in genre), and a few lines about yourself.
A synopsis: one to two pages summarizing the full plot, including major twists and the ending. It shows structure, stakes, and character arcs. Flat writing is fine here — clarity matters more than style.
The first pages: typically the first chapter, or the first three, depending on the agent’s guidelines. These must be clean, gripping, and fully edited. They’re the only sample anyone will read before deciding whether to ask for the full manuscript.
Format your materials according to the guidelines listed by each agent or publisher. Follow each agent’s instructions exactly, and never send attachments unless asked to.
What to Expect
Rejection is standard. You may send fifty queries and hear back from five. Sometimes your book is strong, but not right for the market. Sometimes it’s just not ready. The only thing you can control is the quality of your submission and the way you carry yourself through the process. Be reliable and respectful. Don’t reply to rejections. Don’t complain online. The industry doesn’t owe you anything, but that doesn’t mean you don’t belong.
The Long Game
You’ll write more books, this is not your last novel. If you’re serious about writing, you’re going to do this again and again. That means treating your debut not as your legacy, but as your beginning.
Publication is not the reward for writing. Writing is the reward. Getting the work out there is one part of the life, but not the core of it. The core is in the work itself.
Keep writing. However this book turns out, it’s only the beginning.