How to get your book published

I work with so many authors who want to get their book published traditionally – meaning they want to secure a book deal with a publishing house. Often, though, these lovely authors have no idea how to go about this process, and will ask me: How do I get my book published? What’s the process like? Where do I start?

It’s a long answer – and a long process! So I thought I’d write a guide walking you through all the steps.

A few things to bear in mind: I’m going to assume you’ve already written your book and polished it to the best of your ability. My main area of expertise is fiction, so that is what my advice is informed by.

Some of these steps might differ slightly if you write non-fiction, which often sells “on proposal” (with a pitch) before the author has even written the book!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure here.

The steps to get your book published

OK, let’s start! Once you have your book all ready and polished, these are all the stages you will need to go through to get your book published.

Step 1. Prepare your submission materials

Before you can even submit your work, you’ll need to get your submission materials ready. For fiction, you will usually need the following:

A query letter: A query letter is the pitch letter (email) you will send off to literary agents (or publishers, but only if they accept unsolicited submissions – more on that later). Query letters can be challenging as they have their own unique format. You will need to include your book’s title, genre, age category, and word count, as well as 2–3 paragraphs pitching the story itself. The 2–3 story paragraphs should be similar to what you’d see on the back-cover blurb of a published book. The purpose is to entice the agent to request your manuscript, so make sure you don’t give away all the spoilers. You can also include a brief, relevant author bio.
A synopsis: The synopsis is typically one to two pages in length. It should cover all of the key events of your book and give away all the major plot points, including the ending. Get used to writing these – even published authors have to come up with them when pitching new book ideas!
Sample chapters: Agents sometimes request sample chapters be included with your query, either as an attachment or pasted below the email. The length can vary from 5 pages to around 50.
Your full manuscript: You’ll need your nicely formatted manuscript in case the agent requests to read the whole thing after reviewing your query letter or sample.

It’s crucial to have all of this material before you begin the submissions process, especially the completed full manuscript.

Lots of authors ask me if they can start submitting before they finish writing their book. This is hugely risky because you never know when an agent will respond asking to read the entire book! I recommend not taking that risk.

If you need more help with your submission materials, here are some resources to help you:

Jane Friedman’s Complete Guide to Query Letters – A comprehensive guide on crafting your query letter, with examples.
Query Shark – This blog is now inactive (no longer updated), but is still incredibly useful as it contains expert advice on query letters, with examples.
Your query letter bio: What to include
7 tips on writing a strong synopsis for your novel
How to format your manuscript (with free template)
Editorial services – If you would like some professional guidance and polish on any of your submission materials, do feel free to get in touch with me.

It’s also very important to follow submission guidelines when you begin submitting. Some literary agents may request a five-page sample as a Word document. Others might request the first 500 words be pasted below your email. There may be variations in the type of file they want, the font, the line spacing, etc.

Do check the requirements of whoever you’re submitting to and make sure you follow these. It will make you appear more professional and easier to work with in the future, which is a good first impression to make!

How to get your book published, research agents

Step 2. Research and lists

Another pre-submission step that’s equally important is to do your research! Before you start submitting, think about what your goals are. Do you want to work with a major mainstream publishing house? Would you be happy going with a small press instead? What’s your genre and who is looking for your particular type of book?

These decisions will inform your process.

Remember, most publishing houses don’t accept unsolicited submissions. This means they don’t accept submissions from authors directly. Submissions have to come through a literary agent.

Most authors beginning this process submit to literary agents for this reason.

That being said, if you are open to small presses or independent publishers who accept submissions from writers directly, that’s also a valid path, though it does have its drawbacks as well. Do your research thoroughly to be sure it’s what you want and that it’s a good fit for you and your book.

For the sake of simplicity in this article, I’m going to stick to the literary agent process.

Doing plenty of research can also help you to avoid scams. Please read up on common literary scams so you know about these before going into the submissions process! Being informed is the best way to avoid this. There are unfortunately people out there looking to take advantage of vulnerable writers, so do protect yourself with this knowledge.

Get a book published, avoid literary scams

Here are some resources to help with the research step. I’ve included places you can search for literary agents who work in your genre and other valuable resources:

Query Tracker – A large, searchable database of literary agents all around the world. Free, although they have a premium option with more features.
AgentQuery.com – A large, searchable database of literary agents focused mainly on agents in the US. Free to use.
Publishers Marketplace – Allows you to view publishing news and deal announcements in the US, so you can see which agents are making deals in your genre. Requires a subscription.
The Writers & Artists Yearbook – The gold-standard resource for finding agents/publishers if you’re in the UK. Their yearbooks, containing listings of agents/publishers, are excellent.
The Bookseller – Allows you to view publishing news and deal announcements in the UK, so you can see which agents are making deals in your genre. Requires a subscription.
Manuscript Wish List – A free database of agents, allowing you to see what they’re wishing for in their submissions inboxes.
BookEnds Literary Agency YouTube – A YouTube channel run by a reputable literary agency, with fantastic videos on the entire publishing process, including querying (submitting to agents).
Writer Beware – Lots of excellent resources here on avoiding literary scams.
How much do literary agents cost? – How agents get paid (spoiler: they don’t ask for any money upfront from authors).
Submitting to literary agents: 10 tips

I recommend building yourself a list of literary agents you’re interested in submitting to. This will also allow you to keep track of any responses (or non-responses) which I absolutely recommend doing as well, as the process can be so slow. And you will likely have multiple submissions going out at a time.

Remember: make sure the agents on your list are interested in the material you write! It’s no good submitting a fantasy novel to an agent that only does commercial fiction genres like romance, thriller, or mystery.

Some of the websites above allow you to keep your list directly on their platform so you can track responses that way (Query Tracker is one of these). But you can also use something like a spreadsheet or similar to note down the details and any responses.

Step 3. Start submitting

Now you can start submitting to your list. As mentioned before, be sure to follow submission guidelines. And avoid sending mass emails with other agents CC’d in. This looks highly unprofessional and as though you’re taking a scattergun approach or don’t particularly care about the outcome.

This doesn’t mean don’t submit in batches! The submission part of the process can take a long time, so it’s wise to have multiple submissions out. Just do these individually, not in one mass email.

Don’t burn through your entire list in on go, either. Starting small, such as five submissions at a time, is a good idea. You can gauge any responses and adjust your material or pitch as you go, if needed.

If you can, personalising your submission can be a nice way of standing out and showing the agent or publisher that you have done your research and have a reason for contacting them specifically. For example, you might mention that the agent represents a few similar books in your genre that you’ve enjoyed. Or you might have seen them speak at a conference or in a webinar.

As I mentioned, this stage can take a long time – many, many months. Be prepared for that! It’s also why I encourage you to keep track of responses. If you get a few rejections, you can send out a few more submissions, and so on.

Let’s say you start getting some interest! There are a few positive things that might happen:

Requests for more material: The agent could request a partial (such as the first 50 pages) or your full manuscript to read and consider. This is an exciting moment and is worth celebrating as it means your pitch is working and that the agent saw potential in your work! The wait for a reply can be agonising, so do your best to stay distracted!
Requests for revisions (R&R): After sending the agent more material, it’s possible they will suggest some revisions, and give you a chance to resubmit the revised work. It’s not a rejection, but it’s not an offer of representation, either. It’s an opportunity for the agent to see how you handle editorial advice and whether the revisions bring the book to a place where the agent feels it’s strong enough to be sent to publishers. This is called a revise and resubmit (or R&R) request, and I have a whole article on handling this.
Offer of representation: This is the ultimate goal of querying that everyone is striving for – the agent offers to represent you and your work! Hooray! Sometimes the agent will email but often a phone call is involved. An offer of representation means the agent wants you to sign a contract to become one of their authors.

Step 4. Offer of representation

You queried, sent out some writing material, possibly did some revisions… and you’ve received an offer of representation from an agent who wants to work with you! *cue breaking out of champagne* What now?

Well, if you still have agents considering your work, now is the time to inform them that you have an offer on the table. Send them an email to let them know.

Make sure you change the email subject line to offer of representation to grab their attention.

At this stage, a lot of them might step aside and pass, either because they didn’t connect with your work or don’t have time to consider it fully. But you could also find yourself in a situation where you end up with multiple offers of representation and have a tough decision to make!

In the case that you only get one offer and everyone else passes, you can go ahead and sign the contract with the agent who offered, if you’re happy to do so.

If there are multiple agents offering, you’ll talk to them all! You will need to weigh up carefully who you want to work with. This is such a personal, subjective choice that I can’t really give any advice other than to do what feels right for you and your book. For a lot of writers, it comes down to who they connect with the most and who has the best vision for their book and career.

Step 5. The agent revisions process

Some agents take their authors right out on submission to publishing houses if they feel a book is ready and that the market might want it immediately. More commonly, you will work on some revisions together to get the book into shape.

You may feel a bit itchy here – you want to get your book published right away, but it’s important to give your book the best possible chance of success.

Sometimes these revisions with your agent are broader story revisions; other times it’s line-level tightening up.

You will have discussed ideas like this on a call before accepting the agent’s offer – most agents will mention any revisions they might like to do with you.

Step 6. The submissions process… again!

Your agent will now prepare your book for submission – hopefully to get the book published. For authors, this is where the agent takes the driving seat. After being in control of the agent submission process, it can be strange to let the agent take over, but it can also be a huge relief! The submission work now falls to your agent!

Your agent, being connected to the industry, will have had meetings or lunches with editors at publishing houses. She might pitch your book in person to get a feel for who is interested before you officially take the book out on submission.

The manuscript may even be sent to mysterious publishing people called book scouts. Book scouting (or literary scouting) is all about networking and connections. They create buzz around new manuscripts to try to drum up translation deals, film/TV deals, and so on. So they might recommend a manuscript to a foreign publisher if they’ve read and loved it, which could lead to foreign rights deals for the author later.

Back to your agent! You will receive a submissions list detailing the editors and publishing houses your agent plans to send your work to, based on who she believes is a good fit, or who has expressed interest.

Once you’ve given the go-ahead and approved the list, the agent will send your book off for the editors to consider.

At this point, you can ask your agent to either forward responses to you as they come in, or keep you in the dark. Some authors prefer not to receive rejections from publishers for their own sanity. Others want to be informed every step of the way.

Make whatever choice feels good to you, and if you change your mind, do let your agent know.

Step 7. More waiting

Now you’re in for more waiting! Publishing is a slow beast. Just like with querying, be prepared for this process to take many, many months.

You may have heard about books being snapped up in twenty-four hours in glitzy, exciting deals. These are the exception, not the norm.

The best thing to do at this stage is write your next book. If this book fails to sell, your agent will have a new book to submit on your behalf. And if this book does sell, your agent might be able to sell this one, too, potentially even as part of the same deal.

This stage can feel so mysterious to authors because you aren’t seeing what goes on at the publisher end. You just want to get the book published! You don’t see the manuscripts being shared around the team at the publisher, the acquisitions meetings (meetings where publishers consider the books they might purchase), the editor reading the book… You only see your empty inbox!

This is why it’s so important to keep busy. Reading about how the process of submission works can be useful – but don’t drive yourself crazy.

Here are some resources on this particularly strange time:

The Honest Editor – A Substack run by Phoebe Morgan, publishing house editor, to de-mystify the publishing world for authors
The waiting game: How to survive querying or submission
How I got my book deal (after seven years) – If you feel you’ve been waiting a long time, or struggling with submission, this post might inspire you!

Step 8. Book deal offer

One day, out of the blue, your agent will contact you and tell you… someone has made an offer for the book! A publisher wants to publish it! *happy dance*

For your first book deal, this is huge news, and your agent will probably call you to give you the good news over the phone. When this happened to me, I think I almost burst her eardrum with my happy screeching!

For so many writers, this moment can seem so far away, even impossible to reach, but I got there after seven years. Things outside of your control – timing, being in the right place at the right time, matching up with the right editor – can unfortunately be a big part of landing a book deal. It’s not easy, but it’s certainly possible.

Get a book published, celebrate launch day

Step 9. Work towards your publication day

Working towards publication with your new editor/publishing house is a lengthy but incredibly exciting process! I won’t describe it all excessively here as there are so many nuances and details (it deserves an article in its own right that I may write at some point in the future).

But briefly, this step will involve things like working on story revisions with your editor, seeing cover design briefs/illustrations, working on copyedits, receiving proofs, proofreading, getting your author copies, marketing plans/launch plans and more.

Step 10. Publication day!

Your publication day has arrived and you get to feel the sheer excitement and joy of accomplishing your dream! Your publisher will probably send you a gift, and possibly your agent too!

(On my very first publication day with a publishing house, my agent sent me a Christmas-themed cat plushie in honour of the book and my editor sent cat-themed biscuits.)

Not all authors have big launch events in bookshops – it’s a pretty common myth that all authors get to experience this! Even if you don’t manage to secure a bookshop launch, having some sort of plan to celebrate your hard work is absolutely worth it. Even a fancy restaurant meal or a party with friends and family to celebrate your achievements will make your day so memorable.

Make the most of your day. Your dream to get your book published has come true!

I hope you enjoyed this guide on how to get a book published and the various stages involved! If you would like some help with your submission materials or your full manuscript, check out my editorial services – I’d love to hear from you about your book!