This week is our final session of the Fall 2020 Intensive Writing Workshop & Ask an Author. Goodness I will miss these writers!!

Since we finished Bonnie Friedman’s Writing Past Dark, my students asked if we could talk about the book publication process. I’ve shared with them a great article from Jane Friedman about the book publication process (if you don’t know her, sign up for her newsletter pronto). In preparation for this discussion, I’m going to ask my writers to imagine that they have finally finished their novels or memoirs (yippee!!).

I’ll encourage them to really settle with that notion of completion. Perhaps feeling the weight of the complete manuscript in their hands. What next? What do they hope for this book?

Oftentimes we automatically think that a book is not really real until it is published. Yet there are so many ways to publish a book. Sure there is the traditional big 5 publishers, and I encourage all of my students to aim high, but some of my students have also had success by approaching smaller presses by writing directly to editors. Others have won contests that led to the publication of their first books. Others attended writing conferences where they pitched the idea of their book to an agent, signed with that person, and are working on preparing a manuscript that they will use to approach editors. Other students have chosen to publish their own books for family and friends.

There are so many ways to publish your book. The first step really is to start by visualizing what you’d like to see happen when you complete your book—and then go ahead and do just that.