I know a few people on here have had books published and I’m just hoping to pick their brains. I have written a guitar method book and I’m just wondering what people would consider the best process would be to get it published.

Would I need to contact an agent or do you think approaching a publishing company direct is the best route?

I have also looked into self publishing. Has anybody had any experience of doing this?

Is it a thriller?

Sounds simple, I don’t know why you’re fretting.

BFCmaj wrote:I know a few people on here have had books published and I’m just hoping to pick their brains. I have written a guitar method book and I’m just wondering what people would consider the best process would be to get it published.

Would I need to contact an agent or do you think approaching a publishing company direct is the best route?

I have also looked into self publishing. Has anybody had any experience of doing this?

Claret on a T. rex ?

I saw this and looked forward to some helpful information. Unfortunately you attracted three losers.

COBBLE wrote:I saw this and looked forward to some helpful information. Unfortunately you attracted three losers.

As opposed to the thread slipping down the page and him still receiving no useful information?

And there’s only 2 losers because Tim noone has suggested a poster on here who is a published author.

Other than that, great contribution and keep up the good work.

COBBLE wrote:I saw this and looked forward to some helpful information. Unfortunately you attracted three losers.

And there's me thinking id put forward someone who's into publishing Books. Apologies.

For that kind of book you're going to have to approach a fairly specialist agent or publisher.

How are you expecting it to be distributed? Electronic, physical, both? Is it targeted at specific levels of experience or beginners? I.e. specialist or mass market?

Steve1956 wrote:Is it a thriller?

Electric

aggi wrote:For that kind of book you're going to have to approach a fairly specialist agent or publisher.

How are you expecting it to be distributed? Electronic, physical, both? Is it targeted at specific levels of experience or beginners? I.e. specialist or mass market?

I think I may need the experience of an agent to help me. I have a list of specialist publishers and I’ve had a couple of knock-backs already which I expected.

With regards distribution, I haven’t really thought beyond online sellers such as Amazon or specialist retailers like Music Room. I would prefer to have physical copies because that’s how I teach although I’m open to electronic platforms as well.

The book is aimed at beginners but a lot of the the market is either for children or adults with at least some experience. I do a lot of my teaching with older children and adults but there is a lack of decent material for those who are starting from scratch and that is where this book sits.

Apologies Tim, misread your advice.

BFCmaj. I think RodleyDave is your man for advice. Just put a new post on here f.a.o. Good luck with it, oh and I'd love to play the guitar, will you give a pensioner like me some free lessons

BFCmaj, the Tommy Boyle and Road To Glory Books I did were self-published through Grosvenor House. Self Publishing is good if you're a newcomer as I was. If you can get a publisher interested they will put up the money for printing.
Have a look at Writer and Artists Yearbook - its a bible for people thinking of writing stuff. It has a list of publishers, contact details and their specialisms. For your proposal it sounds like you need someone who published music stuff - Writers and Artists should have that info. Copy in your local Library - or they may be online now not sure.
Good luck with it!

COBBLE wrote:Apologies Tim, misread your advice.

That's ok.

mikeS wrote:BFCmaj, the Tommy Boyle and Road To Glory Books I did were self-published through Grosvenor House. Self Publishing is good if you're a newcomer as I was. If you can get a publisher interested they will put up the money for printing.
Have a look at Writer and Artists Yearbook - its a bible for people thinking of writing stuff. It has a list of publishers, contact details and their specialisms. For your proposal it sounds like you need someone who published music stuff - Writers and Artists should have that info. Copy in your local Library - or they may be online now not sure.
Good luck with it!

I was one of those who requested a kindle version of Tommy Boyle from Amazon (and really enjoyed it too).

To the original OP: I'm not (yet) self published, but it's the road I intend to go down. It involves doing all of your own marketing, so I think best to give that some consideration before taking the plunge (not to deter you, but to give the book the biggest possible splash). Whether electronic or not I think it's a good idea to get your own You Tube channel, and use this to support the book (with enough people watching your videos you will earn a little money from this too). Ideally you'll have a presence on all social media, but you also have to insure you keep them updated, so the bigger the social media footprint, that more work to do.

Another advantage to the electronic book is you can update and edit it, so by going this route first you can give yourself a period of time in which you can respond to reader feedback, before committing yourself to a hard copy version.

Keep us updated though, because the thoughts of other people on this are interesting too.

Set up a blog with info about the book and then run a competition to win a copy. Get people to enter by visiting the various social media platforms that you set up for the book - Twitter, Insta, Youtube, Book of Faces, etc - there's a Gleam app that lets you do this. Post these comps on the MSE comping forum - your bound to attract at least a few hundred clicks and all you lose is one copy of the book.

Hi BFCMaj,
How far are you down the road with this?
Do you have a draft copy with cover design yet?
If you want to stick an email address on here I'm happy to advise

I am trying to get a noirish crime quartet set in early 90s Tokyo out right now. I have found that agents don't reply. Some of them actually state that if you don't hear from them in two months, they're not interested. How long would it take them to send a short email?

I am targeting independent publishers particularly those who specialise in crime fiction. I realise that isn't much help to you. What I would say is get it at least proofread. I did and an editorial agency said it was unusual to get something sent in ''so polished''. I'm not trying to be clever here. My point is that so much stuff getting sent into agents and publishers is unproofread, unedited and generally very sloppy, so if you can make your submission polished, you have at least a chance of catching the eye.

Good luck, and let us know how you go on. I am interested.

Guich wrote:Hi BFCMaj,
How far are you down the road with this?
Do you have a draft copy with cover design yet?
If you want to stick an email address on here I'm happy to advise

Hi Guich
Thanks for your reply.
The book is complete along with back and front cover and backing tracks are all recorded.
My email is michaelhaworthguitar@gmail.com

Foulthrow wrote:Set up a blog with info about the book and then run a competition to win a copy. Get people to enter by visiting the various social media platforms that you set up for the book - Twitter, Insta, Youtube, Book of Faces, etc - there's a Gleam app that lets you do this. Post these comps on the MSE comping forum - your bound to attract at least a few hundred clicks and all you lose is one copy of the book.

Thanks for that Foulthrow. The marketing side of it is something I will definitely have to consider once the book is out there.

beddie wrote:BFCmaj. I think RodleyDave is your man for advice. Just put a new post on here f.a.o. Good luck with it, oh and I'd love to play the guitar, will you give a pensioner like me some free lessons

Dave Thomas is a good shout as he has has many books published in all formats.

beddie wrote:BFCmaj. I think RodleyDave is your man for advice. Just put a new post on here f.a.o. Good luck with it, oh and I'd love to play the guitar, will you give a pensioner like me some free lessons

Cheers for the advice. I've read a few of his books. I have also corresponded with him in the past and contacting him is on my to-do list.
If the book gets published I'll send you a copy!

BFCmaj wrote:Hi Guich
Thanks for your reply.
The book is complete along with back and front cover and backing tracks are all recorded.
My email is michaelhaworthguitar@gmail.com

I'll drop you a line

One of the modern ways to get a publishing deal is to use Amazon to publish “free” guides... I.e split the book up into free e- books... or write some short essays and get your readership and database of readers up.... publishers now scan the new authors on there to establish who has a. A following, b. Potential for profit.

I know several authors who have used this method to get published, and I think three of the five now have multiple titles available through “proper” (old fashioned) book deals, and I believe one has just had the film writes taken up by one of the majors... though it lines his pocket nicely, it does not necessarily mean there will be a film any time soon he admits lol.

Good luck

Repeated post

Guich wrote:I'll drop you a line

Done

To be honest mate you could do to try to get with an agent. It is exceedingly hard to get publishers to look at a book without going down that route. Agents know the ones most likely to take a serious look. Self publishing is fraught with pitfalls, none less than the expense.

houseboy wrote:To be honest mate you could do to try to get with an agent. It is exceedingly hard to get publishers to look at a book without going down that route. Agents know the ones most likely to take a serious look. Self publishing is fraught with pitfalls, none less than the expense.

Agreed. I'd add: it's extremely easy to self-publish; it's extremely difficult to make it sell.

Thanks for all the advice.

Guich wrote:Done

I’ve replied to your email.

Find an Agent or self-publish through Kindle Direct Publishing. An Agent will want a book proposal and a marketing plan and even then might not find a buyer for your book or lose interest. I thought I had it made when I got a Literary Agent in New York but she did absolutely nothing and the communication was non-existent, I actually sacked her yesterday after five years of lazy excuses because my business works fine as a self-published children's author on Amazon using Amazon Marketing Services and Kindle Direct Publishing to print and distribute, this model is called Print-On-Demand.
If you want to sell any then you'll need to become a marketing master, you need to know keywords, seo, browse categories and you'll need to join any and all facebook groups relevant to your subject and promote your book every day.
First you have to stick it all together, make a mobi an epub and a pdf version and then upload them, choose your keywords and then market like a beast.
There are no shortcuts, put simply if you don't hammer the marketing nobody will buy your book because they won't know about it.

Claret-On-A-T-Rex wrote:Find an Agent or self-publish through Kindle Direct Publishing. An Agent will want a book proposal and a marketing plan and even then might not find a buyer for your book or lose interest. I thought I had it made when I got a Literary Agent in New York but she did absolutely nothing and the communication was non-existent, I actually sacked her yesterday after five years of lazy excuses because my business works fine as a self-published children's author on Amazon using Amazon Marketing Services and Kindle Direct Publishing to print and distribute, this model is called Print-On-Demand.
If you want to sell any then you'll need to become a marketing master, you need to know keywords, seo, browse categories and you'll need to join any and all facebook groups relevant to your subject and promote your book every day.
First you have to stick it all together, make a mobi an epub and a pdf version and then upload them, choose your keywords and then market like a beast.
There are no shortcuts, put simply if you don't hammer the marketing nobody will buy your book because they won't know about it.

In other words, you've got to concentrate on marketing as opposed to writing if you self-publish.

Also, keep writing and publishing, Amazon works on connections, like when you see a book you'll see "other people also read" or "by the same author" or "other people also bought" so keep at it, it takes years. Don't get other people to do things for you, if you need to make a pinterest board do it yourself, if you need to learn how to program with html and css to make mobi files, do it yourself, if you need to put together your images in photoshop then learn how to use photoshop.
Getting reviews is like pulling teeth but keep the pressure on, reviews sell books.
Get ready for the grind but welcome to new world where you'll meet interesting and awesome people, you'll be surprised how helpful people can be but also there'll be negativity from unexpected places, even family and friends.

Quicknick wrote:In other words, you've got to concentrate on marketing as opposed to writing if you self-publish.

If you get a book deal, they won't market your book either. Their marketing budgets are for established best sellers.

No knowledge of publishing but definitely an interest in the subject. Have you developed a new teaching method for the book?

Claret-On-A-T-Rex wrote:If you get a book deal, they won't market your book either. Their marketing budgets are for established best sellers.

That's very true. You'll get an amount of marketing, but most of their budget goes on the big names.

BFCmaj wrote:I know a few people on here have had books published and I’m just hoping to pick their brains. I have written a guitar method book and I’m just wondering what people would consider the best process would be to get it published.

Would I need to contact an agent or do you think approaching a publishing company direct is the best route?

I have also looked into self publishing. Has anybody had any experience of doing this?

If I were in your position I would try and find another person/people who has/have been in your position and ask them how they approached the situation.

dougcollins wrote:No knowledge of publishing but definitely an interest in the subject. Have you developed a new teaching method for the book?

I have used lots of different tuition books and web resources for teaching but the material for older children and adults with no prior musical knowledge is a bit hit and miss. I used a great book called Guitar Basics for younger pupils and looked for something similar for older pupils but found there wasn’t really anything there. The way the pieces were written with great backing tracks inspired me to have a go at writing my own book and that’s where I’m at now. I’ve been using it in lessons for a couple of years whilst writing it and editing it and I have had really good feedback and results. I’m pretty confident the book is good, it’s the next step I need help with.

Just a quick update. Massive thanks to Guich and this thread on UTC, my book is now available to purchase on Amazon.
BiteSize Guitar: 30 Easy to follow lessons https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0992839882/ ... EDbVPS6XZ7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;