Publishing: Where do I start?

Maybe you’re at a point in your writing where you have an actual manuscript sitting on your desk. Congratulations! Now, how do you take that looming stack of finely turned phrases and well-placed plot points and convert them into a bound book? Today, NaNoWriMo participant Kayla Stansbury delivers a step by step guide to support you on the journey to publication: 

You’ve written the thing.

You love it. You hate it. You’re ready to publish it.

The starting point for your publishing journey depends on your work and your goals for your writing. There are a few common steps regardless of whether you are publishing a children’s nonfiction book on plant emotions or a high fantasy epic poem.

1. The Market

First, you should determine the market for your work. Start with readership: children, middle grades, young adult, or adult. The age of your protagonist doesn’t necessarily dictate the readership age, but keep in mind that most publishers expect to see a young protagonist in children and middle grades fiction and a teenage protagonist in young adult fiction. Consider the content of your work. Are the themes of your novel, poem, or short story relevant to the concerns of your readership age? Once you have an audience, start researching the publishers who target that market.