How to get a book published

[LadybirdHowItWorksBook]

Hi everyone, I am in the process of writing a Ladybird How It Works book. When it's finished how do I go about getting it published? Would I send it to Ladybird/Penguin Random House or do I need an agent? This is all new to me so any advice would be gratefully received.

I'm watching this thread with interest - I have written a novel. I have the 2018 Writers and Artists yearbook, so I think there will be a list of agents etc. in that. I have written the book for my own interest rather than for publishing purposes but wouldn't mind giving it a go.
I am editing the book now.
I know someone who has volunteered their time to check punctuation and grammar.
Then I will find some beta readers
I'm not sure whether to send it away for some professional editing, although I have written it for me, it might be the only novel I write and I want it to read well etc. I'm guessing this would be costly and not entirely sure of the services I am requesting...professional critique or more structural editing etc. It all seems a bit daunting and although I have some funds to put towards it, I obviously don't want to waste money and request the wrong thing.
Any advice greatly received. Sorry Ladybird, hope I haven't hijacked your post x

Has nobody gone through the publishing process on here?

There are quite a few published authors on MN so you should get responses soon.

I've no idea about the Ladybird book. I would imagine they have a schedule of books they'll be bringing out. You could write to Penguin Random House if they're the publishers but to be honest, I think the chance of them picking it up is very slim. I would think they'll be using their own authors for all of those books.

Watching with interest as I have written a book and am in the process of editing, but I have no clue where to start! I'm very wary of vanity publishers (bad experiences in the past) and as for beta readers etc... just don't know where to start!

@LavenderDays, once you're happy with your novel, send the first three chapters and a synopsis and covering letter to half a dozen agents. Really do your research there as they all have specific interests. Do some research and read interviews with them, follow them on Twitter, look at who else they represent etc. And think about where your book would stand in a bookshop - think of the Amazon thing "The person who bought this also bought..." Don't worry about seeming bigheaded! In your letter make it clear why you are writing to that specific agent.

Some agents will never reply (some of them make it clear that if you don't hear from them within a certain number of weeks they're not interested - others will just never respond.) Some will reply quite quickly; others take months. It should say what their policy is on their website. Then if they do reply you might get asked to send the full manuscript (so make sure it's ready to go) or they might say it's not for them, either with or without reasons.

You only have one chance at that first impression so make sure your three chapters are as good as you can make them.

If they take you on they will try to get a two-book deal for you so if you haven't got a second book in you, you might need to rethink things.

Best of luck!

You're right to be wary of vanity publishers!

A lot of writers don't use beta readers - they may have a friend they show it to, but if that person doesn't know much about books then that can be pointless. A lot of friends will just say "Oh that's good", which is nice, but not much use!

I agree with the friends thing, IME they're too scared of offending you so they'll go "OMG that's the best thing I've ever read, you're so talented" etc but that's really not what I need, I need all the criticism I can get!

My first two chapters are probably weakest as they're a bit of an info dump, but I'm rewriting them and trying to minimise the dump effect! Thanks for the advice, Hollow

What are vanity publishers @hollowtalk ? If you don’t mind :) x

Hi there OP. Good luck. I’m a publisher - not PRH and not a good fit for your book.

PRH’s website says they are not accepting unsolicited manuscripts. In theory you need an agent, but like pp I expect that Ladybird has a list of planned titles for this series and will curate in house, or with a stable of authors.

I’d be surprised if other publishers would pick something like this up - they can’t use Ladybird’s series format and this kind of book wouldn’t necessarily stand alone.

Avoid vanity publishers (where you pay to publish/produce/market the book, but sign over rights to a publisher). Self-publishing is an option, but you need to be very careful about trademark and copyright if you are borrowing a series format for your book.

You might find this Bookseller article useful on PRH’s plans for the series.

Good luck, and have fun writing.

Ex book trade, agree with what NamelessEnsign said wrt Ladybird.

Hi Ladybird...Sorry for hijacking your post...you have written a non-fiction book whereas I have written fiction so the processes are probably a bit different.