Improbable Press Blog — Publishing

Okay, you’ve signed a contract with a small press and you’re doing the butt-wiggle dance of joy. You probably sent your book to a lot publishers and at last your work found a home. Whether you’re a new writer or have been published before, it’s a relief to know you’ve found someone else who loves your work as much as you do. And—WAIT! Screeching To a Halt: Loving Small Presses That! It’s that I want to bold and italicize:         We love your book, too. I can nearly 100% guarantee that that’s why any small press anywhere wants to publish...

A writer recently asked what we mean by 'we're editing your book,' and though we've talked about the overall book editing process on this blog, we never covered the nitty gritty of how the editing process goes. We're about to do that right now. How We Edit Your Book You've sent your completed novel to us. We've never seen those words before. We're excited! Though the precise process depends on the editor, for Improbable Press, this is how we edit: While we read, we're making note of big things like 'this story starts too early… begin the book at chapter...

We don't start off knowing this stuff. When my first books were published I knew nothing about anything. Do I have to make every change the editor asks for? Can they do it if I don't agree? Will they hate me if I disagree? No, no, and no. Edits to Your Beloved Manuscript Every writer is edited. All of us. Oh sure, maybe not the famous ones, but you've read a later work of a superstar, the stuff no editor touches because the writer's too powerful? Yeah, well then you've seen how those books too often needed help they didn't...

Got a book? Then you want to be online to help promote it, whether that's Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or a website. While you can stick to social media-only for promotion, if you decide to create a website – a good long-term investment in your writing self – here are a few ideas on how to do it for free or for cheap. Tumblr For the Win – Maybe The cheapest and easiest way to create a website is to start with Tumblr –  if you're already using it. Something you already know will make the process easier, and a benefit...

There are a lot of things to do to help promote your book – and here are 11 book promo ideas – but there are a few things you want to not do, including: Don't create a Goodreads page for your book Goodreads is owned by Amazon, and once your book is listed there by your publisher, Amazon automatically generates a Goodreads page for your book. So if you create one before Amazon you will end up with two pages. If you have no book page after a few days or a week after your book is out (it sometimes gets...