A literary agent

A very good and comprehensive answer from Lorraine. I just wish to add I have gone thorough the process of finding an agency - very frustrating and long-winded. You'll have to wait between 6 and 10 weeks for their rejection (and they often only read the first 4-5 pages! I have been using a company called YouCaxton - a halfway house on the way to self-publishing who did all the typesetting and design for the book for me and uploaded it to Amazon and Kindle. I thought it was worth paying some money for their good services and I would certainly not have done such a good job myself. You can have a look on Amazon - the novel's just out and is called TAKING TIME OUT. Best of luck,

Richard

No, you don't - you can publish your book yourself through Kindle or any of the other e-reader sites.

A literary agent is there to decide if your book is going to be acceptable to traditional publishers, and if so, to flog it to as many as possible so that eventually there'll be a bidding war and you'll end up with a contract and lots of dosh.

Or that's the dream, anyway. Actually they do the first part, but the chances of them finding a publisher willing to take on a complete newbie are small; and the chances of that publisher being willing to pay out for advertising and so forth, let alone advance you money upfront, are smaller still, unless you are exceptional or already famous.

If you are going to try this route, make sure you choose an agent who deals in your genre.

Some publishers accept unsolicited manuscripts; some do this all the time, others do it as a special offer. It's worth getting a copy of Writing Magazine or Writer's Forum. where such people advertise, or go through the listings in your W&A Yearbook (online version also available) and then check with any you think are likely in case their Ts&Cs have changed.

You can self-publish through indie publishers; if you want to go down this route, don't skimp on the editing - you would be wise to pay for that, as it's almost impossible to do yourself, even if you're an editor - and make sure the book looks professional. Have a look at the various e-publishing sites, and CreateSpace, through which you can create physical books, and see what they are all about.

You can publish through vanity publishers - they're the ones who demand money upfront, far more than you'll make through sales, and then do little apart from bring the book out for you, which you could have done yourself for next to nothing. They won't publicise it - you'll have to do that - and as they've already made their money out of you, where's the incentive?

So, to re-cap: you can send your work out to agents, but allow plenty of time for that process. Even if you won a contract with a publisher, you may not see your finished book for a year. If you want to do it yourself, make sure it's the best it can possibly be - there is a lot of badly-produced stuff out there that's a complete waste of money and unfortunately gives this kind of publishing a bad name.

Look at the tabs at the top of this page - they're there to help you through the minefield.

And finally - to be a writer, you've got to be prepared to work a hundred times as hard as anyone ever imagines: you've got to write, re-write, edit, and offer your work up to the public, and it is impossible to underestimate how difficult that can be emotionally.

Good luck!

Lorraine