Callling All First Time Authors!

Usually, when first time authors complete their first book, they usually send out the books to big time publishing companies and wait to hear a callback telling them they love their book and they're ready to sign a publishing deal. What people don't understand is that it's not that easy. Major book publishing companies don't even look at a first time authors book or manuscript. They have hundreds and thousands of first time authors bombarding them with requests to read their masterpiece. Most of the time, the books end up in a trash can.

Once new authors go through the process of sending their books to major publishing companies and realizing they are not going to get that deal they hoped for this way, then then discover book agents. They go and hire a literary agent to shop the book for them. A good agent will put together a good proposal targeted to editors. And if they are able to get your book in front of major publishers, the chances of getting any light is slim.

There is hope for new authors, and I'm not talking about self-publishing either. I have yet met a self-employed author who was anything but drained, but that's a whole different story. The sunshine is that there are many small publishing companies that accept materials without the assistance of a book agent. In fact, they even pay attention to unsolicited manuscripts. Furthermore, some even provide marketing, publishing, production and distribution services. One company that gave me my first start was Mountain Valley Press. You can visit their site at www.mountainvalleypress.com.

"Small, independent and medium sized publishers are among the best in the business."
Zoe Carr