Simply getting a book published for the first time can be a daunting task, let alone making it a bestseller. Here are the most important factors you should focus on how to publish a book:

Writing

Writing a book has become easier since the advent of the personal computer, but it’s still a gargantuan undertaking.

We’ll be offering help with writing here, soon, but for now, check out our sister website, Beneath the Cover, for writing help from experts, as well as other advice for publishing your book.

Platform Building

Platform building is not well known, understood, or appreciated, yet it’s crucial to publish a book and making your book a success.

Your author platform is your following, your audience, your fans. Before you publish a book, it’s important to become well-known in your genre. The size of your author platform will greatly affect your chances of getting published, marketing your book successfully, and becoming a bestseller. Sign up with us and we’ll get you on a star-studded path to a bigger, better platform and a bestselling book.

Learn more about building your platform at Beneath the Cover.

Finding an Agent and Publisher

You have to do your homework and research agents and publishers for the best fit for your type of book. Once you’ve found your publisher, it’s important to develop a marketing plan, a press kit, and a book proposal. You need these even before finishing your book, ready to help your book stand out from the thousands of other books publishers have to deal with.

Go to LiteraryMarketplace.com to find the right publishers and literary agents (subscription required) for your book.

Marketing and Promotion

If you’ve written your book, built your author platform, and have an idea of which publishers would make a good fit for you, then you need to put together a marketing campaign.

Your marketing efforts should start no later than 6 months before your book is to be published, but ideally you should start marketing as soon as you start writing your book.
Find out what we can do to optimize your book promotion efforts.

Also, see what incredible things Promote a Book Media can do for your book marketing and promotional efforts. Try this on for size—we guarantee to get your book mentioned and linked to from the top 200 most-visited sites on the Internet, where there are over 400 million hits per month. This is not an exaggeration.