To sell your book yourself, follow these ten steps:
1. Make sure your proposal or manuscript is ready to submit.
2. Learn from the contacts and experiences of other writers.
3. Research publishers in bookstores and their catalogs and on their websites to make a list of publishers and learn their submission guidelines.
4. Use acknowledgments in books, directories, and calls to publishers to verify that editors are still there to prepare a list of editors.
5. Email (or snail mail with a SASE) a one-page query letter to as many editors as you wish simultaneously, letting them know you’re contacting other editors.
6. Follow publishers’ submission guidelines, and email or snail mail with a S.A.S.E. one or more multiple submissions of your proposal or partial manuscript, letting editors know that other publishers have it.
7. Submit your work, impeccably prepared, in a professional way following publishers’ guidelines in Writer’s Market or on their websites.
8. Find out when you should expect a response and then follow up with publishers by phone, email, and snailmail until you receive it.
9. Get help with the contract free from writer’s organizations or from an agent or intellectual property attorney at an hourly rate.
10. Celebrate!
Michael Larsen-Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents
415-673-0939 / Members: AAR
Helping Writers Launch Careers Since 1972
1029 Jones Street / San Francisco, California 94109
larsenpoma@aol.com / www.larsen-pomada.com