Adrian Zackheim

Getting your book published is an exciting milestone and one that requires preparation. First, you must write a great query letter or proposal to pique interest from literary agents (who can help sell your book) and editors. You have to explore submission strategies; compose a winning title; and consider adding a CD or DVD or something else of value to help attract readers and buyers.

Fiction is a general term used to describe an imaginative work of prose, either a novel, short story, or novella. Recently, this definition has been modified to include both nonfiction works that contain imaginative elements, like Midnight in the Garden Of Good and Evil by John Berendt (Random House, 1994) and Dutch by Edmund Morris (Random House, 1999), and novels consisting largely of factual reporting with a patina of fictionalization, such as Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Knopf, 1997).

So you know you want to write a book — you just don't know what you want to write about. For many people, it's not uncommon to think that you need to write about something exotic or different or strange — that the familiar just could not be appealing to readers. But the opposite is often true. Writing, after all, is a form of understanding; you write best about things you know best.

A literary agent is one of the first people to enlist in your effort to get your book published. Having a good literary agent — one who has contacts with publishers who publish the type of book you write — goes a long way to giving you a chance to say, "Yes, I'm a published author." The following list contain

Getting your work of fiction published is different from getting nonfiction published. A fiction submission (short story or novel) must be a complete manuscript when you submit it to a publisher. Create a query letter, along with plot synopsis, to submit with your manuscript. According to Marjorie Braman, a top fiction editor at HarperCollins, "We very rarely consider novels, especially first novels, unless there is a completed manuscript.

The core members of any publishing acquisition team are made up of two very different types: The creative, editorial types and the more financially driven sales and marketing types. Generally speaking, the editorial staff is responsible for obtaining a wide range of prospective book ideas and shepherding them through the publication process, while the sales and marketing people are in charge of allocating the publishing house's financial resources.

To get your nonfiction book published, put together a strong proposal. Use the proposal to "sell" your book to potential literary agents, editors, and publishers. Make sure your proposal is as polished as possible by including the following: Cover page: Contains the title, author byline, and contact informati

One of the most important tasks in getting your book published is to find an editor who's going to get behind your book and help it — and you — make your way in the publishing world. To find an editor who's a good fit, try these tips: Read acknowledgment pages of books similar to yours — authors often acknow

If your book is going to be published (congrats!), offer some added value to amass legions of adoring fans more quickly. Your book's added value can be as simple as the recommendation of someone famous or one of these other attention-getters: Obtain celebrity endorsements Use a foreword written by a well-k