BusterAg said:
I have seen on here that at least a couple people on this forum have published a book. I am thinking about doing the same.
My expectations are very low. I write pretty well, and write for fun often. Mainly, this will just be something I do this time for experience, and may choose to devote more than a hobby-allotment of time if it goes well, and write during semi-retirement.
Interested in experiences of posters on getting their own book published, or if a poster knows someone that got a book published.
1) Did you get an agent first? How did you begin?
2) Did you go with a larger publisher, smaller publisher, self publish? How did you choose?
3) Are you planning on putting another book out there?
Appreciate any advice.
1) Yes, I did get an agent. I was very lucky though. Living in Grand Rapids, with a surprisingly prominent publishing scene and schools like Aquinas and Calvin, has put people in my life that were able to help with this. I am SO glad I got an agent, though. I signed with Eerdmans Publishing. My friend connected me to her agent, who took me on as a favor. He doesn't typically handle memoirs, but he was able to advocate in ways that I didn't even understand on some of the terms.
Finding an agent can be tricky, from what I understand. Agents often have their specific genres they focus on. So I would start with a simple google search focused on your specific genre. Reach out and just ask. Send them a summary and couple chapters. My agent told me, before even shopping to publishers, I needed to come up with two "perfect" chapters. It helps that I had a list of known people willing to endorse my book. The direction of my book, or the guiding thread, has changed from the pitch to now, though. So you also have to be flexible.
2) We pitched to about 20 publishers. Obviously, we wanted to land one of the major publishers, but my story is very niche. We were confident with Eerdmans because they had actually reached out to me first. They were also who I wanted to go with, as I wanted to go with a Christian publisher and focus on the role of faith in my life. I think they'd be considered a "small", but they have a great reputation in religious and academic spheres.
I have heard a lot of people moving to self-publish. The publishing world is changing, from what I understand. So much more gets published that there's an approaching saturation point.
3) I don't know. When I first met with the Acquisitions Editor back in 2022 and she asked me if I had ever thought about writing my memoir, I said yes and described how I envisioned it. I wanted to include a sizable section from my family. I have long thought that their story through all of our life changes has been the far more intriguing aspect of our greater family story. The Acquisitions Editor said that she thinks that would be better saved for the 2nd book. At that point, writing two books never crossed my mind. So, I don't know. I think being 46 definitely gives me plenty of life change that could make for a 2nd book, but writing a book has been a slog for me. But that's mostly because of health issues this year, highly contentious negotiations with our union (I lead the bargaining team for the company), and a lot of faith growth as I've become an Orthodox inquirer and am now wrestling with a lot of other internal stuff.
Hope this helps. One last bit of advice...join writing groups online. Find author corners of social media. Build connections.
