Publishing books

[thecleanlife]

I have written many articles on EzineArticles and my own blog site on addictions.  Also have written a ebook.
My plan now is to write a book on the topics and stories of addiction.  Most of it refers to myself.  The questions are:
Would it be in my best interest to find a agent?
Do publishing companies usually charge for the services up front, like about $4000-$5000 with money refundable after the 5000th book is sold?
I am very new at this part of writing a book so I would like some professional advice if someone could help me. 

I know there are a lot of scams out there.
 
 

[Richard]

1. With a work of any length other than a short story or poem, it is in MOST cases best to have an agent. I say most in call caps because I mean yes, yes, yes get an agent.

2. NO! PUBLISHING COMPANIES should NOT charge you a dime. If any money exchanges hands up front it should be them giving you money! Do not, do not, do not, pay a publishing company and think it is a traditional publisher. If you pay up front it is a POD or self publisher. Most of the time PODs and self-published books will NOT make you money, so before you think of going that way, get an agent, and have that agent shop it around for you!

3. The agent should not charge you a dime either! No money. The money flows to YOU! No one else gets money from you for ANY REASON. Even if they say well we only take money for editing, horse hockey!

A good publisher will pay you. You will never pay them! They will take part of your earnings. That is a lot right there. They will take a % of the books sold. If they say they are a traditional publisher and they ask you for any money at all they are a scam, period, no question. Same for agents. They should be buying you lunch. They shouldn't even say something like, hey I forgot my nickels could you loan me a nickel.

Here is what it SHOULD look like (a very short version). You send your book to agents. One of those agents goes, yes we love it. We'll shop it around. A publishers likes it, sits down with you and your agent and comes up with a contract. You know what you will get paid. Then you edit edit edit with people from the publisher. You might edit with your agent before any of this. Either way, the money comes TO YOU. It does not flow away from you. Keep that in mind and you will be okay. DO NOT PAY ON THE PROMISE OF MONEY BACK LATER, it is a scam. DO NOT PAY FOR ANY REASON! If you pay something, you are going with a self publisher. You should know this, understand it, research it, and decide this on your own not behind the lie of a scam. Also, do not pay for copies, that should be in the contract how many copies you get.

Hope this helps.

[thecleanlife]

Well... A lot of GREAT info there.  I am SO glad i found this site.  You have taken so much pressure off me.  I can't thank you enough.  I didn't know which way to go.  One person says I have to pay and I heard from places like Twitter "Get an Agent"  Well you certainly answered that question.

While I am typing I just wanted to tell you a little about the future book.

I have started to combine my blogs and my other articles I have written together to try to make this book.  It is all about my life with alcohol addiction and how I found sobriety doing it on my own.  I wanted people to be able to read this and maybe some of my ideas, stories and thoughts will help someone else in the world achieve their sobriety as I did.

Just one more question.  Where and how would I go about finding an agent that deals with addiction stories?

Thanks again for everything!

 

[Richard]

As the editor of EWR I've gone around the board trying to decide if we should post agent listings on the site. The problems with a list are many, and there are so many and so many bad agents out there I feel it would be possible to hurt a writer if we listed them. SO we don't list them. EWR's moto is do NO harm to writers only help them. To that end: http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Literary-Agents-Chuck-Sambuchino/dp/1582975485/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273032654&sr=8-1

I know it is crazy to tell you check out a book (being that I run an info website for writers), but it is my job is to give you best info I can, and try to give you way to the info you are looking for. I hope that is not too long of an answer. The book above is a great resource. 

[thecleanlife]

Thanks Richard

I'll keep you up to date with my findings

Have a great night!

[dgestner]

Richard, thanks for your post response to "the clean lifes post". I have an offer from Rate publishing to eo my children book. they want $4k.  Not for publishing but for media and publicity support.  And yes, they will return it after only 1000 books published & sold. 

Is this still worth pursuing?  Please advise.  Thanks! FG.