How much does it really cost to publish a book?

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Welcome to another #AskMeAnything session! In this series, I'm responding to your questions about the publishing industry and how to write a better book. Leave me any additional questions in the comments and I will add them to my list for future videos!

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GREAT BOOKS ABOUT WRITING/PUBLISHING:

SOME OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS:

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MORE BOOK EDITOR Q&As:

RELATED VIDEOS:

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TODAY'S #ASKMEANYTHING :
00:40 - How can you publish your book without spending a ton of money?
02:53 - How far do you have to plan out your trilogy?
04:57 - Do you have to switch POVs at every chapter break in a multi-POV novel?
06:45 - Can you query multiple agents at the same agency?

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ABOUT ME:
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with nearly a decade of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey—whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.

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MUSIC:
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[writingitright]

Hi, Alyssa! Thank you for your thorough responses to our questions. Because of your AAA sessions, we are getting closer to publishing-savvy writers every week! Question here:

How do you copyright a piece of writing? And if writing is not filed for copyright, can someone else (ie beta readers, literary agents, or even viewers of media platforms on which the work is shared for entertainment) steal it?

[NovaKirsch]

The advice is awesome as always. THANK YOU for taking the time to put out these videos. They are extremely helpful... even if the querying part of it is a nightmare!!!

[soccerguy]

First question is kind of bizarre; it's hardly occurred to me to invest anything financial into publishing my book, let alone my life's savings? With the exception of maybe an editor or unless you're self-publishing, publishing should be free (in fact, you should be paid for it).

[thehomelessteddycomics]

Very informative video. You should look for author Stacy James Meadows. Anyway great video that is really informative. ❤

[davidrawkins]

Thank you, you have answered a question that has been bothering me for a long time. I have been in a dilemma about multiple POVs and whether I should incorporate them into my novel. I can now sit down and concentrate on it.

[veritasaequitas]

Just discovered your very professional and to-the-point channel. Well done. Will definitely look into your editing services when my next book is completed.

[JustClaude]

On the trilogy question, I favor completing the first draft of the opening novel, then begin preparing the second novel while the first is percolating in your mind. Once you have a rough draft of the second novel, start revising the first novel.
After that, prepare the third novel before doing initial revisions to the second volume. By now you'll probably have things that came up in the later volumes that will affect the first volume, so it's time to go back and work them in.
By the time you're ready to query the first novel you'll have refined drafts of all three installments and can explain exactly what all three novels will be about.

[rowan]

Thanks. I was curious about it as well when to implement multiple POV's.

[iwannareadforever]

Hey Alyssa. I know your expertise is in prose novels but do you have any knowledge about the comic/graphic novel process? I am writting a script for one and I have so many questions but one I don’t know the answer to is do I need an editor for a comic? It’s not like the words are the final product and a lot of the story is dependent on the artist.

[arnoldfossman]

Hi there, I'm an elderly man and am working on my first book. Because I'm on a fixed income and need my income to be fairly steady I'm concerned that an advance might put too high a spike in my income for me to remain in the bracket that I'm currently in and then leave me in a bracket that I can't afford to be in. My question is with traditional publishing if my book is accepted is there a way to get the publisher to give me a small advance that will not push me too far from where I'm at financially right now? I would have no problem with a steady or somewhat steady increase in my income, it's just the idea of a major spike that would mess up the steadiness of my income. I suspect that this might be a strange question, but it's how things are for me.

[bardanino]

Somewhat related question to the POV one you just answered. My book is told exclusively from the POV of one character, except for the first chapter (1500-1800 words) that has the POV of a different character, which only appears in the first chapter, then is gone from the book. The reason is that the protagonist of the book "manipulates" people's lives behind the scenes without them realizing. What my first chapter does is, essentially, I show this second character having a really bad day with a lot of bad luck, but it seems not to be anything more than just bad luck (they try to catch a train and fail). Then, for the last 200 words or so of the chapter, there's a chapter break, then the POV switches to the protagonist, revealing that this "bad luck" was actually her doing. Does that sound okay? I keep hearing about how you shouldn't start a story with a different character's POV, and while I believe in what I did, it is starting to get to me

[smokinggnu]

When you say you'd need to lay out the groundwork for yhe entire trilogy if that's what you're writing (at least) how exactly would a publisher want to see this outline? Would oyu need to provide a synopsis for the 2nd and 3rd books even if you haven't written much about them yet? Or submit some sort of plot-plan document outlying everythign your considering? Cause i'm about 5 chapters into book 2 while i'm putting the finishing editing touches on book 1 and i have no detailed planned-out documentation on 2 or 3, but i have both roughly planned out in a skeletal-structure manner in my head.

[christopherrouse]

This channel is hands-down the best on "Writers' Youtube". Matesic's' years of breaking rocks in the mines of Big Five publishers and agencies yields gems other channels just don't have. My biggest fear now is that she'll get a dream offer from P/RH or somesuch before my MS is in good enough shape to work with her.

[Kittycat]

Hi, I've come up with a lot of stories. I'm right now doing children books and chapter books for a younger audience (older elementary/junior high ages).

I'm hoping you may have some tips or could answer any questions I have. If not, would you know someone that might help.

1) Do you go through the same process for traditional publishing or is there any difference since its a children's book?
2) Any idea how to get an Illustrator for the chapter books for young readers?
3) is it wise to submit a whole short children's book to a publishing company?

If you can help or know someone that can, I really appreciate it.

Enjoy watching your videos. Get good tips and ideas before I try publishing any of my work.

[jasonsumma]

Do literary agencies pay close attention to total word count? One concern is that my current "finished" story is too short. I plan on making it a trilogy but also I see it as an entire large novel by combining all three books into one. Do the agencies expect a 200k-word novel from a brand-new author or would they be shocked at such a large story?

[smallrose]

Hi alyssa, how do i give constructive, meaningful feedback to my writer peers?

[jimgilbert]

I have a question for you:
When querying an agent, should I tell him/her that the submission I'm sending them is the first in a series?
(I've already written 5 novels featuring the same characters and situations, and I've got plot ideas for a few more. I just can't leave them alone for more than a month or so before returning to them.)
Or should I wait to mention the other books until the agent requests the first manuscript?

[sunnynights]

Hello! I do have a question that maybe you can address in a future video: do you need to complete the book before you start your query?

[BudsCartoon]

Only 10% of leeches watching are hitting that THUMBS UP button. App or website, IT'S RIGHT THERE!

[MattVentures]

Hi Alyssa, are agencies employing AI or Scanning software to feed queries through? I submitted a query letter and the first 25 pages per the agency's submission guidelines and fully expected the 8 week turn around quoted on their site. But, much to my dismay, was sent a form rejection within 48 hours.
I'm certain that all of my material sent wasn't read and analyzed that fast which is why i ask. Or do some agencies read the plot paragraph of a letter and make an immediate judgement regardless if they asked for pages also?

Thank you for your time and help to all us newbies!