Congratulations on your final draft!

Think of the timing around your book. Do you want it out before a particular event? Perhaps there is a season or holiday that your book coincides well with. After you have finished your final draft, you still need to consider edits and processing, which can take several months. Keep this in mind for your timeline!

Smaller and simpler starting off. Try to put out fun and quick but well-polished ideas first. While you might be sitting on a masterpiece, you'll also want to remember that writing prowess strengthens over time, and you'll want to save your magnum opus for when your skills match up. Also, publishing and promoting smaller books is easier for first-time authors.

Your book is going to go through a lot of editing, as it is extremely rare to draft a perfect piece on your first go. This is going to cost you, both financially and emotionally (some of their feedback can sting a bit), but it is well worth the price. Make sure to choose an editor that is as passionate about your work as you are. Some traditional publishers may provide these in-house.

There are a lot of benefits to self-publishing. You retain total rights to your book, you get a much bigger cut of the royalties, and you get the final say on what content stays or goes. However, you are also responsible for all the publishing requirements, legal fees, and distribution logistics, as well as promoting and advertising. The marketing side of things chalks up to significantly more work than you may first think.

Traditional publishing is the other side of the coin. You get your legal, publishing, distribution, and marketing affairs taken care of, but at the cost of less rights to your work and possible restrictions to the story you can tell. Some publishers may take a cut of the royalties, while others might essentially "buy" your work from you. Make sure to closely read the contract, and avoid publishers that require lots of fees.

There are other options, such as joining a writers' guild or doing hybrid publishing. You can also try other forms of media, such as turning your work into a comic, short film, zine, or audiobook. These have their own ins and outs and pros and cons. While it may seem like a head-spinning amount of research and you just want to share your work with the world, it is important to have this foundation before you move forward.

WDP is a small, independent publisher with a Christian nuance. This means our networks are still growing, and while we do have a lot of fancy bells and whistles, it pales in comparison to a mainstream publisher. We also like stories that embody or promote Christian values. This does not mean the work has to be expressly Christian; we actually favor allegories. We are simply looking for work that displays or builds up to Christian concepts. Feel free to reach out to us if you need clarification or examples!