Your efforts do not stop after you have taken to write your pride and joy book or novel. In fact, formatting it up to the standards of different publishers and finding the right publisher needs an equally great effort, time and research if you wish to avoid a stack of rejection slips landing in your mail box..

Although there are hundreds and hundreds of them, the best place to look for book publishers is the Writers Market, this is a book which is published once a year incorporating information on book publishers, magazines publishers, and any other imaginable publisher in the writing market.

It will give you the most up-to-date information about the specialization of each publisher, whom to contact, and how to you have to format your manuscript to meet their specifications. For more up to the minute information Writers Market is available online too.

There is a lot of guidance available online which gives tips on how to approach book publishers as well as how to attract the attention of an editor by sending a well-drafted cover letter with your manuscript. Paying great attention to small nuances like these may make a big difference in getting someone to read your submission instead of it being tossed in the rejected pile unread.

Agents are skilled in selling books and can be of great help in getting some attention to your manuscript as they have contacts and can call in favours owed to them by publishers. Though they offer no guarantees but provide very useful counsel and can contribute a lot to your objective, especially if you are a first timer. As book publishers are often flooded with submissions, therefore employing a good agent can get the right person to look at your book faster.

If you are struck with traditional book publishers, you may try to publish on your own book or article. Before venturing out on this route, it is very much advised that you consider the strength of your skills in the area of marketing and distribution because that will be your responsibility. You may use some publishing companies that help only with the printing of your book. Before you sign up with any self-publishing company, make sure that you do extensive research before you commit to anything. Beware of scams - of which as in any industry there can be many - as there are some companies that will take your money and do little else.