You also need to demonstrate to the publisher that your book will be a best seller, and you do that by having a good marketing strategy with press releases, a book launch, organising talks, publishing extracts, writing articles on the topic, making YouTube videos, and getting as many interviews as you can including on radio shows. If you know a successfully published author, ask them to write you a letter of introduction to their publisher. All this helps to show you are a serious writer - not a one book wonder!
A non-fiction book is usually a minimum 60,000 words so aim for this ballpark word count. Remember that the title and subtitle that you give your book might not be the one that the publisher agrees to publish under. Publishers have standard titles that your book might comfortably slot into, or there might be another book on the market with a similar title. Each publisher has a niche. See their submission guidelines and rigidly keep to them.
Submit your transcript on a Word document or PDF without any formatting as the publisher will have in-house services for this.
To find a traditional publisher for a novel, you will need an agent as you will also need for an autobiography. Agents earn 10% of your 10% royalty, so it is in their interests to make sure your book gets a good publisher and will sell well. However, how many hours will it take someone to read your story? 20 hours is probably a minimum if it is properly read. As agents earn a minimum of £15 per hour, you can work out that they will need to cover their costs of £300 at 10% so you will need to sell 3000 books at £10 each, and that is just for the reading. They also present your mss at book fairs and to publishing houses and this costs a considerable further sum. Think in terms of selling 10,000 copies to start, as these are the terms in which agents work.
Most traditional publishers give authors 10% royalties for which they should read and edit the text and give feedback, provide the cover image, mock up with formatting, have the hard copies produced abroad, such as in China, fly the hard copies to a UK wholesaler who sends the books to local retail shops when requested. Their representatives also market your book by phone or in person to receive early sales for book shops. Most books published now are paperbacks unless it will be a coffee table book or a potential best seller.
It is expected for you to know the craft of writing, to know grammar, to write well and not with repetition. A professional spell and grammar check is for the first draft and no writer should use AI. When you send your transcript, covering letter and proposal, do not expect an immediate reply. Each traditional publisher wants to see your work first before any other and they do not like you to send out multiple submissions. However, if you do make multiple submissions, they like to know this as it might hurry them up to be the first to make you an offer.
Instead of a traditional publisher, you might like to consider self publishing with a small printer as you can choose the title, the price, the cover, the paper, etc., yourself, and when you are performing talks at events, sell them direct to purchasers. This way, you keep the full jacket price minus the cost price. Many books are now only produced as eBooks and are advertised on authors' websites for direct sales to purchasers. The cost of production is low and once again, the decisions for cost price, cover, formatting, etc., are your own.
Recommended: Any budding author should read as much as possible about their specialised topic, for instance, autobiography, historical novels, myths and legends, etc. Autobiography can be celebrity, comedy, historical, etc. Whatever you chosen genre, write with as much detail as possible, conjure an atmosphere, and delight and love your writing experience. Definitely invest in The Writers & Artists Yearbook or the Writer's Handbook as they both have a wealth of imperative information for authors and they include a list of Agents and Publishers and their specialities and how best to contact them. If you join the Society of Authors, they have a resident specialist lawyer that deals in contractual law to advise you on any legal matters.
Wendy Stokes provides workshops on 'How to get your book published!'
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