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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing

What Is the Best Way to Submit My Self-Published Book?

By Steve Laubeon April 21, 2025
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We are asked this question so frequently that I have to re-run this post on a regular basis!

Since it has become so easy to self-publish, many authors are creating their own books, both in ebook and print form. Later, those authors are not quite sure what to do if/when they want to approach an agent. Or pitch to an editor at a conference.

Should they just send a copy of the book with a letter? Or should they create a proposal? Or do both? Is there truly a right way and a wrong way? And if you are at a writers conference, why not just bring a copy of the book? You may not like my answer:

It depends.

In my opinion, it is best to start over with a full proposal and sample chapters. In other words, act as if the self-published work doesn’t exist.

YET, at the same time, within the proposal itself you must, absolutely must, disclose that the book was self-published and has sold xxxx number of copies.

Why not just send the book? Or a PDF of the ebook? Or the Kindle file?

I didn’t say you couldn’t. What I said is that it is best to start over fresh. Why? Because of first impressions. Over the years, I’ve received hundreds of finished self-published books instead of proposals with sample chapters. Unfortunately, the artwork on the cover or the interior design or the printing quality of the book can be less than stellar. It is unfortunate, but I cannot avoid comparing your book to the covers I see from the industry’s finest designers. It is human nature to compare.

Beyond the book cover, I’ve seen some weird font inside a finished book, which rendered it unreadable. Or the author was trying to save printing costs by reducing page count. Try to imagine a printed book with an 8-point font, single-spaced. (Yes, that has happened–more than once.)

We’ve had people email a PDF of their entire self-published work. Often, the file size is enormous. Or another author sent me their epub file (expecting me to download the file, then upload it to my eReader). [Nope. Not going to happen.] More than once, we’ve been sent a flash drive with files on it that we were instructed to download for review. [We don’t know where your flash drive has been.] Or we frequently receive a link to a cloud-based folder to download the file. [Nope.] And believe it or not, I was once invited in an email pitch to buy their book on Amazon if I was interested in representing it. [????]

I mentioned full disclosure of sales above. If your book has sold 5,000 or 10,000 self-published copies, say that in your cover letter. That is significant news. (And that means full-price sales, not free ebook downloads.) It means you are quite the entrepreneur and know how to sell books. That is a good thing.

If your book only sold 75 copies, that isn’t quite as exciting.

The next question will be asked, “Of those 10,000 sold, at what price were they sold?” Plus, “Were those print sales or ebook sales?” If you say, “I sold 9,500 at 99 cents each,” that won’t move the needle.

Why do we ask those questions? Because if we represent the project, a major publisher will ask the same questions of us.

Ultimately, what you really want is to have your words be what is evaluated by the agent, the editor, and the publisher. Not whether or not you had a good graphic designer. The best way to make that happen is to present your story or nonfiction book plain and simple in a regular book proposal.

Of course, there are exceptions (and it is not a “rule,” only a guideline). There are times where the packaging of someone’s book is so terrific that it actually helps sell the book! But in a case like that, you are betting that the agent or editor has the same taste in design that you do. I’ll admit to being “sold” by an indie author’s extraordinary packaging of their book. It suggests they are willing to invest in their work and their brand, and they know good work when they see it. (But then if they did so well on their own, why are they looking for an agent? That is a question for another day.)

As always, check the agent’s guidelines before sending anything to an agent or a publisher.

Read and then add your thoughts to the previous comments below. The exchanges can be instructive.

[An earlier version of this post last ran in May 2020.]

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Category: Book Proposals, Indie, Self-PublishingTag: book proposals, Get Published, Self-Publishing

Publishing Is Publishing

By Dan Balowon October 6, 2022
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Every part of the book publishing ecosystem adjusted its perspective to accommodate both traditional publishing and author-published works. It wasn’t long ago these two paths were treated as either/or decisions; but now they are both/and. Many traditional publishers offer author-paid services, some agents have indie services for clients, and a large number of authors publish both traditional and …

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Category: Book Business, Book Business, Indie, Marketing, Self-Publishing, Trends

Books, Hooks, and Good Looks

By Bob Hostetleron September 30, 2021
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I love hooks. As a writer, I work hard on my hooks. When I was a magazine editor, the hook was often the best way for a writer to make a good first impression on me. And now, for me as a literary agent, the hook is the first and one of the most important criteria I use in evaluating a book pitch, proposal, or manuscript. A good book hook will often prompt me to give a project a more careful, …

Read moreBooks, Hooks, and Good Looks
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Career, Get Published, Pitch, Pitching, Platform, Self-Publishing, Social Media, The Writing Life

Searching for Books

By Dan Balowon September 8, 2021
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Online search engines are immensely powerful, often anticipating what you want and asking, “Did you mean _____?” when it doesn’t locate what you typed. This is very helpful because making your book as findable online as possible is critical since online book sales are pretty important! Making your book discoverable online is all about keywords. Read a good explanation of them by clicking on the …

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Category: Book Sales, Branding, Marketing, Self-Publishing, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life

Where Do Your Readers Come From?

By Guest Bloggeron May 24, 2021
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Today’s guest writer is Carla Laureano. She is a two-time RITA® award-winning author of over a dozen books, spanning the genres of contemporary romance and Celtic fantasy. A graduate of Pepperdine University, she worked in sales and marketing for more than a decade before leaving corporate life behind to write full-time. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, two sons, …

Read moreWhere Do Your Readers Come From?
Category: Book Review, Book Sales, Branding, Indie, Marketing, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life

When Your Proposal Doesn’t Sell

By Steve Laubeon May 10, 2021
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by Steve Laube

It happens. Despite all efforts and good intentions not every proposal we shop will end up being contracted by a major publisher. Of course our agency tries our best to keep that from happening. We carefully choose which projects and authors we represent. And our success rate is extremely high.

But that success rate is not 100%.

Here are a few examples of projects that …

Read moreWhen Your Proposal Doesn’t Sell
Category: Agency, Book Business, Book Proposals, Get Published, Self-Publishing, The Writing LifeTag: book proposals, Get Published

Am I on a Deadline?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 25, 2021
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Many authors submit book proposals to agents and editors with the thought, If this doesn’t work, I’ll self-publish. That plan is reasonable. However, when strategizing your career, consider the timeline. As an agency, we set a time frame to respond to author queries. Often, we miss our stated deadline. In working with other publishing professionals, we are aware that this is an industry-wide …

Read moreAm I on a Deadline?
Category: Book Business, Rejection, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life

What If I Self-Published on My Way to Getting Focused?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 22, 2020
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The “Your Questions Answered” Series __________ I self-published two ebooks on Amazon and Smashwords. They aren’t/weren’t meant for a wide audience, instead geared towards Christian parents/grandparents who love a heroin addict.  Additionally, my online writing audience is growing.  Should mention of those sites be included?  Different materials from my ebooks.  One is a work-in-progress Christian …

Read moreWhat If I Self-Published on My Way to Getting Focused?
Category: Self-Publishing, Your Questions Answered Series

Do You Need to Hire a Professional Editor?

By Guest Bloggeron June 4, 2020
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Recently, a blog reader sent the following question: Tamela, as everyone knows, writing can be a desperately lonely pastime. The biggest thing I struggle with is direction or coaching. That is, “Have I developed a good story, concept, or theme? Or, am I seriously off the rails, a hopeless case?” I realize I’m talking about developmental editing but how can a writer find critical review without …

Read moreDo You Need to Hire a Professional Editor?
Category: Editing, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

The Editorial Process

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon January 27, 2020
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It is important to understand the process through which a book takes under the umbrella called “The Edit.” I meet many first timers who think it is just a one-time pass over their words and that is all that will ever happen. And many who self-publish think that hiring a high school English teacher to check for grammar is enough of an edit.

There are four major stages to the Editorial Process. …

Read moreThe Editorial Process
Category: Editing, Get Published, Publishing A-Z, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Agents, Editors, Grammar, Proposals, Writing Craft
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