HALPI
At Home & Leisure Publishing we do a multitude of things, all relating in some way to computers, publishing, and/or the Internet.
In February of 1996, we ‘went online’ with our first Web site. Since that time we have developed several more sites of our own with thousands of pages of content as well as designed sites for quite a few businesses, organizations, and individuals.
Publishing is another part of our company. Prior to 1996, we published free magazines including Citrus County Home & Leisure, Citrus County Health & Medical Directory, and Friends & Lovers the Relationships Guide. The Health & Medical Directory continues with a new owner/publisher and has been expanded into several editions. Friends & Lovers continues to be a very popular Web site.
Our publishing expertise has enabled us to self-publish several of our own books as well as assist other authors in publishing their books.
If you have written a book you want published, you have many options if you’re planning on self-publishing. That’s good news for writers who aren’t able to get their books accepted by a major publisher.
If you expect to have your book published by a major publishing house, you:
- Will need to get an agent to represent you and be the intermediary if a publisher does have interest in your manuscript;
- Will have to write a good book proposal which the agent will use to ‘pitch’ your book to potential publishers;
- Will only get your book accepted for publication by a publisher who believes your book will make a profit for them.
It is extremely rare for big publishing houses to take a chance on unknown or unpublished authors. Rare is the J.K. Rowling author who blazes to incredible heights out of virtually nowhere, and even her first manuscript was rejected by several publishers before one saw the potential in her writing and took a chance.
Major publishing houses are in business to make money, as are all corporations. They will reject many manuscripts in their search for the few that they believe to be worth investing in. However, even if you’re one of the lucky few whose book is accepted by a publisher, the final published book may be far from the one you wrote with such passion.
The writer who has a book ready to publish but no interest by an agent and/or major publishing house, or who doesn’t want his or her book rewritten by editors, copyeditors, typesetters, and all of the publisher’s employees who give input during the publishing process, has more opportunity than ever before to actually control the publishing process by self-publishing.