Publishing in Malta

Publishing a book is not something that you get up in the morning and decide to do. You never plan to become a writer, it is one of the hardest and harshest jobs you can ever find and unfortunately many cannot make a living from it.

The long process

There is a lot of work that goes into getting published. There are the issues of:

• The first draft, that will be a total failure.
• Other drafts after that in which your story will start to form itself in a better shape than the first.
• There are grammar checks.
• Sentence and clauses checks.
• Fact checking.
• Beta readers - readers that will provide you with intel on whether the story is working or not. They might catch mistakes that you might not be seeing. In the case of beta readers you need to make sure to take their advice under consideration but you need to also keep in mind that, ultimately, it is your story to tell.
• You will then need an editor that will check your book and tell you what needs to be added or removed.

The problem with getting published outside of Malta

When you try to get published abroad it can become quite tricky. There are various problems that you will encounter here.

• Many publishing houses only take solicited work from certified agents and will not even consider the best of stories if they are unsolicited.
• Another problem is the fact that you will not find a literary agent in Malta and that means you would have to resort to hiring one from abroad, that leads to another problem, because it will mean you will have to fork out a good amount of money.
• Those publishing houses that do in fact take unsolicited work will be what they call 'vanity publishers'. These kinds of publishers will always accept to publish your story but instead of a traditional, board-approved book deal, you will have to pay a good chunk of money for you to be published.

However, with all that being said, you might actually find a good publishing house that likes your story and will give you great news. In this case a good pairing would have been made and you will be one of the few lucky ones to get a traditional book deal.

Indie Publishing

Indie publishing is when you publish and do everything for your book yourself. There is a difference between self publishing and indie publishing. When you indie publish you are becoming your own business and treating your book as such, with marketing and everything else that needs to be done. There are many options when it comes to publishing your book yourself. 

You can choose:

• Wattpad: A writing platform in which many have come out with a book deal.
• Amazon: Here you can publish your own book on your own terms, whether you want to publish in kindle version, paperback or both.
• Bookwright: this is another platform that helps you build your book up to a published version.
• Printing Companies: You can also choose to contact a printing company and they will print your book while you will have to do the distribution.

Solution - Get published in Malta

In Malta we are blessed with several great publishing houses that can help you with your book. Publishing houses that might be more willing to check out your book and will not ask you for a fortune just to get it all done. They will take care of distribution, marketing on different platforms and more. The solution is quite clear, stay local and you might actually make a profit out of a hobby.

About Danica Galea

Danica is a content writer who has always had a passion for books and writing, especially when at the age of 12 she read Harry Potter for the first time. She is a self-published writer and you will always find her with a book in her bag, she would never head out of the house without it. In her library you will also find a collection of the classics, there is no preferred genre as long as the book is gripping.

 

With a passion for movies, books and the written language, Danica is always very creative and in the midst of a hundred different ideas, always brainstorming and multitasking, which is something she does everyday, especially since she is also a mother. 

 

Everything you say or do can and will be used in her books as she takes inspiration from everything around her and she uses every negative and positive in her life to fuel her writing.