How to Publish a Book ?

Following our very interesting webinar with Captain Emo Jayawardena on how to write a book during lockdown, we received a lot of positive feedback from our participants. As we know, writing a book is one challenge, and publishing it is even more so. The journey of every author comes with the fear of rejection and it can be utterly heartbreaking when you pour your heart and soul into writing a book only to have it rejected or criticized. Even if you create a literary masterpiece, there will always be some reviewers who will dislike your work.

We all know so many amazing bestselling authors out there who faced problems in getting their book published which makes it an undeniable truth - publishing a book is no easy feat. Take for example J.K. Rowling. Her Harry Potter books have sold over 450 million books and are worth over $1 billion. But not many people are aware that she sent her first manuscript to 12 different publishers before she was finally picked up by a Bloomsbury editor. Her story is a classic one of rags to riches, where she went from an unemployed single mother to one of the richest women in Britain.

Stories like this are a huge inspiration for aspiring authors to not let go of their dream, no matter what hurdles or rejections come their way. Our previous webinar where we had Captain Elmo talk us through writing a book during the lockdown season garnered a lot of interest from our audience. Therefore our webinar on how to write a book would be fruitless if we didn’t address the questions people have of publishing their book. This is why Pickabook invited Sam Perera who is one of Sri Lanka’s top publishers to share some valuable points of discussion. Sam is the Precedent Partner of the Perera-Hussein Publishing House. Perera-Hussein is a platform for cutting-edge Sri Lankan writing and thanks to Sam and his team, this publishing house has given many of their authors international prominence.

Some of the key challenges faced by authors in getting their work published is dealing with piracy problems, compromising on quality due to costs, the challenges in selecting the right target audience and tackling with extreme competition, among many others. The area of book publishing is a world of its own and this is why we were delighted to have Sam Perera and his expert guidance. He addressed the audience about the basic things they need to focus on when they are publishing a book along with instructions on how to pursue further.

The webinar was highly helpful for aspiring authors and we’re sure it would have equipped them with the essentials they need in order to have their written work published successfully.