Published authors on RP, what are the next steps after writing a complete manuscript?

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, congrats!!! Now comes the hard part. First off do you wish to publish traditionally or self publish both have pros and cons. Before I cover a few of those allow me to stress one key factor; Never... Never pay for publishing. No legitimate publisher (self or traditional) charges you a publishing fee. Now there are some expenses you might be charged for, editing, cover art, marketing/promotion. But never pay to get it published.

Self-publishing companies like Authorhouse and Trafford charge you a fee based on which publishing package you choose. It can cost you a couple hundred to thousands before they have even looked at you stuff.

Createspace (amazon), Smashwords, Lulu are examples of self-publishers who do not charge you to submit and publish your work through their company. They only charge you a small percentage fee per sale. This is the same as traditional publishing houses.

You can choose to register your work yourself, but no need whether you use self or traditional publishing they will assign it an ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Now you can choose to purchase these as well.

Traditional publishers are great in that they have a vested interest in your book. This is how they make their money. But they typically will own the editing, movie, and other rights (until you become famous). They control the marketing. And it can be a long process from submission, approval, reworking, printing, and sales. Usually they don't take submissions directly. you need a literary agent. They take a larger percentage of the sale price, but more top sellers have been traditionally published.

Self-publishing is also great. You retain all rights. Just furnish you an outlet to get your book out there. You can stop using them at anytime (usually). But they are limited in the additional services they provide, for free. They make their money with editing, cover art, marketing and such. You submit your work directly to them, most are now set-up so that if you don't additional support (editing, you already have cover art) you can submit your work directly and have it go live almost immediately. Self publishing has gained in popularity and many have gone on to have great success.

Either way, editing is key. Both traditional and self publishing companies make your book available in almost every format, available both on line and in brick&mortar stores. Most have contracts with Amazon and most will assist with the overall process. There are strict guidelines when submitting to traditional publishers. Self publishers have guidelines but they are also vey user friendly with simple instructions you can download.

Congrats and good luck!!!!

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS Congrats on the manuscript, that's awesome, I bet it'll be a great book! Steven Pressfield writes on writing and also on Publishing along with one of his favorite publishers Shawn Coyne on his blog: http://www.stevenpressfield.com/category/writing-wednesdays/?mc_cid=3e40e82388&mc_eid=ffecbb59a7

Without knowing the subject of the manuscript (novel? techno-thriller? bio? history?), first step is to ID possible publishers, such as Schiffer, which specializes in historical subjects and books on collectables (brother Rick and I used Schiffer for the A-6 Intruder history, he followed up with a second on carrier aviation, 1975-2010 or thereabouts). Check the publisher's web page, find out what the submission requirements are (generally a CV, outline/summary of the book's story line and a few sections which display your writing skills), and send a package in. And keep at it, eventually you could just hear from a book editor about taking your manuscript and putting it into publication. Good luck!