Please Note: To save my readers time, I am not going to re-hash easily- obtained- elsewhere info on How to Get Published Faster, such as self-publishing sites, agent listings, etc. Nor am I going to list high trafficked links that other hubbers already offer. What I'm going to offer here are book biz insider's insights that can't be gleaned by simple Google searches or surfing the Web.

If you're the impatient type, you can skip these first few paragraphs if you're not interested in why I'm qualified to answer the question, "How can I get published faster?" The meat and potatos part is below. But some careful, discerning writers would want to check out the source. I would.

As you may (or may not) know, I've been in the writing and publishing trenches for over 25 years. Through my obssessive, relentless and half-crazed efforts, I have amassed a lengthy resume and have been widely published, both under my own name and as the anonymous ghost-writer of work published under others' names. For more info, please check my Hub Profile, my other hubs and my writing advice site (see below) .... because it's embarrassing to toot my own horn.

Writing Isn't Easy, But Over Time, and With Practice, It Can Get Easier

For me, even after all these years, each day is an agonizing, strenuous assault on a blank page with my mostly blank mind. It starts with several cups of coffee to overcome my chronic dread of failure, an hour or two of exremely stressful procrastination, a frightening look at the deadlines I'm under, and a painful, self-administered kick in the butt.

And believe it it or not, writing is still easier for me than it was even five years ago. The dread part may be peculiar to me and my own florid psyche, so don't take this as typical. I know other seasoned pros who don't suffer the way I do from this affliction.

But I'm a true believer in the saying, you're only as good as the last time you were up to bat. And that accounts for some of the daily hurdles I have to jump to get going. You see, I believe that even if you are Shakespeare, you are going to have a certain percentage of flops and dismal failures (check out Titus Andronicus or Coriolanus, if you doubt me). So this is the way I approach my work. I suggest this humility is a good thing for a writer, because it has worked for me.

ButI continue to write like a madwoman, with pretty good results. I have a list of published work a mile long and add to it about every 3-6 months. I also have ghost-written some books for a few very famous people (the best pay I ever received) and I have a nice little writing consulting business as well (http://www.2write4you.blogspot.com).

All of which over-qualifies me to dish out advice on a subject all writers--published and unpublished--have a burning interest in. And that is:

"How can I write 'more, better, faster?'" and "How can I get published faster?"

I get nagged and pounded about this all the time. Some writers are coy about asking, some are desperate, and some are downright belligerant, demanding I cough up instantly everything I've learned over a long career.

But the truth is, there is no substitute for writing well about a subject that readers are interested in. And picking the subject is the relatively easy part. Writing well is neither easy, nor is it a skill that is quickly acquired.

Sorry. You're not going to be an overnight success as a writer and you need to accept this fact if you ever want to be a success as a writer at all. But keep reading, because there is good news that you can use below.

There are plenty of boosts and legs-up you can discover, especially online, if you look for them. But you have to be careful and cultivate a skeptical approach, particularly with respect to online publisher and agent "come-ons." Most of them are bogus. These sorts intimately understand the angst of unpublished writers and shamelessly exploit them.

A good test to use in identifying this shadey sort is to review your inner reactions to their messages. If you find yourself asking even one of these questions, run for the hills:

• Is what they're saying music to my ears?
• Does their offer sound like an answered prayer?
• Do I have the feeling, after listening to them, that all my publishing problems have been solved?
• Could this be my dream come true?

These shysters know how to bait a hook for your type of fish. They are dangerous and unprincipled. They know precisely what you want to hear and that's exactly what they will tell you.

Okay, a few of the online publisher and agent ads are legit. But caveat emptor. Which, finally, bring us to:

What You Can Do to Speed Up "Getting Published"

There are a few things you can do that will instantly make the writing and publishing process less tortuous, faster, and more productive of good stuff. And that's what I'm going to talk about here.

In my other hubs, I lecture in depth about the techniques the great writers use, and how you as a writer can benefit immeasurably by studying them. If you aspire to literary greatness, this study is essential. So if you want to be the next Hemingway or Saul Bellow or John Updike, take heed.

But I've found most writers don't. Most writers simply want to get published, and to write "more, better, faster."

So here’s the Tip of the Day: Keep your eyes peeled for good writing software. It will help you get published faster, and here's why: Good writing software will help you overcome the various deadly syndromes all writers, (even people like me who write 10 hours a day for a living) are subject to, like

• The Block or
• Writer’s Stupor or

• Disappearing Thoughts and so on.

Why You Need Good Writing Software to Get Published Faster

It will keep you focused and organized and prompt you on what you need to do next. All of which means, more pleasure in writing, better writing and increased productivity.

Most of it is fairly inexpensive and quickly pays for itself. So go buy some and use it! It will increase your chances of getting published faster by at least 100%. You will wind up with a better manuscript you can actually submit to publishers without lengthy revision. If you really bear down and use it a lot, it could increase your chances by more than a gabillion percent.

I’ve tried several packages (some software publishers send me new releases, hoping for a plug), but two packages I really like and continue to use frequently are Writers Dream Kit 4.0 and StoryBase Software for Writers. I got both from Amazon, because it had the best prices, but they also are available from many other sites that sell software.

Of the two, I'd have to say that StoryBase is the one I use most. It's easier to use than Dream Kit, and more adaptable and useful for my writing assigments, which are quite varied. It is also certainly superior to much of the other writing software on the market for writing fiction.

I haven't road tested all of the writing software available, by any stretch of the imagination, so it's possible that there are some truly great programs on the market that I've missed. But I do know the two packages mentioned above have been very useful to me.

So what are you waiting for? I thought you were in a hurry. Here, let me overcome your unspoken reasons for delay:

• Writing software is easy to install. You stick a CD in your computer and it installs itself.
• Writing software is very user-friendly with interfaces even comatose writers can use (you can write half-asleep!).
• Writing software gently but plainly shows you how to transform an even half-baked idea into a well formatted, comprehensible book (You do want to write a book, don't you?) which you can confidently submit to a publisher or publish yourself.
• Writing software takes you from beginning to end with prompts and drop down menus even a monkey could use.

So enough with the free advice. Quit making excuses, they won't get the work done or get you to the bank. I've got to get back to work. And so do you!

P.S.! I would be very interested to hear from readers about other writing software they like. Please let me know what you've used that has been effective in achieving your writing goals. I might want to try it myself.

P.P.S. Unless you're Oliver Stone or Steven Spielberg, I wouldn't recommend Final Draft in the the ad below. It assumes you are already an Academy Award winning director and doesn't explain things too well.

Why Become a Publisher?

• You have instant credibility and status, both in the publishing industry and with potential buyers of your book.
• You are then able to take advantage of such great services as Amazon's CreateSpace program http://www.createspace.com or Ingram Book Company's (I was their Marketing and Sales VP for 5 years) Lightning Source http://www.lightningsource.com Print on Demand service without the stigma of self-publishing.
• The name of your publishing company will be on the spine of your book rather than some down-market name, such as i-Universe http://www.iuniverse.com which will publish anything by anyone.

• You can publish whatever, whenever you want, under whatever author name you like.

• It will show up in Books in Print and everywhere else important to tracking and marketing books, like libraries (!).

You Are Known by the Company You Keep

The real tragedy of desperate authors resorting to such operations as Vantage Press, Vanguard Press, iUniverse and other such vanity and self-publishing outfits, is that they instantly degrade their work by being associated with them. Take a look at the other books these "publishers" have published. Seriously, do you want to be in that sort of company?

Readers are wise to the fact that their imprints and logos on a book mean the book is probably junk. And that's sad, because some of the writers who resorted to them didn't write junk, maybe even wrote good books. But they made a big whopper mistake and relegated their hard work to the big dumpster of publishing by working with these low-lifes, and nobody's going to read their books now. Okay, friends and family might, but so what?

There Is Nothing Sneaky or Dishonest about forming Your Own Publishing Company

The famous American poet Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass) did it. Mark Twain (of course you know who he is) did it. Virginia Woolf, one of the greatest 20th Century English novelists, did it (Hogarth Press was the name of her publishing house). I'm not going to waste space mentioning more.

In fact, Virginia Woolf, once she got Hogarth Press up and running, went on to publish some of her buddies and friends too, such as T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and other writers you've had to read in your English classes.

Oh, and I should also mention I've done it too. But it didn't turn out the way I'd planned. Instead of publishing my own work, I've wound up publishing the work of important clients who wanted to retain complete control of the publishing process for their work (which I wrote for them) and to use their books for various causes and missions they have. They didn't care a hoot whether Random House and Simon & Schuster were interested. They're bigger than that.

For instance, I wrote a novel for a rabbi who is the head of a big international charitable organization (his name is frequently in the New York Times because he's always making news). And I've written several non-fiction self-help books for other people who have a national following and who had the same motives. All of these books I published with the publishing company I established. And so far everyone, including me, has been happy with the outcome.

And I do plan to publish some of my own books with my own publishing company, good books that I just don't want to go through the submission ordeal over with traditional publishers. I just haven't had the time yet.

How to Set Up Your Own Publishing Company

1. Decide on a name. It should be no more than three words and the last word should be one of the following: Press, Books, Publishing or Media.
2. Go to the R.R. Bowker website http://www.bowker.com and register with them. They are the book industry official record of publishers and publishing. They produce Books in Print and many other reference works that bookstores, libraries and book review media rely upon without question.
3. Buy some ISBN's (International Standard Book Numbers) from them. Each book published in the world is assigned a totally unique ISBN to assist in tracking and ordering a book. You have to buy in quantities of 10 or more.
4. When you do publish your books, each one will have to have its own unique ISBN if you want to be taken seriously in the book world.

That's all you have to do to get set up. When you actually want to publish a title, go back to the Bowker site and enter the record for that title. They have a form for you to fill out, including category, binding, etc. about the book. At that point you can obtain a bar code for the book from them in a PDF file, which you need to put on your book if you want bookstores to stock it.

There are a few more details and hoops to jump through, but the Bowker site will help you sort them out.

Copyright and the U.S. Office of Copyrights

This is so much easier than people think it is! But you have to do these steps in order. You have to copyright your book just before you publish it. Only a fool would skip this step. You don't want it to get ripped-off do you?

1. So go to their website http://www.copyright.gov and follow their directions. It's not hard, it's all menu driven, point, click, fill out the forms.
2. If you get stumped, I have found that you can actually talk to a real person there.  I have several times, and he/she always acted surprised and delighted that anyone would actually want to talk to them. They must not get out much.

So that's it. Follow those steps and you're a publisher.  Try it on for size.  It will instantly give you increased status in the book world and your self-esteem will soar. 

I really think that if more unpublished writers knew how really dim, nigh impossible, virtually non-existent, their chances are of ever being published by traditional publishers, they would eagerly embrace this respectable do-it-it-yourself alternative.

A book packager is not someone who wraps up books brown paper or who bundles books for re-sale, or puts books into tidy, attractive packages.

A Book Packager is also not a vanity publisher or some "self-publishing" outfit. The good ones are the real deal and worth every penny you pay them.

Book Packager Defined: A good Book Packager Is a 1) rare breed, there aren't too many of them, 2) a highly respected Book Industry Professional who will take your manuscript and do everything necessary to get it published successfully, including getting it distributed to bookstores (not just listed on Amazon, for heavensake).

Good Book Packagers are a treasure and awesome and incredibly valuable . . . if you can afford them (and we're talking at least $5000 here, and more if you want to print a lot of books and want special custom services). But compare their fees and services to self-publishing services or publish-it-yourself services, and a good book packager's services will always be much better, produce respectable marketable books that can actually sell off bookstore shelves, and be less expensive.

People Who Regularly Use Book Packagers to Get Published Faster

Many, many very famous people routinely use their favorite book packager to publish their books, because they do a better job at it than traditional publishers and the authors wind up with the book they want, not some travesty of it, which is often the fate of first time authors or "mid-list authors."

These famous people usually are:

• Savvy to publishing and have published a number of times with traditional publishers.
• Distrustful of traditional publishers and their promises as a result.
• Desirous of having their finished, perfect book in hand at a specified time, no excuses.
• Using their own books every day in talks, seminars, ministries, as gifts or
• Intent on having their books on bookstore shelves, ready for purchase by consumers, at a particular date and looking just as they hoped.

None of this is possible if they go with the traditional publishing route. None of it.

Examples of Real Authors Who Use Book Packagers to Get Published Faster and Right

Some of the "bigger" authors I've worked with who rely upon their book packager to deliver the goods just as they want them:

• A Chief Justice of a state supreme court. (He used his book to get re-elected to another term.)
• A Radio Talk Show Host.
• The Director of a national non-profit adoption agency.
• A well-known self-help guru who specializes in helping abused women

In these instances, I helped in the writing and editing of their books, in conjunction with the book packager, who did everything else.

With a Book Packager, the author can be fully involved in the publishing process and sign off on everything from book design, type size, paper quality, binding, jacket, distribution and marketing methods, you name it.

Other Great Things a Book Packager Can Do to Get You Published Faster:

• Save you a ton of money on what is called in the trade "paper, print and bind," which constitutes about 90 pct. of the cost of publishing a book. They can do this because a) they have really, really great "connections," and b) they are really smart and street-wise in the ways of book publishing.
• Pay attention to you sayand what you want! You get plenty of face time with these jewels, because they are fully vested in making you happy with a great book both parties, author and book packager, can be proud of. They don't want to sully their good name by putting out crappy books.
• Give you honest advice about where and how to market your book. Traditional Publishers, sorry guys, are real cheapskates when it comes to promoting your book, and with them you have no say- so whatsover (unless you're Stephen King or John Grisham).
• Provide trustworthy editorial advice and services so your book has a better chance of succeeding in the marketplace.

• Handle all the ISBN, copyright and legal stuff for you, better and faster than you can do it yourself. You can rest assured there will be no oversights in this area or mistakes.

Why You Don't Hear A Lot About Book Packagers

The reason you don't know more about this book packager guy or gal is because almost all of their business is by word of mouth and referral. Very few of them advertise. These are not big companies, but usually owned and staffed by former corporate New York publishing All-Stars who left the corporate world to do their own thing. When they left, some of their favorite authors followed them, and they were instantly in business.

Which--whoa, buddy!--doesn't mean they wouldn't like to have more business. Everyone everywhere wants more business.

The Bottom Line

But for you as a writer it really boils down to money. Can you afford to go this route? If you can, I highly recommend it. But if you can't, that's understandable. At least you've learned about another wonderful resource for getting published faster, right?

A Few Book Packagers I Can Recommend

Literary Management Group (All Kinds of Books, very classy personal service) http://www.literarymanagementgroup.com.

Morgan and James (Business Books) http://www.publishing.morgan-james.com.

Black and Lowenthal (Illustrated Books) http://www.blackandlowenthal.com.