Self-publishing Tip Sheet #1
Self-publishing Tip Sheet
Despite what you hear on the Internet, self-publishing is easy only if you wish to produce a deeply flawed book.
Self-publishing a quality book package requires a lot of work and takes time. This post and the others that follow will provide a series of tip sheets on the self-publishing process. These tips are aimed at authors who are first-time self-publishers.
Get the content critiqued. Give it to other writers, not to a family member. Critiquing is a time-honored way of improving your book.
Book Title
Before you commit to a title, search the web for your title. You may be surprised at how many other books, movies, songs, etc. have the same title. Perhaps you should change it to something less well-known.
Copyrights
Make sure you understand what copyright is all about and what it is not. Study the material found here. Rights: Copyrights and rights are not the same things. Understand the differences.
Self-publishing
Make sure you understand what self-publishing means. It means that you, the author, get to do all the tasks that a publishing house would do if you sold the book to them. You also get to incur all the costs.
What type of book?
Are you planning an eBook? A print book? Both? eBooks and print books have very different formatting and layout requirements. Make sure you understand the differences.
POD
Do you understand what Print-on-Demand (POD) means? It’s important that you do.
Budgets
Self-publishing a book costs money; your money. Establish a budget detailing the costs to avoid surprises later on.
Packagers
If you self-publish a book, you need a packager. Packagers take your manuscript files and your cover file and merge them into a book, either an eBook, a print book, or both. The packager also distributes your book to booksellers. Packagers are very different from publishers. Don’t confuse the two.
Revenue splits
Make sure you understand the revenue splits from different types of sales. Some packagers will also sell your book, and that revenue split will be different from the revenue split when a distributor or bookseller sells your book.
These tips were taken from my eBook, Self-publishing a Book, part of my Self-publishing Guides.
