| I've been involved in
publishing for over a decade now as an author, editor, and
project manager; however, it wasn't until just a few years ago
that I decided to move into self-publishing. Indeed, my first
few projects involved consulting for others and, now, I am
involved in my own, personal projects. It has taken a while for
me to come back around to my own works, but in the process I
learned how to minimize time and expenses in producing a book
and getting it to market.
This short article will not try to explain
every aspect of book publishing in detail, but it will brush on
a few of the important topics. I have a few other book projects
in the making that will detail the book self-publishing process;
however, in the mean time, this should give you a good basis of
understanding.
--- The Idea ---
The most difficult part of creating your
manuscript is deciding on the topic. We all have ideas. It's
part of our being. Ideas pop in and out of our heads all day
long; however, we usually dismiss many of them as useless or too
simple to be of use. You would be surprised at how many people
want "simple" and easy-to-understand information!
Readers want books that teach, inform, and entertain.
When you sit down and really think about all
you've learned throughout your life, you'll be amazed at how
much you really know! Your life experiences alone could fill a
library! Even if you feel that you don't have any knowledge that
would be of interest to anyone, you can start small. Research a
market that interests you, find your competition, learn all that
you can about a specific subject, and then write about it. Your
ideas are important, as your knowledge and point-of-view are
unique and of interest to others.
--- Planning the Product ---
I always suggest keeping your book concise and
informative. This provides a small footprint, yet it also allows
your readers to purchase your book at a reasonable price. Keep
it around 100 pages, which, once in book format, equals about
50, two-sided pages.
The core content of the manuscript consists of
a title page, copyright, table of contents, figure and table
references, acknowledgements, forwards, content, appendices,
index, and back page. This list is the basic minimum
requirements to support the information necessary to present
your book and its content. Of course, you can add other items
such as a glossary and a preface, but such inclusions are at
your discretion.
It is best to produce your book in the
standard 5.5" by 8.5" format in both print and PDF. I
always suggest PDF to my publishing clients because it is one of
the few cross-platform (i.e., Mac, PC, PDA, and UNIX-based
machines) document distribution products available today and it
is the most popular.
--- The Manuscript ---
Once you've focused on an idea, you'll have to
create an outline or table of contents to define the content.
The best way I've found to do this is to break the idea down
into blocks of contiguous information --- similar to assembling
a pyramid. Step through your idea and ensure that you are
building from, for example, the most general information to the
most specific information. Check the outline several times, and
have a friend review it, to ensure that gaps are filled in
appropriately.
You can actually over-rewrite your work to the
point of frustration and burn-out. Ensure that you've planned
and researched appropriately to provide a solid foundation. In
this way you can develop a first draft and then perform
substantive and grammar edits. Then, perform a technical edit
and a second draft. Once the second draft is complete, move into
a final copy edit then, once you produce galleys or a sample
version of the finished book, perform a proof read. Don't rework
any of the core steps of document development, but ensure that
each step is completed with quality in mind. This ensures a
solid product in a short amount of time. If you would like to
update or add to the information in your first release, provide
a follow-up revision.
--- ISBN and Copyright ---
Once you've started your manuscript, order
your group of ISBNs. You can sign up for your ISBNs at http://www.isbn.org
for about $240 for 10 ISBNs. However, additional fees can be
imposed based on express orders. This is why I say, order the
ISBNs while you're writing the manuscript so that you can afford
to wait the 10 days for standard, free, delivery.
You will have to convert your ISBN numbers to
EAN barcodes to apply to the back page of your book. The barcode
must consist of the ISBN you assigned to the book as well as the
coded pricing of the book. You can have a vendor generate the
barcodes for between $3 (http://www.toupin.com/serv_writing.asp)
and $20 per barcode or you can download and use the Barcode
Maker (http://hem.passagen.se/sams/barcode.htm)
to generate your own barcodes. For the price, it will pay for
itself in just a few ISBNs for your books.
Once you have assigned one of your ISBNs to a
book, you can register it in Books In Print (http://www.booksinprint.com/bip/).
This is how booksellers are able to access your information and
sell your book through their outlets. Additionally, you'll want
to register your manuscript-in-progress with the Library of
Congress Cataloguing in Publication (http://cip.loc.gov/cip/ecipp14.html).
This registers your book for access by libraries and government
archives. You will be e-mailed the "CIP data" to be
printed on the copyright page following the heading
"Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data".
To protect your work and ideas, copyrighting
your book is a simple and inexpensive process. There are
actually several different methods of protecting your work
including government and commercial organizations. The primary
sites are the government copyright office (http://www.copyright.gov/forms/)
and WriteSafe (http://www.writesafe.com/).
--- Production ---
There are many different ways to produce your
books; however, costs range from a $1,000 initial setup plus the
purchase of a few hundred copies down to no setup fees and
pay-as-you-go. The final choice is yours, but my direction
involved a local printing company and a pay-as-you-go scheme.
With this approach, reduced initial costs are reflected back to
the readers and your profit potential is seen immediately.
Three places that I've experimented with to
print some of my books include Kinko's (http://www.kinkos.com/),
InstantPublisher (http://instantpublisher.com/pricing.htm),
and Mimeo (http://www.mimeo.com/).
Of course, use these for starters to experiment with your books.
Eventually, you'll find the right bindery for your needs. You
can locate many publishers via Google.com
or AllTheWeb.com
using keywords such as "online printing", "book
printing", and "print on demand", but once you
get some experience behind you, the choice will be much easier.
--- Marketing and Distribution ---
Once you assign and register your ISBN for
your manuscript, it becomes available to the multitude of book
stores around the globe including Amazon, Borders,
Barnes&Noble, and various other major book sellers. Now that
you have your book out there, the trick is to have people
purchase the book and have book stores stock copies on their
shelves.
To have the book stores purchase in quantity,
you'll have to devise a solid marketing plan to their
acquisitions personnel. In many cases, book stores will simply
sell your book to their customers as it is requested, but if you
can get them to buy in bulk, that's greater exposure and sales
for you!
You can also license out the content to
various professional speakers. Speakers are always looking for
ways to provide quality information specific to their
presentations. They might use your content in a handout, or
perhaps for sale in the back of the room. Locate those speakers
that fit within your audience and contact them. Find out their
needs for their next presentation and work out a deal for them
to resell your books. I've had many speakers use my articles in
their presentations and the exposure and feedback has been
overwhelming.
Of course, you should always locate affiliates
to help sell your books. One way is to offer them a percentage
of the gross sales or sell them copies of the books at a
discount. Either way, you will have "agents" out
pushing your books for you to make money for them, as well as
for you.
Always provide a web site that boasts the
benefits of your book. Use a book cover maker to create a book
image on the web site. One quality book cover creator is called
CoverFactory (http://www.ans2000.com/a2k_coverfactory.php)
and provides numerous capabilities to generate professional
looking covers for books, software, and services.
Free content is an important way to bring
people to your site and let people know about your book. You can
provide rewritten excerpts from your book as articles and submit
them to various article announcement lists, press release sites,
zines, and directories. I've been able to locate and associate
with over 1,000 sites and lists that accept and publish my
articles. This provides outstanding coverage for my sites,
services, and products.
--- Sales and Returns ---
Since you are the publisher, you now have to
determine how to handles sales. It's important to define how you
will handle direct sales and shipping, bulk sales, and
affiliates. You want to ensure that your sales go smoothly as
well as provide enough of a margin so that everyone profits.
When collecting funds, it's important to
accept credit cards through one of the popular merchant vendors.
To minimize expenses and provide a common and secure payment
mechanism, I use StormPay (http://www.stormpay.com)
and PayPal (http://www.paypal.com).
Since people have their likes and dislikes of online payment
vendors, using both allows many different types of users to
submit payments. Of course, you must always determine how to
handle returns as part of a quality customer service program.
--- What's next? ---
Obviously, the information provided here is
merely an overview of the entire process. However, I am working
on a book that provides all of the details of producing your own
book under your own imprint. Publishing provides excellent
return monetarily as well as through enhanced self-esteem. There
is quite a feeling that comes with getting your message out
there and having people return positive feedback. Perhaps, once
you self-publish a few of your own titles, you can work on
publishing other authors and open a full-fledged publishing
house. In this day, such a venture is not unheard of!
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ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
Edward B. Toupin is an author, publisher,
life-strategy coach, counselor, Reiki Master, technical writer,
and PhD Candidate living in Las Vegas, NV. Among other things,
he authors books, articles, and screenplays on topics ranging
from career success through life organization and fulfillment.
Check out some of his recent print and electronic books as well
as his articles covering various life-changing topics!
For more information, and to find out about
his upcoming title on book publishing, e-mail Edward at etoupin@toupin.com
or visit his site at http://www.toupin.com!
Copyright (c) 2004 Edward B. Toupin |
