Independently Publishing Your Book

There is a certain prestige about being able to say “I’m a published author”. Along with having literary notoriety it would seem that once published, your book becomes a right of passage that opens many doors. This coupled with an increase in popularity at social gatherings with introductions like, “Oh meet ‘X’ who has written and published a book …” is liable to entice the majority of us mere mortals into wanting to write a best seller.

Why is this so? I suppose it is because everyone knows that even getting your work onto a publisher’s desk for review is the equivalent of scaling Mt Everest, taming the lions and splitting the atom. Then, of course, having it accepted for publication is akin to receiving a blessing from the Pope. And of course, after coming through all of this there is no shame in being happy with accepting a trivial percentage of cover price as your payment (with the promise that with your assured fame, you will be able to command a higher fee for your future efforts).

So, what does this say about the calibre of books you find on the bookshop shelves? One could be excused for believing that after being subjected to such an initiation of fire that only books with this badge of honour are worth reading. After all, Publishers have been put on this planet to sift through the plethora of potential literary experiences awaiting us and choose those which are best for us to focus our attention on, right?

Mmm, at this point I must put up my hand and beg to differ.

Whilst I agree books accepted by a Publisher have a high possibility of guaranteeing to please I ask you to ponder the measure against which many of these “chosen few” are selected.

The first thing which comes to mind is that the Publisher is in the business of making money. Let’s not get carried away on our high horse on this one, after all, who isn’t doing a job to make money. My point is, however, that in order to make money a Publisher must choose books which are going to sell and not only that, are going to sell a lot. To sell large quantities, these books have to have a broad universal appeal or if addressing a specific market will need to be able to fetch a higher price to compensate for their niche sales (say in the case of text books).

The universal appeal often means rehashing a previously successful formula or keeping within the parameters of commonly appealing genres, styles, storylines and so on. It’s like going on a road trip and feeling more comfortable stopping at McDonald’s because you know what to expect rather than trying the local hamburger shop which could possibly serve superior hamburgers but on the other hand may not.

So are we content to accept only that which has been sanitised and delivered to us wrapped up in a marketing bubble because we don’t want to take the time to look at what else is available?

I for one, have found a richness of experience, imagination and diversity in many independently published works. Especially when the author has ensured a quality product with attention to editing, proofing and design, I have found many of these books as enjoyable as any of the traditionally published books. And yes, I like to stop at the local hamburger shops when I go on a road trip.

The beauty of experiencing independently published books is that many are written with a passion for sharing the author’s knowledge of a subject with you or simply leading your imagination on a journey with a captivating story. In other words, these are the books which have been published for you to enjoy, irrespective of whether or not they sell millions. Writing and reading independently published books brings publishing back to the people.

So, why self publish?

The greatest advantage to publishing your own book is that you are in control of your project. Like being an owner/builder when building your own home, self publishing allows you can to create your finished book your own way. You decide on the finished product from content, cover, marketing and sales.

Self publishing isn’t for everyone as the price of freedom also means you have to cover the upfront costs of production but having said that, you can also plan for these before you start so you know exactly what your costs will be.

You can also get help for all or part of the process from finding a creative coach, editors, proof readers, designers through to choosing printers and getting your book into retail outlets. There are also people whom you can employ to project manage the whole process for you which leaves you free to get on with your next book! Usually you will get a quote for the services you need upfront so you know how much of an investment you are making.

Doing a little research on what is involved in getting your book from manuscript to print can be invaluable. Publishing Alley is an online bookshop dedicated to self published authors and independent publishers which allows you to sell and market your finished product. Our website also includes a directory or services available to help you get your book ready for sale.

So if you have a book begging to be written, why not put aside all those brilliant excuses which have been holding you back and get started. If you don’t know how or where to start, here is a simple guide to point you in the right direction.

What’s involved in publishing your own book?

People differ in what motivates them best when starting and finishing a project. Some prefer to just get started and allow things to evolve along the way. They are happy to re-work whole sections if needs be because having something down on paper, even if it is not right the first time, keeps their momentum going.

Other people like to plan what they are going to write, breaking down the chapters and their content into a structured outline before putting the first word onto the page.

There are pros and cons with both processes. Getting a plan drawn up first makes writing a book much quicker because you tend to stay on track. On the other hand just starting to write allows your ideas to flow without the logical brain taking over and sometimes this is necessary to open up the creative centres of the brain. Either way, you will soon work out what works best for you.

Getting Started …

You have the ideas, a great story or a “how to” book which you want to write but you have no skills with language, style, grammar. Don’t despair, there is help available. You could do a writing course. There are many different courses available varying from online tuition, books or face to face. You can take as long as you want to get the skills you need but in the process there is the risk of your fabulous idea fading on the I’ll-get-around-to-it-some-day shelf and never actually being written.

Alternatively you could start writing, however bad your initial attempts may be and employ the services of a creative coach to help you with your book as you write it.

Getting a creative coach can be a great investment because it allows you to start writing and learn about the finer points of style and grammar along the way. Having a creative coach also gives you some accountability to getting a certain number of words down in a specified time frame which keeps your project moving.

Editors and Proof Readers

No-one writes a successful book without the invaluable help of editors and proof readers. Having other people help you polish and refine your work again allows you to focus on the writing of it without getting too bogged down on the detail of language. If you don’t know where to find people qualified in these fields you can engage the services of people who can project manage the self-publishing of your book. Having said that, the more you learn about writing styles and grammar the more readable your work will be. Remember, editors and proof readers are not marking your work like a school teacher would, they are giving you a perspective on the readability of your writing and so those authors who can put their pride aside and accept all advise as constructive to producing a quality book will benefit the most from this process.

Design of Internals and Cover

Once your book has been written, edited, proofed, revised, parts re-written, edited and proofed (I could go on and on) it will be ready for the design process. This is where the manuscript is shaped with font size, page size, spacing, a cover and general look and feel to make it ready for print. This process can be time consuming but is essential to the quality of the finished product. If you are going to spend money on printing you want your book to look its best don’t you?

Printing

Printing can be an expensive exercise especially when you don’t know how many books you are going to sell. There are many options when it comes to printing to match your budget and the finished product. Usually you would choose digital printing for small print runs (under 1000) and then look at offset printing for larger print runs. Another option is ‘print on demand’ which in days gone by has been a little too expensive to consider as a viable option but is now becoming more affordable. Print on demand makes the printing unit cost of each book higher but allows you to offer a printed book without investing in a large print run.

Another thing to consider is perhaps selling your book as an eBook to start with in addition to the printed book, which gives you the opportunity to get your work sold without the printing costs.

Marketing and Selling your Book

One of the hardest things for most self-published authors to do is to get their book into the market place. Publishing Alley is an online bookshop for quality independently published books.

Authors who list with Publishing Alley have the opportunity to present their book in the same way it would be displayed on the feature shelves in bookstores. Each book exhibits the front cover, the back cover blurb, an author bio (if desired) and a teaser sample (from a few pages up to a chapter) for the reader to browse.

Our search engine makes it easy for the buyer to peruse our bookshelves and discover the great books we have to offer.

We also sell eBooks and audio books for authors who are interested in offering your customers your book in either of these downloadable forms.

Although the words ‘self-published’ imply a solo journey you don’t have to do it all on your own. There is plenty of help available for you to make the dream of publishing your book into a reality.

So what are you waiting for!