Eight Steps to Success Self Publishing - Self Publish Your Book Today-Australia- wide!

Eight steps to success book self publishing provided by self publisher resources- Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Canberra, Hobart & Australia-wide!

Eight Steps To Success Self Publishing!

Self-publishing offers great scope and opportunity for many authors/self publishers, and there is any number of legitimate reasons for you to consider self publishing:

You want ultimate control over your final product.

You have a manuscript for a niche market and can’t get the interest of a mainstream publishing house.

Despite rejections, you believe your ms is worth publishing.

You have written a family history and want it printed as a book to keep for posterity.

But be warned: self-publishing is hard work and to take on the mantle of self-publisher is to add to the ‘writer/artist’ role those of project manager, marketing guru and financier. Not an easy task.

Word Processing for Writers

Want to know how to format your manuscript using Word?

Free template, state your book size and program you are going to use.

info@loveofbooks.com.au

Checking your work for basic problems

It can be very difficult to identify areas of weakness in our own work.

This is why it is important to have our work assessed professionally by an outsider who is not affected by what we were trying to do, and can see what we have achieved instead. But for those of us on early drafts, it can be helpful to know some of the things assessors consider when reading manuscripts.

See how many of these you can answer with a 'yes.' An occasional 'no' is fine. Just make sure you have reasons for your deviations, and that you have not weakened your work with too many of them.

YOUR MANUSCRIPT 1
MAIN CHARACTER(S)

Is it clear who the story is about?

Is the major character someone the reader can identify with well?

Does the major character have both outstanding character traits and flaws, physical and mental?

Is the major character introduced to the reader very early?

Does the major character show growth in understanding as the tale progresses?

Is the main character active in solving the problems encountered?

Does the main character's weakness contribute to the problems encountered and solved?

Does the main character have moments of despair and hopelessness as well as of confidence?

MINOR CHARACTER(S)

Are there a limited number of essential minor characters, all different?

Are the minor characters as completely thought out as the protagonist?

Does each minor character have more than one use in the development of plot and ideas?

Are the antagonists more than stereotyped figures of evil?

Do the 'good' characters avoid stereotypes?

Are gender stereotypes either used deliberately or avoided?

Do all minor characters come across as individual people?

Does each minor character participate in events in the main plot as well as in minor plot elements?

PLOTTING

Does the main action begin in the first few paragraphs?

Does each chapter contain a significant contribution to the main plot line?

Does the solution of each problem in the main story line lead to a greater problem?

Are there sub-plots?

Do the sub-plots contribute significantly to the themes or ideas of the main plot (e.g. by reinforcing them, or offering alternative points of view)?

Do the subplots connect with and interact with the main plot at various times?

Are the subplots resolved before the main plot climaxes and is resolved?

Is there a twist or surprise at the end?

Is back story avoided in the first few chapters?

SETTINGS

Are the setting clearly pictured (if imaginary) and well known (if real)?

Do the settings offer clear changes in mood, tone, action?

Do the settings compliment or contrast with the prevailing mood and action?

Do the settings have universal attributes (understood by any reader)?

Do images and symbolic objects hold their significances across cultural lines? (eg. Are trees and rivers used archetypal or are they invested with personal meaning?)

Are the settings appropriately specific or generic? (e.g. the W. A. Museum's Aboriginal artefacts display vs. a museum)

If the work is set in some time or place other than that of the author, is that time or place thoroughly researched and made familiar?

Have anachronisms been avoided (e.g. King Arthur smoking a pipe; Victorian women holding 20th-century views on gender)?

STYLE

Does the first sentence capture the tone and topic of the story?

Are the characters shown in action, rather than being passively described?

Does the first paragraph introduce the major threads of the story?

Do the middle chapters maintain pace and forward movement?

Are conversations representative of real conversations: elliptical, brief, colloquial?

Do action sequences have short sentences with emphasis on verbs?

Do descriptions focus on specific things rather than general? (e.g. 'black' rather than 'scary')

Are verbs expressed in active forms (e.g. 'she knitted' rather than 'she was knitting)?

Is the author's viewpoint limited to a few, one, or no characters' thoughts and feelings?

Does the author remain invisible or take an active part in telling the story?

TECHNICAL POINTS

If this is a first novel, is it under 80,000 words long?

Is it double-spaced in Times New Roman 12 point or the equivalent?

Does it have wide margins on every side?

Are the first lines of every paragraph, except those that open chapters, indented?

Do paragraphs follow each other without spaces between them?

Are the pages numbered consecutively, along with the author's surname and book title, in 10-point?

Are common spelling and punctuation and grammatical errors checked? (e.g. its/it's; their/there/they're; to John and I; he could of gone; laid/lay)

Are characters' names and nicknames consistent and clear? (e.g. surnames don't all begin with S, aren't all two syllables long, accurately reflect ethnicity; minor characters don't have three different names they are known by)

Are sentences grammatical?

Is punctuation standard?

Is the spelling standard usage?

Manuscript assessment 1

You have a manuscript that your friends and family say is fantastic; it might still be worth getting it assessed by a professional. You can get ms assessment from a private individual or by arranging it through your local Writers’ Centre. Based on a synopsis and three chapters - or the whole manuscript - the assessor will give you feedback and outline your best course forward: re-writing, editing, or straight to print (a rare occurrence).

Editing 2

An outside eye can give your ms the polish that you lose the perspective to give it. When self-publishing, you do not want to see your final

product with a typo on the first page.

As well as proofreading for grammar and spelling, an editor can follow up on the manuscript assessment and make sure the plot follows a logical path and that what the author knows is clear to the reader. When dealing with an editor, you need to define what service you want (proofread, copyedit, structural edit), and what you can afford - though prices are often negotiable for a passionate individual.

Layout 3

In the design department we have two elements: layout and cover design.

You can do this yourself, however a printer will not accept a word document as a ‘laid out’ file. They will charge you to convert it to a professional publishing package. These packages are available to purchase. Love of Books Publishing Packages are priced affordably.

There are courses that teach you the basics to do this yourself.

If you can afford to hire a graphic designer (as with editors, prices can be negotiable for individuals) they will lay out your word document into an appropriate program and can even liaise with us for you (saving you from the formatting headaches). Check out our graghic design prices.

Cover Design 4

If you’re lucky, you know an artist who will design a cover for you. It doesn’t have to be an illustration, but it needs to look professional so it is competitive with publishing-house books. They do this for a living and will give you a slick and professional cover that is not necessarily expensive.

At Love of Books we employ highly skilled graphic designers.

You can do this yourself with the right program. Microsoft Publisher can produce a suitable file.

Read more: Self Publisher Book Formatting Guide 2

Printing 5

When you approach a printer for quotes, there are many choices you need to make that will affect the price. Some of these are colour, paper stock, binding, size of book and print runs. Basically there are two types of print runs: digital and offset.

Love of Books obtains wholesale pricing for printing and is able to offer you a great price along with top notch services.

Digital

Digital printing goes straight from the computer to print. This means that you can have any size print run at a static price: that is whether you have 10 or 1000 copies; the cost per unit will be some what less if you order more books. Also, the print-house can probably keep your manuscript on file and whip out another batch of copies as you need them.

Offset

In offset printing your pages are made into plates, and for this there is an initial set up cost. However, the actual print run is very fast and the cost per unit gets smaller as the print run gets larger. (But if you do a large print run, where will you store the books?)

If you want to publish a large number of units or have images that need quality reproduction this is a good alternative. Printing plates are generally disposed of once a run has finished and this means no reprints without the same initial set up costs.

Note: an alternative is combining the two options and getting pages of colour plates and a cover printed in quality offset, and then getting the main body in a digital run.

Pricing 6

What price will you put on your book? You need to recoup your outlay and make a small profit. And remember that if you want to distribute through bookshops they will take a large share.

Other-ISBN & CiP 7

You need to register for an ISBN: every book that you want to sell must have one.

You may want a barcode.

For tax purposes, you need to keep comprehensive records of costs and earnings, and pay the tax man as you earn. He will want his share of course!