Self Publishing Your Book

Self-Publishing Your Own Book

Print on demand technology has revolutionized the book publishing industry, and these days anybody with a computer and a basic word processing program can publish their own books. While it once took thousands of dollars to get a book into print, today’s self-publishers can do so for as little as $100 if they do all of the layout and formatting work themselves.

If tackling the entire process is too intimidating for you, many companies have jumped into the self-publishing field and will assist you in getting the job done. Some of these companies, many of which have ads on this website, will take on the entire process from start to finish. You simply submit your manuscript to them and they do all the work, and before long you are a published author! Others will provide just the services you need, from editing to formatting to cover design. If you are interested in outsourcing the editing and production end of things, click on a few of the ad links you will find at the top and bottom of the pages in this website and investigate what they have to offer.

I prefer to handle everything in-house to lower my costs and maintain total control of the publishing process. If you decide to go this route, the first step is, of course, to complete your book manuscript. Then have it edited and proofread. DO NOT try to edit and proof your own work, I guarantee you will have typos and punctuation errors. It is too easy to miss something when you are familiar with the manuscript. Your eyes just naturally skip over familiar sentences and don’t really read them thoroughly. My wife is my editor and proofreader, and I never allow her to read a work in progress. When she sits down to go over the manuscript, I want it to be completely fresh in her mind.

You will need a good dictionary and a good stylebook to ensure that your grammar and punctuation are correct. I use the trusty Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual that was always close at hand on my desk during my old newspaper publishing days.

If you do not have someone with excellent English and spelling skills to edit and proofread your manuscript, hire someone who can do the job properly. A retired high school English teacher was one of the best proofreaders I ever worked with during my small town newspaper publishing career. There are many good editors and proofreaders available online, and again, the ad links on these pages should help you find someone, if needed.

With your manuscript polished and ready to go, the next step is to contact Bowker Publisher Services to obtain your book’s ISBN number. ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number, which is a unique 10-digit number that identifies one title or edition of a title from one specific publisher, and is unique to that edition. No bookstore will consider carrying your book if it does not have an ISBN number. As the official ISBN Agency for the United States, Bowker is responsible for the assignment of the ISBN Publisher Prefix to those publishers with a residence or office in the U.S. You can contact Bowker at www.bowkerpubservices.com.

When you format your book, be sure to include a copyright notice on one of the first pages. All the statement needs to say is “Copyright 2006 (or whatever year you are copyrighting the book) by (your name or company name). All rights reserved.” Below the copyright notice put in your book’s ISBN number.

Cover design can be as simple or as elaborate as you make it. Anyone with basic artistic skills can produce a decent cover with a little bit of effort. If you have the money to spend, a professional cover illustrator can provide you with an attractive cover that will help sell your book. If you plan to sell your books through bookstores, a good cover design is very important. Again, to reduce costs and maintain control over the entire process, I design my own book covers. They are simple, yet effective. Most of my books are sold online or thorough mail order, or at RV rallies and at my speaking engagements. However, if I were going to rely on bookstores sales, I would strongly consider having a cover professionally designed.

I use Lightning Source www.lightningsource.com to print my books. They do an excellent job. When I send them the files for a new book on a CD, they usually have a proof copy in my hands within about 10 working days. Once you register with Lightning Source, they will provide you with complete instructions on how to format your book for their needs. I order my books online, and once Lightning Source has the book in their system, orders are printed and delivered within days to anywhere in the United States . Since we travel fulltime in our motorhome, I have had Lightning Source ship books to me at RV campgrounds and friends’ houses all over the country with no problems.

So there you have it. Book publishing is a pretty straightforward process and does not have to be expensive. Anyone capable of writing a book should also be capable of formatting it for publishing. If not, check out some of our advertisers and see what they have to offer. Either way, you can have your book in print sooner and probably easier less expensive than you expected.