How Publishing works – Part 1

New self-publishers are often confused about how the editorial process works. They want to know what takes place at each stage of their book’s development. It seems that if you have a map, it’s easier to understand where you are on the road to getting your book into print. Let’s take a look at the stages through which your book moves.

Although you are anxious to see your book in print, you realize you will have to go through a process to make sure you’ve created the best product you can for your particular market and the goals you’ve set for your book.

Keep in mind that the entire editorial process may be long, extending from before the completion of the manuscript through proofreading of the final page proofs. Self-publishers need to understand the whole process so they can hire people with the specific expertise needed to complete their project. This schematic is intended to be a simple and helpful “map” to the journey of your book from manuscript to printed books.

Manuscript: Developmental Editing
Before you even finish your book, perhaps before it’s more than an outline, a sample and an idea, you may start the editorial process. The first kind of editing you will encounter is developmental editing. Developmental editing, as the name implies, helps develop the author’s concept, the scope of the book, the intended audience, even the way elements of the book are arranged. The relationship between author and developmental editor is intimate, and their work is something of a collaboration.

It can require a great deal of time, as the author responds to the editor’s suggestions, and may require a good deal of patience and tact, since the editor may be instrumental in helping to shape the final work. Developmental editing can be assigned to specific editors, or some of these functions may be done by either the author’s agent or an acquisitions editor at a publisher. Self-publishers who make use of this type of editing will hire freelance editors to help with the development of their project.

Manuscript: Copy Editing
When the author and developmental editor have finished organizing the manuscript, and the editor considers it complete and ready to take the next step, it will go to a Copyeditor. Copyediting is accomplished by editors who examine the manuscript line by line, word by word. It takes people who are meticulous, excellent at spotting errors, and who mostly don’t mind working without interference or accolades from the world outside.

Copyeditors have vast knowledge of English vocabulary and usage, command over style resources such as the Chicago Manual of Style or other style guides in use at the publishing house. In reviewing the manuscript, they will be paying attention to and correcting:

• Punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar
• Errors in word usage
• Subject-verb agreement
• Consistency in treatment of material
• Adherence to establish standards of style and formatting
  Ambiguity, incorrect statements, lapses in logic, libelous comments, etc.
• Accuracy and completeness of citations, references, notes, tables, figures and charts

When the copyeditor has finished her work, the manuscript goes back to the author for clarification of any remaining open questions, and then the changes are input into the manuscript.

Manuscript to Book Page Proofs: Production Editor
The manuscript is next routed to a Production Editor who will be responsible for the entire production process:

• Scheduling the project and tracking its progress
• Hiring and coordinating the work of the book designers, illustrators, indexers, proofreaders
• Getting estimates from printers or print brokers for the physical production of the book
• Making sure the books are properly printed and delivered on time.

Proofreading
The last stage in the editorial process is proofreading the book. This step can be easily overlooked in self-published books, to their detriment. The proofreader is the last guardian of the publisher’s reputation for accuracy and care, the protector of the author’s reputation for diligence, and sometimes the least noticed professional to handle the book in its journey. Proofreaders examine the book’s complete and final pages for more than typographical errors, although that’s a big part of the proofreading job. In addition they will be on the lookout for:

• Inconsistent line, word, or page spacing
• Mis-numbered list items and mislabeled captions
• Improper word breaks
• Page break problems like widows and orphans
• Irregularities in the use of the books type fonts
• Accurate and consistent page headers, footers and page numbers
• Accuracy and completeness of tables, figures, charts, and graphs
• Consistent use of abbreviations and acronyms

The End of the Line
When the proofreader is finished with their work, the book is corrected for the last time. Once the pages are set, the final page proofs can be sent to an indexer, if one is being used on the project, and the book will be ready to go to press.

Re-blogged in part from Joel Friedlanders article in http://www.thebookdesigner.com a great resource for writers and self-publishers. He is a fantastic teacher of everything book design, typography and book marketing, just to name a few.

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Hyper Smash

 

This Is NOT Your Book – Or Is It?

Misspelling, formatting errors, grammar flaws – are self-publisher AND publishing houses not editing anymore? Joel Friedlander wrote a great blog about the the editing process.

What readers / customers say on the Kindle Forum about these issues:

Carol Hannon says:
I, too, have discovered numerous misspelled words, punctuation, hyphenation, special character errors, and missing text in many Kindle books. And I’m not talking the little self-published books, either — I’m talking professionally published books from the major book houses. I have no idea why this is happening, but I’ve left feedback on some books’ pages about the errors. There’s no excuse for it in this electronic age. What I hope is that when these errors are fixed, if they ever are, will Amazon automatically download the revised version since our purchase is on record?

jh says:
I’ve bought a couple of books that had particularly frequent and glaring errors, hinting at poor OCR* rather than human error. Things like “1″ turning up in the middle of a word instead of “l” or “I”, which a human wouldn’t accidentally type.  But yes, plenty of poorly proof-read copy in titles that aren’t by big-name authors. Though you do see that in physical books too, especially early editions. Misspellings, funky punctuation, even the old “there/their/they’re” issue…
*OCR = optical character recognition, in case anyone’s not sure what that meant. Basically a computer scanning the page of a physical book/manuscript, recognizing the letters as best it can, and digitizing it.

Santo de Vaca says:
@Carol Hannon: I bought a book with some really terrible formatting issues. In the physical book the first letter of each chapter was elaborately drawn and this didn’t transfer well to the electronic version. They fixed it a few weeks after publication and I had the option of downloading a fixed version of the book, which I did. I’m not sure if this is the norm or not for corrections.

Granny Daisy says:
As an avid reader, I often find errors in print and kindle books. Even in established authors you find misspelled or miss used words, or incomplete sentences. I am beginning to think publishers are saving money by not paying proof readers.

J. Robertson says:
I have found spelling and grammar errors in many paper books as well. So I think its all about the proof reading being done.  I have downloaded several “free” books, unfortunately, they were not free of misspellings , missing words, and other errors. I just overlook them since they didn’t cost me anything. I haven’t had that problem with the books I’ve paid for. Guess the old saying is true, ” You get what you pay for”!

What do you think as an author?  Should a book be free of grammar and spelling errors, professionally edited and formatted? Well I guess it is a non-brain-er for every author who wants to be seen as a professional and who has already invested months or years into the manuscript.

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Hyper Smash

 

What is Involved in Self-Publishing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Have you ever noticed that a person who becomes successful tends to continue to be successful, and on the other hand, a person who is a failure, tends to continue to fail? It is because of goals. Some of us have them, some don’t.”  Earl Nightingale in “Strangest Secret”

Publishing a book is like opening a business. What is an entrepreneur supposed to do in order to start his business, become a successful owner and sell lots of … well, beautiful handbags or lamps for sample or get lots of orders to design gardens or build houses?  She or he would have to set up a business plan and do plenty of research in their particular industry. The same research you will have to do:

• Industry Overview – the big picture of publishing
• Competition – their platform, marketing of their books, sales
• Suppliers – retailers, aggregators, their conditions, prices, reputation
• PR & Marketing – budget, free PR, social media, contacts
• Business – contracts, calculations, accounting, legal
• Markets – audio books, newspaper articles, foreign rights
• Publishing – e-books, paper books, formatting, cover design, editing, publishing news

Writing an ebook or a book for that matter, is not a Get -Rich-Quick exercise – even if some publications try to make you to believe this (“Write & Publish in 7 days”, “How I became Millionaire in three months”…). It takes at least several months until you have a following in social media or until search engines notice your webpage or blog and until you receive responses (and customers). This is the reason why it is so very important for you to start your marketing before you even start writing your book. Yes, that is right, pre-publishing promotion begins long before the book is ready and it is the key to your books success.

Unless you are solely writing for creative expression, as a hobby and not for sale or god-forbid, to make a living – your book has to pay its own way, contributing to greater opportunities and profits. If you’re not prepared to professionally self-publish, professionally promote and professionally market your book, then don’t go the self-publishing route!

Professional means hiring professionals: editors, graphic designers, book layout professionals and marketing staff – unless you are good in designing and marketing – but never do your own editing!

If you’re waiting until the book is finished to start marketing, you are already behind the curve. Finding, reaching and building your audience will take a lot of time. Don’t wait until you are sitting with a warehouse or garage full of books. Build the audience first and then deliver the product.

With self-publishing your success will double: Writing a great book & market it professionally.

 

 

The Top 6 Tips to Successfully Publish and e-Publish

Beat the POD industry!
Are you ready to publish your first book? Follow these tips, and you will find the path to success much smoother!

Don’t wait to start marketing until your book is finished.
Many first-time publishers focus on the publishing process, and put off thinking about the marketing until they have books in hand (or in their garage). A book – no matter if it is an e-book or a traditional paper book – will succeed or fail on its marketing plan. Before starting your self-publishing project, find out who your audience is, and where and how you will find them. Move forward on a publishing project only after you have finished your marketing plan.

Bookstores don’t buy POD books.
Many novice publishers are opting for the heavily-advertised Print-On-Demand companies, which promise publication at low fees. For a niche book with an easily-found audience POD this can be an option. But what the POD companies won’t tell you,  is that neither bookstores nor libraries will generally buy a POD book. However, if you are savvy enough, you can find the right wholesale arrangement through Lightning Source / Ingram and Baker& Taylor as outlined in Aaron Shepard’s website and book http://www.newselfpublishing.com/. But don’t expect to get the same retail discount from “brick and mortar stores” as with Amazon.

You can judge a book by its cover.
That’s what most people do.  You never get a second chance for a great first impression!  You can get a decent cover for as little as $100 and a fantastic cover for around $ 500 or more.  Just shop around and find out who makes great covers.

Act like a professional publisher.
Nothing is more embarrassing as finding reviews of your book on Amazon that complain about typing and grammar errors in your work. Make sure your book is complete, well-edited, and thoroughly proofread. Use spell checks, let it copy-edit, content edit and proofread by professionals – not your family or friends.  These services provide you with a manuscript that makes you look like the professional you are.

Don’t use the print shop down the road.
Search for a printer that specializes in printing books. You will not only have fewer problems with production, but the prices will be much less expensive.  You should be able to print 300 copies of a 250-page soft cover book for approx. $ 2.50 per copy.

Get 100 ISBNs if possible.
ISBN is the acronym for International Standard Book Number, and every book sold in bookstores and at most online retailers must have an ISBN. They are the global standard for identifying titles and used world-wide as a unique identifier for books. They simplify distribution and purchase of books throughout the global supply chain. Without an ISBN, you will not be found in most book stores, nor online.  In the U.S. ISBNs are available only from Bowker.com, and you can buy them in blocks of ten, 100, or 1000. The fewer you buy the less it costs, but buying just a block of ten marks you as a one-book publisher. And everyone in the publishing industry can figure out how many ISBNs you’ve purchased by looking at your ISBN number.

Self-publishing can not only be lucrative, it can be a lot of fun too. But you need some careful planning to really enjoying true self-publishing.  A very helpful book when starting out the independent publishing route is “The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days” (Kindle Edition) by Fern Reiss that gives you valuable technical tips during your publishing process.

 

Publishing vs Self-Publishing or Authors vs Publishers

 

In an article on self-publishing, the publisher of Portfolio, Penguin’s business book imprint, as well as Sentinel, wrote:

“The greatest challenge facing a new writer is to find readers, not to finish and print a book. Self-publishing has made the shelves even more crowded, both, virtual and physical. The obstacles to being noticed are even more forbidding, not less. In a world where anyone can upload a Word doc and call it a book, it’s more valuable than ever to have experts curate the works that are really worthy of a reader’s attention.”

(BTW: This above article excerpt had an error that I corrected! So much for curate/editing…)

Read which comments this article received:
 “Curate is an interesting term.  In my 20 years in traditional publishing I experienced very little ‘curating’.  I had books thrown into production with no editing.  I had publicity departments never return a phone call.  I also was a NY Times, WSJ, PW bestselling author, so I wasn’t some schmuck.  Yes, 99.5% of people self-publishing will fail.  But many people in traditional publishing will be looking for jobs soon because they just don’t get the digital revolution.  Agency pricing is a classic example of that. “

Laurel Saville:
Yeah, maybe, but these curators get it wrong all the time. Let’s remember how many famous authors, including Poe, Woolfe and Whitman, who self-published in order to get noticed by those same curators.  The curators told me I had a great book, the writing was “as good as it gets”, but they still wouldn’t pick it up.  If I hadn’t self-published, I never would have been noticed and then picked up by AmazonEncore myself.  Sometimes self-publishing is a means to a different end. In my case and many others, it was totally worth it.

T. More
Self-publishing is the direct line between author and reader, and most of the “gatekeepers” of traditional publishing don’t know good books. I would rather self-publish, sell books and reap most of the profits than give in to the model which has blocked literary classics from being published sooner, and caused other authors to commit suicide only to be published post mortem and hit the NY Times Bestseller list too late.

 

 

Not Yet Convinced to E-Publish?

e-Readers

You CAN make money with e-publishing.
There are authors that made already a million with their e-books, but also authors that barely sell a hundred books per year – it all depends on the quality of your book(s) including cover art, layout and reviews – and how well they are marketed. Same how it works with paper books.

There is overhead cost in e-publishing.
Like paper books, e-books need proof-reading, editing, lay-out, cover design, an ISBN number plus converting in various e-book formats for e-Readers and most important: Marketing.

Editing is essential.
Some e-book authors don’t do it to save money, and some e-publishers do it minimal or not at all. But proof-reading and professionally editing is the most important part in publishing.

E-publishers have to invest in e-books.
…or they will fail.  Just because authors are rarely paid any advance (but rather higher royalties) doesn’t mean there are no investments to make. 

It is not so much easier to get your book out with a reputable e-publisher.
Professional e-publishing houses have their standards to carefully pick their authors in order to deliver quality literature. I am here not talking about vanity publishers that are also to be found in this field and easily can be recognized by charging authors beforehand. I read a good advice: “As an author the only place you should be signing a check is on the back to cash it.” 

It can be a stepping stone to traditional publishing.
Yes, there are e-book authors that have been picked up by the “big six” publishers – but with e-books becoming common-place as do e-Reader devices, in the future e-book publishing will for sure overtake paper book publishing – and the “big six” are coming along with it.

More and more people read e-books.
Also paper books will stay with us, there are many practical reasons for e-books: We don’t need to carry heavy stacks of books to the cottage or on the plane. And we can read at night in bed without using a bedstand lamp (my dog hates bright light in the bed room