39 Hints Every Writer Should Know About Book Publishing

Publishing is time-consuming because of the stages and the skills it involves. If you have the time, the skills and the resources you, anyone, can do it. 

These hints are not all there is to know about book publishing. Far from it. But, they will help steer you in the right direction. Or, at least, stop you from making the mistakes most writers make.

BOOK PUBLISHING 

1. Publishing Business: Publishing is a business; its main concern is the potential your book has to sell. Approach it as such. Keep an eye on all the stages and the expenses involved.

2. Book Versions: Produce your book in three versions: 

• Book
• eBook
• Audiobook

Each version would help promote the others. There would also be readers who could end up buying more than one version.

3. Audiobooks: Audiobooks are growing fast. They command a better royalty and would appeal to the non-reading market; those who would not have gone for the book or eBook versions.

Beware of the cost of and the skill involved in audiobook production. In the long term, using a professional narrator would be more economical.

4. The Main Mistakes: These are the mistakes almost all writers make:

1. Writing the book first then try to find a market for it
2. Not planning for a book series
3. Lack of editing
4. Not promoting the book enough.

WRITING

5. Research: To give your book a chance to succeed you need to research the topic, the genre you are writing about, the type of readers you are writing for.

Find out facts about, the language characters use and the world they live in, the main phrases and terminology used. Write down the results, they will guide your writing process.

6. Write Your Book: Good stories are simple and tend to follow the same pattern, regardless of the genre you go for.  

• Fiction: establish the main content, the main chapters, and then build around it
• Non-Fiction: establish the idea central to your book, and then build the content around it.

7. Book Series: Building a book series or adding more books to your name is what would make a massive difference to your author status and future sales.

You might lose money with the first book. Yet, having more titles in the series would help recoup the loss as you use one to promote the others. 

EDITING

8. Editing Matters: Regardless of how good a writer you are, your book is going to need editing.

Every publisher would ask and expect every writer to polish the book as much as possible; you should expect no less from yourself. It will help:

• Spot mistakes and irregularities
• Reduce publishing cost and time
• Increase the chances of being picked up by a publisher.

9. Proofreading: Proofread last. Here is why.

• Mistakes and typos sneak in every time you go back to it
• It is mechanical and it needs a different approach
• You are more focused because it’s the only task left to do
• It will save time and effort and get you top results.

10. House Style: The number one mistake almost all writers make is not using a House Style (HS). It separates professionals from amateurs.

A HS is a set of guidelines and rules for presenting the draft for a smooth and easy read, so nothing jumps out of the page and distracts the eye. For example:

• Use words for numbers one to ten and digits for 11+
• 5 o'clock for fiction, 5pm for non-fiction; Dates: 18 May 2014
• Double quotation marks for full quotations, single marks for quotations within quotations.

BOOK FORMATTING 

11. Individual Formatting: Nothing is more annoying than reading a book whose content is not formatted well. Keep formatting for each book version separate. Use:

• Book; PDF (not Word, it will mess up the layout)
• eBook; epub for all eBook publishing platforms
• Audiobook; Audio file, mp3.

12. Book Typesetting: A good standard is 11 or 12pts, Times New Roman or Garamond. Baskerville might be pleasant to read, but it uses more space which increases the spine, the page number, and therefore printing and delivery costs.

Make sure the contents table headings match the headings in the draft.

13. eBook Typesetting: This is a different beast, and both the contents table and the interior need to be formatted and converted separately to the physical book. Using the PDF version would not work, it will screw up the layout; avoid it.

BOOK COVER

14. Separate Design: Keep the cover design for each book version separate. Use:

• Print book; PDF
• eBook; JPG portrait
• Audiobook; JPG square

15. Front Cover: Design the front cover first. It must stand out on small screens. Design for the thumbnail size, otherwise the cover will get lost in the background.

16. Spine: Use the spine as a selling tool. The book title and the author name should stand out against the background of the spine. Don’t forget to use the publisher logo at the bottom of the spine.

17. Back Cover: After scanning the front cover readers would check the back cover.

The back-cover blurb must complete the sale. It is where most go wrong; they give away too much. Try not to write it yourself, outsource it or ask another person to write it.

18. Colour and Background: Your book is competing against two main backgrounds: White for Amazon and Google; Blue for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. 

If you use a light coloured background, put a narrow border around it to keep it from getting lost on Amazon and other internet pages.

Use the right colour for the right niche. For example, green is natural, healthy, soothing; blue is professional and business-like.

BOOK ESSENTIALS

19. Book Title: Go for titles that tell what your book is about by using words that trigger both action and reaction.

For example, for non-fiction; The Truth About; Facts You Should Know; How To, and so on. For fiction; Life; Love; Sex; The Story of; Dream, and so on.

20. Children Books: Follow the rule of thumb: the younger the child, use less text and bigger image/illustration; the older the child, use more text and smaller image/illustrations.

The book approach needs to appeal to both children and parents, who have the final say in buying or not.

21. Pricing: When your book sells more than expected, it is a most reliable indication your readers want it. It comes down to pricing.

You price low, it will sell more; too low, it will cheapen it; too high, it will kill the book. There is a price bracket readers expect and are willing to pay for your book you want to hit.

Start low to get traction and then raise it gradually as you get more sales until you find the right price.

THE AUTHOR

22. Author Name: If keeping your real name, check first if there are other authors matching your name. If there are, add a middle name or an initial. Your author name should be unique.

23. Penname: Do not choose a pen name randomly, research it first. Names tend to have a ten-year cycle. Check the top ten boys’ or the top ten girls’ names and settle for one. French names, for example, tend to be associated with romantic fiction.

24. Author Profile: Write the bio in 3rd person for use in your Amazon Central Author, at the end of the book and any book publishing platform or third party publishing channels.

It is not what you would say about yourself, it is what someone else would. Write a draft two to three times the final word count and start trimming it down. Include a photo.

PUBLISHING ESSENTIALS

25. ISBN: An ISBN enables you to make the book available in both online and offline book stores.

Avoid free ISBNs issued via Amazon, Lulu, Smashwords or any other platforms. You will not be able to control production and distribution.

Also, many brick and mortar bookstores will not store books with Amazon issued ISBNs.

26. Book Distribution: Booksellers want to make money, show them how strong your sales figures are not how good your book is.

The going discount rate is 50-55% off the retail price. By the time you apply printing and postage costs, there might be little return. Do the maths first.

27. Hiring Publishing Services: If you approach an editor, cover designer, illustrator, typesetter or any other publishing services provider, you must:

1. Give clear guidelines on the level of edit, design or responsibility
2. Set a deadline
3. Get written consent the copyright belongs to you.

COPYRIGHT

28. Copyright: It gives you the right to licence, sell, or reproduce your work. You get automatic protection the moment you make the work available in any form or format.

29. Joint-Authors: if you need a co-author, illustrator, co-editor and so on, you must agree, beforehand and in writing, the copyright and royalty terms. Do not skip this step.

30. Agreements: Read agreements carefully. Focus on the small print because the devil is in the details. 

Publishing is a business and you should negotiate terms. Publishers want to keep as many rights as possible; you want to do the same. Licence your work if you can, instead of assigning it.

ROYALTIES

31. Royalty Agreement: If you are offered a royalty publishing agreement, the going rate for fiction is 10%; non-fiction 10-12. It could go up to 20-25% for the eBook version. It depends on the publisher and the type of agreement you sign.

In the long term, you will be better off with the standard rate. A higher royalty rate means the publisher might take shortcuts with publishing stages.

32. Commission Publishing Agreement: If you pay a publisher to publish your book on your behalf, you must keep full copyright and full royalty. Be it eBook, paperback or audiobook, it should be the case.

Avoid the royalty sharing option if you can. Net incomings means there could be many business expenses added before your royalty is calculated; the final figure would be less than what you agreed or expect. 

IMPORTANT: Do not sign an agreement that does not state simply and clearly who the copyright belongs to; what the royalty terms are and who gets what.

BOOK LAUNCH

33. Proof Copies: It takes what it takes, do not launch before ordering proof copies. Use them to check for mistakes and irregularities. Better safe than sorry.

34. When to Launch: Anytime is a good time to launch. The following are good aiming for.

• Xmas & New Year; it ties up with Xmas gifts and New Year's resolutions
• Mid-March, early April; there is a dip in newly published books and is easier, therefore, to make it to a bestseller list
• August; during the holiday season people have more time to read.

35. Publishing Framework: The following schedule is an average to aim for.

• Research, pencil in the initial draft, the contents table and main chapters: 2-3 months
• Write the book: 3-4 months
• Edit and polish: 3-4 months
• Prepare for launch: 2-3 months.

You are looking at roughly a year from getting the book off the ground to launch.  

36. When to Hire Help: Be it an editor, a cover designer, a book marketer or any publishing services you are after, you must not go ahead without completing three steps:

1. Finish the draft
2. Specify the task you need help with
3. Set a deadline and budget and stick to both.

37. Using Amazon: Publishing on Amazon is important because it is:

a) the largest book publishing platform in the world 

b) where most readers have access to

c) the easiest and safest way to test the market for your book.

38. Book Marketing: Whatever route you choose to publish, you must get involved heavily in marketing your book.

It is about building a readership base, and this takes time and effort. Keep at it.

39. Reviews: Reviews help: 

• The book rank better
• The reader decide to buy it 
• Provide third party social proof.

Focus on the two main markets: Amazon.com (the largest) and Amazon.uk. Aim to get at least 15 reviews in the first weeks of lunch and build towards 100.

Let nothing, absolutely nothing interfere with writing your book. It is a change for the better and justifies no delay. Sit down and write it now, not tomorrow, not next week.

Please let me know how you are getting on and if you need any help publishing your book. 

Best luck with your book!

Paul

Paul Smith Publishing London 

www.paulsmithpublishing.co.uk

paul@paulsmithpublishing.co.uk

 

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