Self-publishing
I was asked to give a talk to our writing group about the method I used to self-publish Greatcoats to Growler. I have included this talk here to allow others to refer back if they need to. The picture is of the copyright page, just to give people an idea about how this is set out.
Self-publishing
Process of publication
First thing. I have come to realise self-publishing is indulgent, for me anyway.
Writing – easy
Publishing – expensive
Marketing – hard
You finish your manuscript. Now the real work.
Tighten, edit, reedit, proof.
You want your work to be in the best condition for the next stage.
Do you have a name yet? You need a name.
Inside book.
First page goes to the title.
Second page is copyright page (left hand side of book).
Easy to copy off someone else’s. Work in New Zealand is automatically copyrighted, but still need the blurb on page after the title page (left hand side).
Here you write copyright blurb
List your ISBN numbers. These are obtained from the National Library of New Zealand and are free.
https://natlib.govt,nz
Go onto their website. You have to be the publisher to get these. As you are self-publishing, you are.
Best to get a lot of 10. The ISBN then get listed on the copyright page. List as many types as you are going to publish in. Each type has a separate ISBN number. Ie soft cover, print on demand, kindle, E-pub. Up to you to keep a record of which number you are allocating to which form your book will be in. I listed four in my book.
Check, check and check. Easy to make a mistake on these numbers.
This is not difficult obtaining the numbers. Some companies offer the service for a fee but can do yourself.
It is a requirement to send two copies of your book to the Library after publication. This is called legal deposit and the address will come with your ISBN numbers along with a reminder to send your books away after publication.
On this page you state that a catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand.
Also on this page you name the person who did: Cover design, Design and layout, where and who printed it. And the year it was printed.
If necessary, add a disclaimer next if you are suggesting anything that might need one – such as offering a herbal remedy.
Lastly, add where books can be ordered from and your contact details that you wish to share.
I would recommend creating a new email specifically for your book, rather than using a personal email.
Following Page – dedication
Next page – contents page
Then your text follows
In the back of book
A page each for: About author
Previous works
Acknowledgements
The acknowledgements could go in front after the dedication if you chose.
Some designers will do copyright page for you, but you need to get your own ISBN numbers.
A cover. Plenty of people are capable of doing the image for a cover. But there is more to this than that. You will have had to have written your back cover blurb and obtained any spiels from others you want put there. Eg wow loved this book, j blogs.
The cover needs to have a front, back and spine and also a barcode of the isbn which goes bottom right-hand corner. These can be obtained free or paid for. I paid $30 and got it quickly. Type in internet – obtaining isbn for back cover NZ. They will send you yours in different forms once you give them your number for the book you are doing. Each of these will be different for the different formats. Ie soft cover, E-pub etc.
I employed the services of a designer to do my cover. This will cost you. I don’t have the expertise to do my own. But the designer will need to know number of pages in your book in order to make the spine the correct width. Generally, designers will talk with you about what you require for your cover but if you already have the design, just hand it over for them to incorporate for you.
When you have written all the extra bits, acknowledgements, back cover etc. send your book to an editor. This will cost you, generally based on word count and type of work, but I highly recommend you do this. Nothing worse than a book full of errors. It is too easy for your brain to read what it thinks is there rather than what is actually written. Some people also get their work proofed – another cost. Most editors will ask to see your manuscript before giving a quote.
You could call on friends for proofing.
Once your work returns from an editor there is generally quite a bit of work for you still to do – approving or rejecting suggested changes etc.
Once edited, the book is ready for formatting, design and layout. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to do any of this. So, in all of my books, I have paid someone for these services. They decide type and size of font, how the work is laid on the page, where each new chapter starts on the page etc.
Next your work will be ready for the printers.
They will require your work in a particular format with specific margins etc. If doing design yourself you will need to be aware of printer requirements.
With printing you may be given lots of choices. What size do you want your book? What type of paper? Recycled of white? How thick do you want your pages? Do you want your cover laminated?
Have a think about this. If you see a book you like, take a note of what that one is.
All the different options have different costs.
Printing costs. Once established your preferences you will need to decide how many.
The cost decreases the higher the print run.
I ordered 200 for that very reason. A difference in $5 per copy from 50 to 200 in my latest book.
Remember: There is always a delay in each stage. People are busy. You join the queue. You may wait several weeks for the editor, then again for the design people. With printing, your book also joins the queue.
If you want a single copy before printing, that adds to the time and is usually quite costly, but worth it to pick up any mistakes in layout, binding etc. Text mistakes should have been corrected before this stage.
Setting your price. You have all these other costs to take into consideration when setting your price. Many of us never break even but after a while you forget about all the money you spent and each new sale is a bonus.