Should you Self-publish?

There is a certain stigma that comes with self-publishing, the term being branded as vanity publishing. However, a deeper understanding of how publishing works can help you know what truly is in store for you in terms of self-publishing.

Many aspiring authors who have grown tired of trying to get an agent, let alone get their book published. With so many authors, a mountain of manuscripts and limited shelf-space, these authors have taken things into their own hands, going en-route self-publishing.

According to Bowker, the agency that assigns ISBNs and publishes the Books in Print database, self-published books have outnumbered traditional titles in production last year.

Self-publishing, just like traditional publishing, is not for everyone. However, it can be right for you. If you find yourself in any of these situations, then self-publishing just might work to your advantage:

• You know that your book has real potential but find it difficult to get an agent or a publisher.

• You are a professional (business entrepreneur, public speaker, church leader, etc) who wants to publish a book that will cater to your prospective audience or target audience.

• You do not seek fame and fortune. You only want to have something special to give to your loved ones.

• You want to get full creative control of your book’s entire creative process. Since it is your book, you want to want to be in complete charge.

• You have given up on rejection letters and simply want to get your book published.

Publishing power does not all have to be in the hands of major publishers – it belongs to the author. Moreover, major publishers just cannot see the next bestseller when they see one.

Self-publishing provides an opportunity for aspiring authors to not just launch their writing careers, but truly fulfill their dream of getting published.

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Self-editing your Manuscript

image source: http://thepublishingmaster.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/red_pencil.jpg

A writer who wants to publish often entrusts manuscript enhancement to expensive third-party editors. However, no one can do the first round of improvements better than the person who can best keep the written ideas closest to the original: the author.

Drawn below is EDIT. These are practical tips for a writer to self-edit before giving the manuscript to a publishing company. The acronym makes the guidelines easier to remember as a writer plans about how to get a book published.

ELIMINATE
Get rid of improper words and replace them with accurate ones needed to convey the message. To get the most precise word that describes an idea, it is best to use a thesaurus. When in doubt of the meaning of a word, consult a dictionary. Even if already repeatedly used, a word may imply another meaning when taken in a different context.

Try to eliminate the negatives. Using the word “not” is sometimes effective for emphasis. Nevertheless, sentences written in a positive tone are generally better and stronger than negative ones.

DESIGN CHECK
Another way of self-editing a manuscript is to check the design of the sentences. This means looking at structure, construction and even figures of speech.

Watch for passive sentences. It is always clearer to express an idea when sentences are in active rather than in passive voice. The subject-verb-object structure describes action rather than illustrates situations and this provides readers with an easier understanding of what a writer wants to tell.

Keep an eye for the right punctuation marks and avoid complex sentences as much as possible.

Be consistent and careful in using figures of speech: they must be within the context of the descriptions. Do not confuse readers by comparing something to a forest only to associate it later to an ocean. Using figures of speech is for a purpose, not just for a play on words. Use them creatively and logically.

INSPECT
Thoroughly examine each sentence for accuracy of grammar and spelling. Check out your word processor for this application but be watchful in applying the changes to your manuscript.

TEST
A writer must test how the message sounds by reading the manuscript aloud. This allows revision of awkward phrasings and avoids redundancy.

These are the four handy self-editing tips that are vital to the publishing process.

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When asked about Publishing

In an episode of the hit game show Jeopardy, Alex Trebek asks a question under Publishing category:

Question: Xlibris is a P.O.D. service. POD, a do-it-yourself method, stands for?

Answer: POD stands for Print-on-Demand.

Unfortunately, none of the players got the answer right. Wow, I surmise I could have been $1200 richer with that question. Who would have thought?

Interested to know more about POD? Read about it here.

Success in Publishing Children's Books

After finding success with his first three children’s books, author Howard Shapiro seems to have nowhere to go but up. Having accomplished his goal of writing characters that adults and kids would be able to relate to in his stories and also achieving self-publishing victory with Hockey Days (Xlibris) Shapiro continues to pursue his love for the written word and the sport of hockey in his new book.

Released in October, Hockey Player for Life has garnered positive responses not only from critics but also from readers. Shapiro relates: "The feedback I have received from folks at the signings, from the hockey blogging community and from the many pro hockey teams who I have had the privilege to work with has been phenomenal and I couldn't be more appreciative and thankful for their collective time and support.”

Reviews for Hockey Player for Life from The Hockey News, New York Sportscene and Pittsburgh Magazine are nothing short of supportive, with critics calling it “a delightful ode to the love of the game”, an “instant classic”, and a “must-read for all soon-to-be hockey stars.”

Shapiro’s success has also reached the Amazon.com Sales Charts for Children’s Books (People & Places Fiction) and Teens Books (School & Sports Fiction), with Hockey Player for Life ranking top 50. The book has also been nominated in the category of Middle Grade Fiction of the Cybils Award, which is selected by a talented panel of children's and young adult book bloggers.

All these indicate not only the quality of Shapiro’s latest work of sports fiction but also his success as a writer and independent book author.

You, too, can achieve publishing success just like Howard Shapiro. Start your own publishing journey by receiving this FREE publishing guide.

Pros and Cons of Book Publishing

image source: desktop.self-publishing.com

Publishing a book always has its highs and lows. Whether you want to take the traditional route of publishing or choose to self-publish, a better understanding of how the world of publishing works can help you decide which publishing route best fits your goals.

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING:

Going the traditional way works well for a person with an established status or a huge following, say a celebrity or a TV-radio personality. The moment a traditional publisher says yes to your book, you no longer have control over it.

Traditional publishing does everything for your book – from editing, layout, to printing down to marketing. This may be a good thing, but a downside to it is that you don’t have creative control of your book. You may find that your already-edited manuscript has but strayed from your original work.

Traditional publishing pays you to get your book out. You will get an advance, although it may be modest for a first-time author. They determine how many books to print and your book makes it to the bookstore. However, if it doesn’t sell in 30 days, the publishing house will forget you. Putting out another book with them may take a lot of convincing for them as well. And yes, your books will be returned to you, too.

Unless you get a good lawyer to arrange ownership rights to your book once it gets shelved, you waive your rights away. In terms of royalties, traditional publishing houses now pay only 10% at most of wholesale. (they used to pay royalties at 10% of retail.)

SELF-PUBLISHING:

A downside of self-publishing is that you have to pay to get your book published. Depending on the package, you may have to pay as high as $12,000 to publish your book with them. However, if you pick the right self-publishing company, they will give you a favorable return on your investment.

A great thing about self-publishing is that you get full creative control of your book – from the editing, cover art to marketing. You retain ownership rights to your book as well – after all, it is you who wrote your book.

Your book gets worldwide online distribution through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. Marketing and Distribution are perhaps the biggest blocks of self-publishing. Only very few distributors are willing to deal with self-published authors.

This implies that getting your book to land in bookstores can be tough. This is because self-published books are non-returnable, unless you push for an aggressive book marketing campaign. So does getting your book evaluated by established book review institutions. Another good thing about self-publishing is that you don’t have to worry about inventory or a pile of unsold books collecting dust in your garage.

But perhaps the best thing about self-publishing is that there is no one else to convince about publishing a book but yourself.

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Too Young to Publish?

For someone who has a story to tell, does age really matter? Teenagers and even kids often find their tender age a serious drawback to getting published. After all, would someone so young be taken seriously when publishing a book?

Truth is, age is nothing but a number and it is never a hindrance to publishing your book. Your age neither defines the quality of your submission nor determine your chances of getting published.

An advantage of publishing young is that there is less competition. If you have to wait until you reach legal age, chances are you will be competing with other adults whose stories may be far better than yours. Young as you are, however, there are things that you need to keep in mind.

Writing requires time and effort. Done with your first draft? Resist that sense of accomplishment just yet – that is only a part of the big whole. Stop at your tracks if you think of sending it off for publication. The first draft is hardly ever the best.

Get intervention. Have others review your work and ask them what they think. It could be your parents, a teacher or someone you can trust. They can help add some creative input to your story. Don’t get too overwhelmed if they praise your work. Take criticism and learn from it as well.

Patience, just as the ability to handle criticism, is important in being a professional writer and in publishing a book. By honing your craft more, you are more confident with getting your book in print. Read your draft over and over again. You will find that you need a lot of polishing to do. Reread it. Improve it. Rewrite it. Your work is not yet good enough until you learn to reread and rewrite many times over. By honing your craft more, you are more confident with getting your book published.

Regardless of age, publishing is never easy at all. Many good stories take years and years to get published; worse, do not find its way into print. The onset of self-publishing, however, has made publishing easier especially for young aspiring authors. Choose a self-publishing company that will truly take care of your publishing needs – from the entire book production, layout, printing down to the marketing of your book.

Lastly, since you are a minor, you will need to get your parent’s consent. They can help you pull all strings that you need to make the publishing process easy and enjoyable for you.

You are never too young to publish. Many young writers have gone on to become published authors. Brothers Miles and William Rabun published their book, My Grandma’s Backyard, when they were 10 and 8 years old, respectively. Dorothy Strait wrote How the World Began, making her the youngest published author. Christopher Paolini self-published his book, Eragon, which then became a bestseller.

Who knows, the next bestselling book could be yours.

The stars to becoming a published author are just within your reach. Publish today and get 50% off on publishing. Get this FREE book publishing guide.

Tips on Writing a Book

Unsure how to go about writing your book? Here are some tips:

When writing a book, there is no rule of thumb on the number of pages or its chapter length, regardless of genre. However, there are some important things that you need to keep in mind when determining your book’s chapter length and page count.

PAGES

Consider the reader’s attention span. There are readers, many of them, who read ‘on the go’ – it could be on their way to work or while having lunch. They are those who enjoy chapters that they can finish within ten or fifteen minutes.

Setting your chapter length may depend on the amount of time it takes to finish reading the material. For example, if it is more than fifteen minutes, you might want to split your chapters into two. This should work well when writing a non-fiction book.

Keep in mind that writing a fiction and non-fiction book is entirely different. Fiction book writing requires the use of shorter chapters, some only a page, if only to immerse the reader into the story. On the other hand, writing a non-fiction book requires a more detailed content, specific to your chapter title or heading.

While it is good to set your chapter pages to twenty, perhaps the most important thing that you need to consider is to incorporate everything relating to a specific topic in a chapter, so as to sum it all up without the shilly-shally. For instance, if you are writing a book about makeup, include all there is you need to write about eye makeup. Tips on applying cheek blush should be in another chapter.

CHAPTERS

There is actually no given rule when setting the chapter length of your book. However, for your work to be considered a book instead of a booklet, your word count should be at least 10,000. In addition, you can create two volumes if your book has over 450 pages.

Submission of manuscript is usually done in a word-processing format, so a 300 word count can fit approximately one page of a 12-point font text, standard size, perfect-bound book. However, you cannot be completely certain of the final length of your book until your publisher will have formatted it for printing.

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Is Self-publishing right for you?

From: Examiner.com

Stand in the middle of a group of writers and say the words… you’re bound to get a whole array of very heated opinions.

On the pro side, you will hear that self-publishing is the wave of the future. It frees authors from the petty tyrannies of the big, impersonal publishing houses who ignore art for the sake of the almighty dollar. But speaking of dollars, self-pubbed authors see a bigger piece of the post-sale pie. So take that.

And then there are the cons. Self-pubbed authors are hacks. They’re wanna-be writers who couldn’t make it in the “real” publishing world. They never have been and never will be taken seriously.

The truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. Certainly, self-publishing is easier today than ever before. In days of yore, an author who wanted to publish his own book had to work with a vanity press, requiring his out-of-pocket purchase of hundreds of books. It was a significant investment in a product that could very well languish in the trunk of said writer’s car.

Self-publishing has come a long way. With the advent of print-on-demand (POD) presses such as CreateSpace and Lulu, authors can hold a bookshelf-ready copy of their work for a miniscule upfront investment.

So how do you know whether or not self-publishing is right for you? If more than one of these statements describes you, you might be ready to take the plunge.

You are a master editor (or know someone who is). One of the biggest gripes industry professionals have about self-published books is that they’re badly written. While this is not true of all self-pubbed books, the ones that do fall into this category give everyone else a bad name. Before you submit your final copy, make sure you have gone over it thoroughly. Don’t rely on your word processor’s spelling and grammar checkers to catch errors. If you want to find elusive errors lurking in your text, try this: read it backwards. It makes your brain look at the actual words rather than filling in what you know should be there. Make sure there are no loose ends. Is your writing crisp and tight? If your work is fiction, have you mastered POV, show-versus-tell, and GMC? If so (and if you even know what I’m talking about) then you’re probably ready to move on.

You just want somebody, anybody, to read your book. You’re not in it for the fame. You don’t long to sit on Oprah’s couch or see your name on the NYT Bestseller List. You just want your book to be read. Even if it’s only by your friends and family.

You have connections. Of course, if you have a lot of friends and family, that’s a good thing. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to sell books, no matter how they’re published. Perhaps you’re a member of a huge fraternal organization. Or the pastor of a mega-church. Or Oprah’s next door neighbor. (It always come back around to O, doesn’t it?) Whatever connections you currently have can assist you when it’s time to let people know about your book.

You have a marketing plan. You can write the best book in the world and it won’t matter one bit if no one knows it exists. How are you going to let people know about your brilliant new work? Do you have a web site? A blog? Are you active in social networks like Twitter and Facebook? Are you part of a group of professionals that can help you get the word out? This is where you need to access those connections we spoke of earlier.

Your financial security does not depend on book sales. This is the biggie. If your hopes and dreams of a bright future for you and your family rest on the millions you’re going to make from your self-pubbed book, it’s time for a reality check. The majority of authors with books published by traditional houses do not make enough money to live solely on their writing income. It’s even harder for a self-published author. You need to be aware of this before you jump into the pool.

You are very patient. Everything in the publishing business moves slowly, whether you’re published by a well known house, or you do it yourself. So-called overnight successes like J.K. Rowling (whose Harry Potter novels were published by Scholastic) and William P. Young (author of the most recent self-pubbed success story, The Shack) actually worked hard for years before anyone outside their inner circle knew who they were. The sad truth is, most authors will never attain even a fraction of their success. But then that’s not why most of us do this, is it?

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Getting your Children's book published

Self-publishing your children’s book comes with a plethora of perks. Illustrations are an essential element for most children’s books, so you want to make sure that these are very specific to how your story unfolds.

Traditional publishers assume control of your book’s creative aspect; in this case, you do not have a hold on your very own book. Self-publishing allows you to determine what you want with your book, in all its entirety.

It can also be a challenge getting your children’s book ready for publication if you have plenty of illustrations all throughout. It requires extra care especially when making changes in the text so that the illustrations that come with it still complement your story.

Before turning in your manuscript for publishing, it’s always smart to let others read it from start to finish. This way, you know that the illustrations correspond with every text in your story. Most children’s books are usually not lengthy, so this should be realistic a task. It would also be a good idea to have a child, from which you are targeting your book to, read your story as well. They can give excellent ideas that only a child’s imagination can provide.

When self-publishing your children’s book, you need to get a professional designer who is adept with the cover. The primary reason for people to pick up a book, more so a children’s book, is its cover, so you want to make sure it looks very appealing to kids and adults alike at first glance.

Children’s books cater to a specific age group, which makes it an important factor when marketing your book. There are several places to generate interest in your book. From children’s libraries, kindergarten and elementary schools, book festivals, trade shows and book fairs down to the simple household. You can even join book reading programs for children or sponsor one yourself at summer camps or local libraries.

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Publishing with Xlibris (now in UK)

Xlibris, the leading print-on-demand publishing services provider based in Bloomington, IN has now expanded its operations in the UK.

A self-publishing company, Xlibris believes in full author control of the entire book publishing process. Authors retain rights to their book as well. To date, Xlibris has been producing more than 25,000 titles for almost 20,000 book authors.

Xlibris has been a leader in the POD publishing industry and continues to lead the way. Now with its expansion in the UK, you can depend on Xlibris' quality services to make publishing smooth and convenient a process for you.

To start your own publishing journey or to learn more about how to publish with Xlibris, check out the Xlibris UK website at www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

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