How do I publish my book?
Like anything you do for the first time, it can seem very overwhelming working out just where to start.
You can choose a mentor to help you on your journey, this can save you time and energy, and help you to avoid a whole lot of mistakes.
Mistakes are very common for authors publishing for the first time, as everything is so new and there is so much to learn about the process.
You may choose to self-publish, or have someone do the publishing for you once you have written your book. This leaves you to do what you do best, while someone else looks after the publishing.
If you are going it alone and want to self-publish here are some things to think about.
Do you need your book to be available as a physical print book and an eBook, or an eBook only? Knowing this will change the path you take in terms of formatting and having files print ready.
If you are looking at eBook publishing only, read my blog titled eBook publishing. In this article we will focus on printing a physical book.
Traditional PrintingIf you have an existing community and/or author platform, and you have a distribution method for your physical books you may choose a traditional printer. The reason for this is that as the volume of books you print increase the price per book decreases.
The downside is that you are often printing thousands of books at once, so if you discover an error after printing, this can be very costly in the case you need to reprint. There are also run on’s (extra books) that come off the print press that you have to pay for.
The print quality is usually very high with offset printing, however a lot of traditional printers will do a digital print run for less that 500 books these days.
Another benefit of traditional printing is you can be more selective with the binding type, paper stock for your inside pages and book cover. You can have more flexibility with other choices such as printing on the inside cover of a book , printing embossed fonts on the cover, and using gold foil blocking for example.
Print on Demand (POD)The big advantage of print on demand for the self-published author is that you can print a single copy and have the chance to make changes if you have made a mistake. So you can avoid costly printing mistakes easily. There is no minimum order so you don’t end up with a garage full of books that are not sold.
Some POD publishers also distribute the book direct to your customers for a fee, which saves you having to do the postage and handling yourself. The advantage here is that books are only printed once a customer has placed an order for the book and you can be holidaying in the Bahamas- not rushing to the post office.
Although there is a wide range of choice with book sizes, binding types, paper stock and cover stock, choices are usually limited, so it is not the method of choice for a detailed custom type book.
Design with your printer in mindWhen designing your book, both the cover and the inside pages, it is important to know at the start who your printer will be, as all printer’s have different specifications and requirements for your files. Obviously you will need to have edited, proofread and designed your book before your files are print ready.
Holding your physical book for the first time is a special moment, a little like holding your baby after 9 months of pregnancy 🙂
Autographing it is fun too!
Share your message. Make a Difference. Leave a Legacy
Fiona Jones
9 times Best-selling author of The Millionaire Books and co-founder of Author Express
www.AuthorExpress.com