We all have dreamt of writing and publishing our book at least once in our lifetime.
Especially if you’re a writer, the thought of being recognized for your work might excite you more than usual.
Imagine everyone talking about your book on all social media platforms.
Your masterpiece is creating a buzz among readers!
Public demanding part 02 of your published work!
Sounds exciting, right?
But all this feeling of elation and anticipation comes to an end when you think about publishing your book!
Being a writer, you can pen down the best plot and sketch the character in the most intriguing way, but when it comes to publishing, things aren’t as simple as they seem.
And if you’ve opted for a traditional publishing platform, this challenge becomes exponentially more complex.
In the year 2023, where the internet places the world at our fingertips, the world of book publishing has experienced a transformative shift.
This comprehensive guide will delve into the intricacies of the book publishing process, offering valuable tips and expert advice to help you take your book to the global stage.
So, let’s get started by understanding the two basic routes for publishing books!
| Traditional Publishing |
Self- Publishing |
| Manuscripts are submitted to literary agents or publishing houses for review. They undergo a rigorous selection process before getting published. |
Authors have complete control over the publishing process, from writing to cover design, formatting, and marketing. |
| Authors typically receive extensive editorial assistance, including proofreading and content editing, from the publisher. |
Authors can choose to self-edit or hire their own editors, maintaining creative control. |
| The publisher handles the book cover design and overall formatting of the book. |
Authors are responsible for designing the book cover and formatting the content or can hire professionals for these tasks. |
| The publisher takes charge of marketing, distribution, and promotion. This may include book tours, advertising, and getting books into physical stores. |
Self-published authors are responsible for marketing, distribution, and promotion. This includes online marketing and building an audience. |
| Royalties are typically lower per book sold compared to self-publishing. |
They retain a larger share of the royalties per book sold. |
Traditional Publishing
Traditional book publishing is when an author gives the contract to the publisher, who, in turn, publishes, prints, and sells your book through retailers and booksellers. A traditional publisher acquires the rights to publish your manuscript and compensates you through royalties based on sales.
Traditionally, to publish a book, writers have to find literary agents. If they accept your draft, they will handle the entire publishing process, including cover design, editing, and distribution. But to do this, you first have to identify your writing category first. If you’re crafting a non-fictional book, you’re first required to submit a book proposal along with each chapter’s synopsis and three sample chapters. And if you’re writing a fictional piece, you must have to send the complete manuscript.
However, this route is highly competitive, and you may require a publishing agent’s assistance to get noticed.
Self-Publishing
Self-publishing refers to the practice where an author independently publishes their work without the involvement of a traditional book publisher. This approach grants the author full authority over all creative aspects, publishing expenses, and the royalties generated from their work.
Dating back centuries, self-publishing has transformed into a thriving multi-billion-dollar industry in recent years. It offers writers the opportunity to seize command of their book publishing aspirations and bring their literary visions to life while selling their books just as they had envisioned.
You can use platforms like), IngramSpark, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP or other self-publishing services to publish your book.
After choosing the book publishing route, it’s time to start working on the publishing process. The steps we will cover in this guide will be for every author, regardless of what platform they have chosen.
Steps Involved In Book Publishing
Step 01: Write and Edit Your Draft
The publishing process can’t start until you have a fully completed manuscript in hand.
However, would you consider submitting your manuscript to a publishing company or uploading it to a self-publishing platform without subjecting it to a second round of scrutiny? I
If that’s your plan, you might be headed in the wrong direction.
Editing your manuscript after completing it is just as crucial as any other step in the process.
Because the audience will be reading your book, judging it, and analyzing every word of it, you just can’t let go of your manuscript unedited.
You can hire a professional book editor to do it for you, or if you choose to tackle it yourself, keep these tips in mind.
Start with characters and plots. If you’re too confused about where to get started, we suggest you begin by reviewing the main characters and plots of the story. This will help you stay focused and ensure that everything is aligned.
Take at least one week break before you start editing. This approach will give you the fresh perspective necessary to evaluate your writing as an editor would.
Read your doubts out loud. If you’re finding it difficult to edit a particular piece of writing due to any sort of internal or external distraction, read that passage out loud. This will not just help you in finding errors in your writing but also enable you to break down the mental block.
Step 02: Get feedback from potential audience.
Just like in the product development process, where entrepreneurs refine their product by getting feedback from the potential audience, it has been advised to all the authors to get feedback from the beta readers and book critiques before publishing the book.
Throughout the editing process, we suggest you share your draft with trustworthy collaborators and get their feedback.
So, from whom can you get the feedback?
- Beta Readers
- Writing communities
- Critique circles
Step 03: Give Name To Your Manuscript
However you might have already chosen the book title, but if you didn’t, this is the right time. Make sure the title you choose for your book goes perfectly with the plot and characters mentioned in it.
You can use any book title name generator, or you can pen it down by yourself. Either way, keep these points in mind;
The title should be intriguing. It should excite the reader to choose your book over others.
Keep it short and concise. This makes the title easier to remember for the readers, and it helps the idea get across easily.
Don’t choose a title that’s too similar to others. If you do this, there is a high chance that the readers will get confused, and your story will lose its uniqueness.
Step 04: Format Your Book
In the formatting phase of self-publishing, you’ll give the final finishing touches to your draft, ensuring that it has all the things that are present in the perfectly written book.
This decisive stage works differently for both traditional publishing and self-publishing.
If you have planned to send the book to the publishing company, you’ll be first required to arrange it in the pre-defined, readable format.
On the other hand, if you want to self-publish the book, your strategy will be totally different. Firstly, you’ll have to choose from among self-publishing platforms. You’ve got numerous options to choose from that include but are not limited to;
- Amazon
- Kindle Direct Publishing
- Lulu
- Shopify
- Barns & Noble
You have to upload two different files on self-publishing platforms. The first file is called the manuscript file, which has all the chapters and internal pages of the book, and the other one is the cover file with the front, spine, and back cover.
Formatting Your Manuscript File
Even if your manuscript is written and edited well, there are still some formatting decisions to make as you prepare it for publication.
Setting Trim and Margins: Decide on the height and width of your pages, known as ‘trim.’ While self-publishing platforms offer various page sizes, it’s important to establish margin sizes.
Front Matter
The front matter of a book includes all the pages that come before the main manuscript. Usually, there are five types of front-matter pages:
Half-Title Page: Often the first page of a published book, it is a right-facing page that only contains the book’s title, without any page numbers.
Title Page: The title page, also without page numbers, typically displays the author’s name and subtitle and may include a publishing company’s logo for traditional publishing. Self-publishers can choose whether or not to include a logo.
Copyright Page: This page should be placed on the first left-facing page after the title page and contains all the book’s copyright information. You can use a template from a reputable publisher like Scribe if you’re unsure about what to include.
Dedication Page: Found on the next right-facing page, it is usually brief, with just one or two sentences. It generally does not have page numbers or headers.
Table of Contents Pages: These pages usually list the chapter and section titles, along with their corresponding page numbers.
Body Matter
The body matter of a book contains all the text of your chapters. Each chapter starts on a right-facing page, beginning with:
Chapter Title Page: Located at the beginning of each chapter, these pages do not have page headers but include page numbers.
Body Pages: Pages that don’t start new chapters are considered body pages. Typically, they include headers, with the author’s name on the left-side pages and the book title on the right-side pages.
Back Matter
The back matter includes all the pages that come after the main chapters. Here’s a summary of the back matter pages to include:
Bibliography and Reference Pages: Fiction books may not need these, but nonfiction works often require attribution pages.
Author Bio Page: This page features a photo of the author along with a short biography.
Index Pages: In nonfiction books with extensive subject matter, an index page listing topics in alphabetical order, along with corresponding page numbers, is common. If included, it appears at the end.”
Other Formatting Options
Many self-published authors are now using other formatting options that include;
- Hire a professional typesetter.
- Free formatting software.
- Paid formatting software.
Step 05: Design An Eye-Enticing Book Cover
One of the things that leaves indelible imprints on readers’ minds is the book cover. It acts as the book’s primary aid for those checking out online marketplaces, retailers, and just everywhere you’ll masterpiece will be sold.
If you’re thinking about how you can get your book cover designed, there are two options available. Either you can do it by yourself through online platforms like Canva and Adobo, or you can hire a professional book cover designer for you.
Designing your own cover may require some time, but it can also help you save money. The answer to this question depends on your experience with the task.
Whether you create the cover yourself or hire someone, you should approach your cover design with a marketing mindset. Here are some things to consider:
Find inspiration: Look at cover designs from successful books in your genre. Analyze what makes one cover more appealing than another and how the cover’s visuals reflect your book’s content.
Think about thumbnails: Keep in mind that your cover will appear much smaller when customers browse online stores or physical bookstores. Check that important details in your cover design remain visible in this reduced format and avoid making the cover too busy.
Ensure title visibility: Even if your cover is eye-catching, it won’t be effective if readers can’t quickly connect it with your book’s title. Make sure the title is prominent so readers can easily remember it.
Consider the spine and back cover. Even though they won’t be visible in thumbnails, they are important in the physical version of your book, particularly for readers who keep books on shelves. Ensure that the design remains consistent with your cover.
Long story short, your book design should be genre-indicative and right according to your publishing medium.
Step 06: Pen Down A Book Description
Your book’s description is one of the essential factors in convincing people to purchase it.
By penning down an intriguing book description, you can boost your book sales considerably.
If you are still confused about what to write in the book description, what to include, and what to exclude, you can follow these simple tips;
Start with an engaging headline that captures the reader’s attention. It can be a striking statement, a quote from a positive review, or the opening sentence of your book, but make sure it should immediately draw the reader’s attention.
Introduce the book’s plot or main idea without summarizing the entire story. Provide a brief overview of the central conflicts or, in the case of a nonfiction book, outline the core concepts you’ll explore.
You can also check out the descriptions of bestselling books in your genre and try to follow their lead. Analyze the descriptions of five to ten such books, and you’ll likely notice a recurring pattern that can serve as a blueprint for your own description.
Step 07: Launch Your Book
People won’t gonna know about your book until you tell them. And one of the ways to do that is by launching the book on different digital platforms.
How will this help?
Now that the internet has made everything available at the fingertips, making people aware of your book has become easier than ever.
Create an author website with an online checkout. Your book should have a central location where all your social media content and sales channels direct readers. This website will make it easier for people to find more information about you and reach out to you for interviews and other promotional opportunities.
Light Up Your Game with Street Team: Establish a street team comprising friends and collaborators who will promote your book through their own platforms.
Create important pages on your author’s website. These should encompass a homepage, an About Us page, a product page, and a Contact page dedicated to your book. While you can add supplementary blog posts and information about other books after the launch, it’s necessary to have these core pages ready before opening your website to the public.
Utilize analytics tools. Website analytics tools such as Google Analytics can offer independent authors like you valuable insights into visitor behavior, enabling you to enhance your online store.
Step 08: Publish Your Book
Congratulations! You have finally reached your ultimate destination.
You’ll be happy to know that the process of self-publishing a book is relatively easy. Retailers like Amazon will walk you through the uploading process, and as long as you’ve prepared your materials, you should encounter no issues.
Here’s a simple breakdown of the steps to follow:
- Enter your book title, description, and select categories/genres.
- Upload your manuscript in EPUB format.
- Add your book cover in JPG, TIFF, or PDF format.
- Set the book’s price and click “publish”!
- Market Your Book On Social Media Platforms
You’ve diligently written and edited your book. Your sales channels have been thoroughly tested and are operating smoothly. Your website and book presentation are impressive. But how do you go about finding customers?
Social media presents a significant marketing opportunity, even for small businesses and self-published authors. It provides a cost-effective way to reach a large audience, and by implementing a solid social media marketing strategy, you can build an engaged audience that can boost book sales and increase awareness of your work.
For self-publishing, here are some content ideas for social media that can help promote your book:
- Share excerpts on various social media platforms to give users a taste of your writing and direct them to purchase your book for more.
- Start a Facebook ad campaign to reach your ideal customers based on their interests, likes, and behavior. Allocate a budget for Facebook ads to raise awareness of your book among potential readers.
- Encourage user reviews on Amazon, as they can boost your book’s visibility on the platform. Encourage early buyers to leave reviews to increase your book’s exposure.
- Collaborate with social media influencers who have an audience that aligns with your target readers, promoting your book to a receptive audience.
- Write blog articles and share them on your social media platforms since you already have a website. Audiences who enjoy your writing are more likely to be interested in purchasing your book.
- Reach out to publications and podcasts in the literary world that cover genres similar to your book and see if they’re willing to offer an interview or feature your work.
Conclusion
Whether you choose to self-publish your book or get it done through traditional publishers, publishing a book is a task that doesn’t go without saying.
The good thing is if you find it difficult to do it yourself, you can hire professional book publishing companies to do it for you. They will publish your manuscript on different online platforms and give you complete creative control over all the steps included in the book publishing process.
So what are you waiting for? Publish your book today and establish your name alongside the esteemed self-publishing authors worldwide.
Last Updated: January 26, 2024
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Publishing a Book in 2024: Your Complete Guide
We all have dreamt of writing and publishing our book at least once in our lifetime.
Especially if you’re a writer, the thought of being recognized for your work might excite you more than usual.
Imagine everyone talking about your book on all social media platforms.
Your masterpiece is creating a buzz among readers!
Public demanding part 02 of your published work!
Sounds exciting, right?
But all this feeling of elation and anticipation comes to an end when you think about publishing your book!
Being a writer, you can pen down the best plot and sketch the character in the most intriguing way, but when it comes to publishing, things aren’t as simple as they seem.
And if you’ve opted for a traditional publishing platform, this challenge becomes exponentially more complex.
In the year 2023, where the internet places the world at our fingertips, the world of book publishing has experienced a transformative shift.
This comprehensive guide will delve into the intricacies of the book publishing process, offering valuable tips and expert advice to help you take your book to the global stage.
So, let’s get started by understanding the two basic routes for publishing books!
Table of Content
Traditional Publishing
Traditional book publishing is when an author gives the contract to the publisher, who, in turn, publishes, prints, and sells your book through retailers and booksellers. A traditional publisher acquires the rights to publish your manuscript and compensates you through royalties based on sales.
Traditionally, to publish a book, writers have to find literary agents. If they accept your draft, they will handle the entire publishing process, including cover design, editing, and distribution. But to do this, you first have to identify your writing category first. If you’re crafting a non-fictional book, you’re first required to submit a book proposal along with each chapter’s synopsis and three sample chapters. And if you’re writing a fictional piece, you must have to send the complete manuscript.
However, this route is highly competitive, and you may require a publishing agent’s assistance to get noticed.
Self-Publishing
Self-publishing refers to the practice where an author independently publishes their work without the involvement of a traditional book publisher. This approach grants the author full authority over all creative aspects, publishing expenses, and the royalties generated from their work.
Dating back centuries, self-publishing has transformed into a thriving multi-billion-dollar industry in recent years. It offers writers the opportunity to seize command of their book publishing aspirations and bring their literary visions to life while selling their books just as they had envisioned.
You can use platforms like), IngramSpark, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP or other self-publishing services to publish your book.
After choosing the book publishing route, it’s time to start working on the publishing process. The steps we will cover in this guide will be for every author, regardless of what platform they have chosen.
Steps Involved In Book Publishing
Step 01: Write and Edit Your Draft
The publishing process can’t start until you have a fully completed manuscript in hand.
However, would you consider submitting your manuscript to a publishing company or uploading it to a self-publishing platform without subjecting it to a second round of scrutiny? I
If that’s your plan, you might be headed in the wrong direction.
Editing your manuscript after completing it is just as crucial as any other step in the process.
Because the audience will be reading your book, judging it, and analyzing every word of it, you just can’t let go of your manuscript unedited.
You can hire a professional book editor to do it for you, or if you choose to tackle it yourself, keep these tips in mind.
Start with characters and plots. If you’re too confused about where to get started, we suggest you begin by reviewing the main characters and plots of the story. This will help you stay focused and ensure that everything is aligned.
Take at least one week break before you start editing. This approach will give you the fresh perspective necessary to evaluate your writing as an editor would.
Read your doubts out loud. If you’re finding it difficult to edit a particular piece of writing due to any sort of internal or external distraction, read that passage out loud. This will not just help you in finding errors in your writing but also enable you to break down the mental block.
Step 02: Get feedback from potential audience.
Just like in the product development process, where entrepreneurs refine their product by getting feedback from the potential audience, it has been advised to all the authors to get feedback from the beta readers and book critiques before publishing the book.
Throughout the editing process, we suggest you share your draft with trustworthy collaborators and get their feedback.
So, from whom can you get the feedback?
Step 03: Give Name To Your Manuscript
However you might have already chosen the book title, but if you didn’t, this is the right time. Make sure the title you choose for your book goes perfectly with the plot and characters mentioned in it.
You can use any book title name generator, or you can pen it down by yourself. Either way, keep these points in mind;
The title should be intriguing. It should excite the reader to choose your book over others.
Keep it short and concise. This makes the title easier to remember for the readers, and it helps the idea get across easily.
Don’t choose a title that’s too similar to others. If you do this, there is a high chance that the readers will get confused, and your story will lose its uniqueness.
Step 04: Format Your Book
In the formatting phase of self-publishing, you’ll give the final finishing touches to your draft, ensuring that it has all the things that are present in the perfectly written book.
This decisive stage works differently for both traditional publishing and self-publishing.
If you have planned to send the book to the publishing company, you’ll be first required to arrange it in the pre-defined, readable format.
On the other hand, if you want to self-publish the book, your strategy will be totally different. Firstly, you’ll have to choose from among self-publishing platforms. You’ve got numerous options to choose from that include but are not limited to;
You have to upload two different files on self-publishing platforms. The first file is called the manuscript file, which has all the chapters and internal pages of the book, and the other one is the cover file with the front, spine, and back cover.
Formatting Your Manuscript File
Even if your manuscript is written and edited well, there are still some formatting decisions to make as you prepare it for publication.
Setting Trim and Margins: Decide on the height and width of your pages, known as ‘trim.’ While self-publishing platforms offer various page sizes, it’s important to establish margin sizes.
Front Matter
The front matter of a book includes all the pages that come before the main manuscript. Usually, there are five types of front-matter pages:
Half-Title Page: Often the first page of a published book, it is a right-facing page that only contains the book’s title, without any page numbers.
Title Page: The title page, also without page numbers, typically displays the author’s name and subtitle and may include a publishing company’s logo for traditional publishing. Self-publishers can choose whether or not to include a logo.
Copyright Page: This page should be placed on the first left-facing page after the title page and contains all the book’s copyright information. You can use a template from a reputable publisher like Scribe if you’re unsure about what to include.
Dedication Page: Found on the next right-facing page, it is usually brief, with just one or two sentences. It generally does not have page numbers or headers.
Table of Contents Pages: These pages usually list the chapter and section titles, along with their corresponding page numbers.
Body Matter
The body matter of a book contains all the text of your chapters. Each chapter starts on a right-facing page, beginning with:
Chapter Title Page: Located at the beginning of each chapter, these pages do not have page headers but include page numbers.
Body Pages: Pages that don’t start new chapters are considered body pages. Typically, they include headers, with the author’s name on the left-side pages and the book title on the right-side pages.
Back Matter
The back matter includes all the pages that come after the main chapters. Here’s a summary of the back matter pages to include:
Bibliography and Reference Pages: Fiction books may not need these, but nonfiction works often require attribution pages.
Author Bio Page: This page features a photo of the author along with a short biography.
Index Pages: In nonfiction books with extensive subject matter, an index page listing topics in alphabetical order, along with corresponding page numbers, is common. If included, it appears at the end.”
Other Formatting Options
Many self-published authors are now using other formatting options that include;
Step 05: Design An Eye-Enticing Book Cover
One of the things that leaves indelible imprints on readers’ minds is the book cover. It acts as the book’s primary aid for those checking out online marketplaces, retailers, and just everywhere you’ll masterpiece will be sold.
If you’re thinking about how you can get your book cover designed, there are two options available. Either you can do it by yourself through online platforms like Canva and Adobo, or you can hire a professional book cover designer for you.
Designing your own cover may require some time, but it can also help you save money. The answer to this question depends on your experience with the task.
Whether you create the cover yourself or hire someone, you should approach your cover design with a marketing mindset. Here are some things to consider:
Find inspiration: Look at cover designs from successful books in your genre. Analyze what makes one cover more appealing than another and how the cover’s visuals reflect your book’s content.
Think about thumbnails: Keep in mind that your cover will appear much smaller when customers browse online stores or physical bookstores. Check that important details in your cover design remain visible in this reduced format and avoid making the cover too busy.
Ensure title visibility: Even if your cover is eye-catching, it won’t be effective if readers can’t quickly connect it with your book’s title. Make sure the title is prominent so readers can easily remember it.
Consider the spine and back cover. Even though they won’t be visible in thumbnails, they are important in the physical version of your book, particularly for readers who keep books on shelves. Ensure that the design remains consistent with your cover.
Long story short, your book design should be genre-indicative and right according to your publishing medium.
Step 06: Pen Down A Book Description
Your book’s description is one of the essential factors in convincing people to purchase it.
By penning down an intriguing book description, you can boost your book sales considerably.
If you are still confused about what to write in the book description, what to include, and what to exclude, you can follow these simple tips;
Start with an engaging headline that captures the reader’s attention. It can be a striking statement, a quote from a positive review, or the opening sentence of your book, but make sure it should immediately draw the reader’s attention.
Introduce the book’s plot or main idea without summarizing the entire story. Provide a brief overview of the central conflicts or, in the case of a nonfiction book, outline the core concepts you’ll explore.
You can also check out the descriptions of bestselling books in your genre and try to follow their lead. Analyze the descriptions of five to ten such books, and you’ll likely notice a recurring pattern that can serve as a blueprint for your own description.
Step 07: Launch Your Book
People won’t gonna know about your book until you tell them. And one of the ways to do that is by launching the book on different digital platforms.
How will this help?
Now that the internet has made everything available at the fingertips, making people aware of your book has become easier than ever.
Create an author website with an online checkout. Your book should have a central location where all your social media content and sales channels direct readers. This website will make it easier for people to find more information about you and reach out to you for interviews and other promotional opportunities.
Light Up Your Game with Street Team: Establish a street team comprising friends and collaborators who will promote your book through their own platforms.
Create important pages on your author’s website. These should encompass a homepage, an About Us page, a product page, and a Contact page dedicated to your book. While you can add supplementary blog posts and information about other books after the launch, it’s necessary to have these core pages ready before opening your website to the public.
Utilize analytics tools. Website analytics tools such as Google Analytics can offer independent authors like you valuable insights into visitor behavior, enabling you to enhance your online store.
Step 08: Publish Your Book
Congratulations! You have finally reached your ultimate destination.
You’ll be happy to know that the process of self-publishing a book is relatively easy. Retailers like Amazon will walk you through the uploading process, and as long as you’ve prepared your materials, you should encounter no issues.
Here’s a simple breakdown of the steps to follow:
You’ve diligently written and edited your book. Your sales channels have been thoroughly tested and are operating smoothly. Your website and book presentation are impressive. But how do you go about finding customers?
Social media presents a significant marketing opportunity, even for small businesses and self-published authors. It provides a cost-effective way to reach a large audience, and by implementing a solid social media marketing strategy, you can build an engaged audience that can boost book sales and increase awareness of your work.
For self-publishing, here are some content ideas for social media that can help promote your book:
Conclusion
Whether you choose to self-publish your book or get it done through traditional publishers, publishing a book is a task that doesn’t go without saying.
The good thing is if you find it difficult to do it yourself, you can hire professional book publishing companies to do it for you. They will publish your manuscript on different online platforms and give you complete creative control over all the steps included in the book publishing process.
So what are you waiting for? Publish your book today and establish your name alongside the esteemed self-publishing authors worldwide.
Table of Content