Friday, July 24, 2009

Self-Publishing—Ten Great Tips to Make Your Book Shine

We self-publishers fight a lonely battle, finding readers for our wit and wisdom. We write alone, and now we sell alone and search for ways to market our work. How do we entice readers to open their wallets?

Those questions are often premature. Before asking how you’re going to cope with all those book orders, you need to make sure you have a quality product. So here are ten tips to make your book, fiction or non-fiction, the best it can be.

#1 Use a spell-checker, but only as a first line of defense. Then you look for misspellings the spell-checker won’t catch, such as then/than, to/too/two, tail/tale, or its/it’s.

#2 Read your manuscript critically, as though you weren’t the author. Some things to check include complete chapters, well-organized paragraphs, complete sentences, and accurate punctuation.

#3 Be consistent. If you capitalize a word once in the text, chances are you always want to capitalize it. Decide whether you want one space or two at the end of a sentence, and stick with it. Never change your font or type size without good reason. If your work consists of more than one file, be sure that every file is formatted identically.

#4 Get honest, competent critiques. Leave your mother and spouse alone; your family has better things to do than fawn over your work. Avoid critiques from anyone who has an emotional stake in making you happy, because that isn’t what you need. The Internet Writing Workshop (http://internetwritingworkshop.org) is an excellent source of constructive, informed criticism.

#5 Use your judgment. Even good critiquers may give you conflicting advice. Remember that it’s your project, so the final decision is always yours.

#6 Refer to a style manual such as the Chicago Manual of Style, which is the most widely accepted guide for standard writing.

#7 Make a style sheet. A novel or other large manuscript can involve lots of small stylistic decisions by the author. Keep a pad of paper with a running list things you don’t want to have to keep looking up. For example, a cartoon I liked showed a bank robber writing a note and asking the teller, “Is holdup one word or two?” Think of words you often misspell or don’t know how to capitalize, and write them correctly on the list.

#8 Follow your publisher’s guidelines religiously even if they don’t insist.

#9 Repeat tip #2.

#10 Review the publisher’s proof carefully. When you receive the publisher’s proof isn’t the time to look for typos; you should have done that already. At this stage, the publisher may even charge you if you fix many of your own mistakes at this stage. Instead, look for their errors. Are illustrations in their proper places? Are pages and chapters numbered properly? Look at every page’s overall appearance. Is each one properly aligned? Is any text missing?

If you follow these simple (but not always easy) tips, I can’t guarantee best-sellerdom for your book, but I can promise you this: Your book will be far superior to the vast majority of self-published books. You will have a quality product.

10 comments:

Michael N. Marcus said...

(1) A book should NEVER have two spaces between sentences. That's a holdover from ancient typewriters and an obvious indicator of a non-professional writer.

(2) A self-publisher should not be receiving proofs from a publisher. She or he should be getting proofs from a printer. If the proof comes from a publisher, the writer is NOT a self-publisher, but is a customer of a vanity press. No one can "self-publish" for you.

Michael N. Marcus
author of "Become a Real Self-Publisher," due next month.

http://BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com
http://www.SilverSandsBooks.com

Bob Sanchez said...

Yes, I do use "self-publishing" in the sense of causing one's work to be published. I have no quarrel with your narrower use of the term, but have written elsewhere on this question and defined what I mean.

As to not using two spaces after a period, you're right, except that for most self-published (okay, vanity published...whatever) manuscripts I've seen, the extra space is the least of the problems.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

And ALWAYS hire an editor!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 95% of those who are not traditionally published skip this step and it shows.

And yeah, in the publishing world, Michael's #2 comment above is correct.

L. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net

Carter said...

Having reviewed several self-pubs (for pay), I can tell you that Bob's advice would make a huge difference to most writers who go that route. I'm continually astonished at how bad the stuff is, when joining a writing group like the IWW would have made a huge difference in very short time.

I know nothing about the process, so the earlier comments may be right, but I wish everybody who self-publishes would read these tips.

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

Bob, I think these are good tips for any writer - not just self-published ones.

Import2sage said...

Those are really very wonderful . . .
. .

Anonymous said...

洗鞋加盟 酒店式公寓 旅行社 slot machine manufacturer 杭州旅遊 北京自由行 上海自由行 旅遊網 律師 台北民宿 手提紙袋 紙袋工廠 包裝紙袋 手提袋 包裝盒 股票教學 股市分析 股市億萬贏家 股票軟體 股票行情 ferrari breading machine vegetable machine 太陽能熱水器 中華湯包 菱型網 不鏽鋼 壯陽 成人用品 春藥 壯陽藥品 持久 手工水餃 中華湯包 mini usb 催情 增大 模具廠 104法拍網 信義房屋 房屋買賣 塑膠射出成型 iso認證 iso 團體旅遊 簽證 保養 美國月子中心 slot game machine slot machine cabinet 便宜機票 展場設計 二手車 中古車 Bmw 中古車買賣 汽車借款

Anonymous said...

月子中心 seo 關鍵字廣告 關鍵字 關鍵字行銷 今日金價 網路行銷 通姦 徵信社 外遇 桃園房屋仲介 桃園房屋買賣 桃園房屋 醫學美容診所 淨膚雷射 雷射溶脂 飛梭雷射 微晶瓷 植髮 團體服 團體服訂做 抽化糞池 抽水肥 水管不通 洗水塔 自由行 訂房 雄獅旅遊 汽車美容 汽車美容 三久太陽能 黃金價格查詢 貸款 信用貸款 微晶瓷 3D飛梭雷射 淨膚雷射 汽車借款 汽車貸款 徵信 徵信社 膠框 創業 加盟 早餐店加盟 meat processing equipment food processing mixers 化糞池 通馬桶 導光板 衝孔網 藥盒 金價查詢 月子餐 月子中心 坐月子餐

Anonymous said...

彌月禮 玻尿酸 星座運勢 算命 皮膚科 皮膚科診所 肉毒桿菌 肉毒桿菌瘦臉 脈衝光 除斑 Flex PCB PCB Electronic PCB 房屋仲介 法拍屋 法拍 法拍屋查詢系統 室內裝潢設計 照明 彩盒 水晶燈 日租套房 台北日租 apartment 太平山民宿 宜蘭民宿推薦 借錢 素食 素食食譜 省電熱水器 電波拉皮 hand dryer 電波拉皮 房屋貸款 剖腹生產 姓名配對 星座 素食料理 素食水餃 開運印章 風水 外遇 徵信 壁癌 屋頂防水 屋頂隔熱 抓漏 油漆 徵信社 外遇 徵信 徵信社 外遇 徵信 徵信社 外遇

eda said...

live119|live119論壇|
角色扮演|跳蛋|情趣跳蛋|煙火批發|煙火|情趣用品|SM|
按摩棒|電動按摩棒|飛機杯|自慰套|自慰套|情趣內衣|
潤滑液|內衣|性感內衣|自慰器|
充氣娃娃|AV|情趣|衣蝶|

G點|性感丁字褲|吊帶襪|丁字褲|無線跳蛋|性感睡衣|