Self Publishing Ebooks: 6 Solutions for Self Publishing Online
Anyone self publishing ebooks in this exciting time of new possibilities
will want to be aware of online self publishing options and to know
which self publishing companies and services offer the best options and
support.
Numerous digital publishing
solutions exist, but some are faster, easier to use, and cost less than
others. Learn how to know if your book is ready for publication, where
to hire an ebook cover designer without breaking
the budget, which steps lead to a professional edit, and
more. Also be sure to read about Martin Crosbie, author of My Temporary Life and his one successful ebook.
Publishing an ebook—publishing your own book, particularly if it
is your first—can feel both exciting and ripe with promise. It all seems
so easy. Write a book, upload it free to the
Internet, and sell thousands of copies. What could be simpler? Anyone
with a good idea can become a published author, right?
In this eager state, numerous writers fall prey to unscrupulous self
publishing companies happy to accept money for promising much and
delivering little. The
process will sound complicated as you discuss:
substantive editing, stylistic editing, copyediting/line editing, and proofreading
cover design
interior formatting, back cover, spine, and text design
assignment of International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
registration of ISBN
ePub conversion
publicists, publicity campaign and press releases
marketing plan, media, and advertising
Kirkus, Clarion, and Trifecta reviews
media lists
Ingram catalogue
global distribution
Kindle, iBook, Sony and Nook compatibility
Are you feeling overwhelmed yet? Don't worry, your "free"
e-publisher will take care of all of this for you—for several thousand
dollars. Never before has it been possible to make so much
money from so many hopefuls wishing to self publish.
You can, however,
limit the expense and increase the return on your investment by
understanding the costs and spending wisely.
If you hope to sell your finished book, however, please do accept
that you will need a generous budget. Plenty of people on the Internet
will suggest that you can publish an ebook on a
shoestring. What they are unlikely to promise is that you will also make
money from the book once you have self published. Supportive friends
and family may lay down cash for an unready book, but
the average consumer won't. The self publishing process is
uncomplicated, and need not break the bank, but it requires specialized
skills. The fewer you have, the more you need to budget to
produce a professional quality book.
Ebook Publishing Services
For the most professional book possible, hire the best editor you can
afford. If you use a vanity press, which charges for book creation and
takes a percentage of sales,
hire your editor independent of the ebook publisher.
You'll receive
better value
for the cost, and the end product will be a superior book. For best
results, find a professional editor who is also an accomplished author.
These author/editors understand narrative structure
and will address much more than grammar and clarity. To save time and
money, hire this person long before you're ready to publish, and receive
feedback on early drafts, when you
can more easily resolve problems.
A full professional edit of your manuscript, beginning with
substantive editing, such as what you would receive from a professional
publisher, can run between $5000 and $10,000. You will
work with the editor for several months, sometimes longer, as you make
revisions and refine the ms. Your editor will make suggestions about
overall structure, scene structure and pacing, and will
point to places that need further development. He or she will point to
problems with plotting or characterization, and can teach you much about
narrative.
If you need a ghostwriter more than an editor, the costs will be
higher. Good ghostwritten manuscripts often cost in the tens of
thousands, the price dependant on how much research and rough draft
material the author provides.
If you receive a quote of a few hundred dollars for editing, you
are likely to receive copyediting, nothing more. Copyediting aims to
correct grammar and make your writing clear,
comprehensible, and consistent, but it does not address the quality of
the overall story or message.
Consider the following paragraph, the
first unedited, the second copyedited, and the third a result of
substantive and stylistic editing:
Look for knowing editrs when you write a book. You'll get better
value for the cost, and end produc will be a superiar bock. I recommend
hiring your book editor independant of the ebook
publisher. For the most professional book possible, avoid skimping on
editing or book cover desine. find a professional book editor who is
also an accomplished author, especially if you use a
vanity press. Vanity press charge for book creation and takes a
percentage of any book sales.
Look for knowledgeable editors when you write a book.
You'll get better value for the cost, and the end product will be
superior. I recommend hiring your book editor independent of the
ebook publisher. For the most professional book possible, avoid skimping
on editing or cover design. Find a professional editor who is also an
accomplished author, especially if you use a
vanity press. Vanity presses charge for book creation and take a
percentage of any book sales.
For the most professional book possible, hire the best
editor you can afford. If you use a vanity press, which charges for book
creation and takes a percentage of sales, hire your
editor independent of the ebook publisher. You'll receive better value
for the cost, and the end product will be a superior book. For best
results, find a professional editor who is
also an accomplished author. These author/editors understand narrative
structure
and will address much more than grammar and clarity. To save time and
money, hire this person long before you're ready to publish, and receive
feedback on early drafts, when you
can more easily resolve problems.
Any editor can go through your manuscript and correct spelling and
grammatical errors,
but a good book is more than a series of grammatically correct lines. In
the example above, notice how both the unedited and the copyedited
paragraph sounds disjointed and repeats
the word "book" too often. In addition, the first
sentence of the paragraph, the topic sentence, leads readers to believe
that the paragraph will be about finding a knowledgeable editor, when in
fact the paragraph is about hiring the best
editor the author can afford—a subtle but important difference.
Each of
these issues contributes to the amateur feel of the text. The third
paragraph is stylistically edited to reflect the necessary changes. The
paragraph is
more fully developed, and sentences are combined, rewritten and
reorganized for a more pleasing effect.
Note that if you have completed a manuscript without the aid of a
substantive editor, a manuscript evaluation is a good first step toward
assessing the readiness of the text, and will
alert you to issues that cannot be resolved by copyediting. Approach the
evaluation in steps, just as editing should be approached in steps.
A full manuscript evaluation is likely to cost in the $500-$1000
range and will evaluate all of the most important elements of the story.
But a full evaluation is only necessary if the manuscript
has reached a high level of readiness.
To save money, begin by asking
for an evaluation on the first three chapters. A good editor or mentor
can point to
strengths and weaknesses that will run through the entire manuscript.
Once you know what to look for, you can correct throughout.
Only when your manuscript is well edited, should you think about publishing.
Use Smashwords.com to both publish and distribute your ebook to the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony Reader Store, Kobo and the
Diesel eBook Store.
Books often are judged by their covers, so don't scrimp on cover art. Affordable cover art (under $400) is available from The Book Cover Cafe. Ebooks require front cover art only.
For those on a very tight budget, 52 Novels
can design your ebook for $250 or less. The service includes embedding
your cover art and providing you with both an ePub and Kindle file of
your manuscript.
Publicity will be an ongoing challenge and is necessary to sell books.
Publicity and marketing is too big a topic to cover here, but press
releases are effective in getting your name out
there.
If you find the thought of writing one intimidating, and
again the quality of the product will determine its success, you can pay
to have the distributor write one for you. Nationwide distribution will
cost between $300 and $500 dollars. Two companies
distribute most private sector press releases:
I've used both of these services myself and have been happy with the
exposure.
If you don't have the money for all of this, try raising the cash through crowdfunding sites such as IndieGoGo.
To be taken seriously by strangers, you'll need more than a great
idea—you'll succeed better at this if you have some strong sample scenes
and can show that you've studied the art and craft of fiction and know
what you're doing.
To see an example of a professional author who raised funds successfully, visit Leo McKay's project page for his new novel Roll Up the Rim,
or search crowdfunding sites for current novel projects, but be
prepared: It takes a lot of effort and expense to do everything a
traditional publisher normally does for an author.