THE SELF PUBLISHING UNIVERSITY
Introduction
This course has been designed to qualify you as a self publisher in the shortest time possible. Only those material relevant to self publishing is covered here, so there is no fluff included.
Self publishing may indeed appear to be a daunting process if you don't know what it's all about. This short but precise course is intended to prove to those who are new to self publishing that it is easy if you know how. At the end of the course, you will gain enough knowledge to self publish with ease and without fear.
What does it mean to be a Publisher?
A "publisher" is a person or company that takes on all the responsibility of printing, marketing and promoting a book and all the associated risks of being stuck with unsold books. The publisher holds the rights to the book and you, the author, only receive royalties (anything from 8-15%) from the sales of your book.
The advantage of this arrangement is that it frees you from the burden of paying for getting the book ready for printing (formatting your book, designing your cover, illustrations), printing costs, book distribution, promotion and unsold books.
The disadvantages for you are: you can't do what you want with your book because you don't hold the rights; your book sale is limited to the distribution network of your publisher; you only receive your royalties a few months after your first sale.
What about Self Publishing?
YOU are the publisher here. You hold all rights to your book - you decide everything about your book - how it looks, where and how many books to print, the price, and where to sell it. You also get to keep most of the proceeds from the sale of your book. After paying commissions to your retailer, you will usually still end up with more money.
The disadvantage is obvious, you have to do all these things yourself and finance yourself. BUT self-publishing is no longer a daunting task as it used to be. With the advances made in printing and computer technology, self-publishing is now EASY and comparatively CHEAP. It is possible for anyone without knowledge of self publishing to publish her own book.
The process of self publishing from a finished manuscript to a printed book may be broken down into a few easy steps:
1) Proofread your manuscript - that is, ensure that it is free from spelling, grammatical errors (sometimes factual errors e.g. measurements as in cookbooks).
2) Layout your manuscript in a book format - This means you arrange it to look exactly the way you want it to when printed as a book.
3) Get your book cover designed - preferably by a professional if you don't have the skill.
Apply for the ISBN, CIP, and barcode for your book.
When all these have been done, you may then covert your files - both manuscript and book cover, into PDF format and it's ready for printing into a book.
Email your files to us for printing. We shall firstly print a proof of what your actual book will look like. It is printed directly from your electronic files, then cut and bound into a book for you to see what it will look like when printed.
This also gives you another chance to make minor adjustments before we print the final book.
When you are satisfied with the final adjustments, you send us your confirmation to go ahead with the printing. In a few weeks, you will receive your printed books.
Find out more about this process at the Book Pal Self Publishing Home Page
Let's go on to our first course in self-publishing.
Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3 | Before You Print
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