If you are looking to publish a book what are the best book publishing practices? Are you wondering what tools you need to make your self-published book a bestseller?
No one expects a chef to farm and transport their own ingredients, and then serve customers, waiting tables as they cook – and if one were to try, it would not likely be a path to culinary greatness. When building a road, workers are not expected to gather their own materials and do every job on the site. These tasks are specialized for a reason.
Writing is no different. As an author, you need to concentrate on writing, and you can’t be an expert in everything. Yet, you need various kinds of expertise to properly publish your book.
Best Book Publishing Tools
Without the right tools, self-publishing can be a fruitless venture. With self-publishing services increasingly accessible in the digital age, a self-published book can easily get lost in a sea of poor-quality publications, especially with minimal marketing and distribution efforts.
One editor tells the story of an author who was mystified when his book failed to sell. Original, topical, and set in a dystopian landscape, a popular setting right now, the book had not received proper promotion or editing efforts.
Later, following professional advice, the author promoted the book – only to get negative feedback on the books “readability.” The author had the book edited and re-promoted, and while it didn’t become a bestseller, the author now makes money from the book on a monthly basis.
Best People in Publishing
Authors should find a self-publishing service that allows them to handpick the best of the best book publishing experts when it comes to design, editing, marketing, and distribution. This kind of self-publishing process makes it possible to make your book an award-winner or best-seller, a feat not likely to be accomplished using an approach that leaves all of these aspects up to you, the author.
Not only are authors unlikely to be experts in editing, design, and marketing, but you have limited resources, and you can only do so much. Why not allow yourself to focus on the writing, while other experts make sure you’re putting out a top-quality publication?
Professional Designer
It takes more than great writing and content to make a best-selling book. Design and layout are crucial to getting readers to take a chance on your book, and bad design can even make your book less pleasurable to read.
A well-designed cover attracts attention and puts your best foot forward. Interior layouts should be simple and should allow for a hassle-free reading process. This is not always as straightforward as it sounds – poor interior design can obscure the text and lead readers to give up on your book when they otherwise would stick with it. Though readers may not think about it often, interior design is a huge factor in a reader’s enjoyment of a book.
Professional Layout
Professional layout designers plan for the final product – books should be designed very differently than a magazine or an in-house newsletter. Top level experts can make a word-processing program like MS Word produce some good-looking amateur files, but what might look good on your computer screen doesn’t necessarily translate well to paper or a fully-composed e-book.
One designer describes her dismay when she worked over a friend’s book, putting her best effort into making an attractive design in a Word-processing program. When a colleague walked by and complimented her on the “newsletter that she was designing,” she was heartbroken. A good designer will be able to tailor the design to your chosen format.
A professional formatter will know how to get the most out of key aspects of your book, using a clean interior design and simple, compatible fonts. They will bring to the table a thorough understanding of time-tested approaches to key aspects of book design, such as the spacing between lines of text, the ideal width of the column relative to the size of the type, and other details that make the difference between an amateur appearance and professional one.
Often, a professional designer will also be a formatter, but be sure to ask – a formatter knows the technical needs of a design as well!
Professional Editor
An experienced editor can help offer readers the level of quality they expect from big publishers, weeding out storyline problems or grammatical errors that will stick out in an otherwise enjoyable book. Just one glaring plot hole or error can define the book in the minds of readers, even if the rest of the book reads smoothly.
This is another job that authors cannot simply be expected to cover on their own. Remember, if you try to edit your book yourself, you are taking on a role that is normally occupied by people who have made an entire career out of editing. The results will almost surely be amateur at best and riddled with errors at worst.
Remember the story of the writer whose marketing efforts highlighted his need to have his book edited? He was surprised, when working with an editor, to see how often he used words and phrases like “just” or “be that as it may.” Repeated phrases like that are hard on the reader and interrupt the flow – and are among the hardest things for a writer to recognize in his or her own writing. Simply identifying and removing some of his writer’s habits made the entire book an easier experience for the readers.
Professional Marketing and Distribution
When it comes to marketing and distribution, hiring a professional is one of the keys to making sure your book isn’t lost in the ever-growing avalanche of self-published books in the digital age. If there is one essential way to make sure your book stands out from the sea of self-published work, this is it.
One place we have had great success with backlist titles is BookBub. We have also had success with reviews from media outlets and bloggers all over the world using NetGalley. These are very solid options.
While most self-publishing services leave you to explore and implement these options on your own, Izzard makes its network of best book publishing professionals available to authors so they can take an approach that will get your book to readers, while still offering the control and the benefits of self-publishing.
Award-Winning Authors
Izzard Ink has won cover awards with thebookdesigner.com and IBPA Digital Ben Franklin Silver Awards. As a multiple award-winning publisher, we have a track record of getting authors high quality professional assistance with design, editing, marketing and every area of publishing.
Our process of finding the best book publishing experts will allow you to get the most out of your project, enjoying the royalties and control that come with self-publishing, while still getting access to a level of expertise normally associated with larger publishing houses. The best book publishing expertise is crucial to making sure your self-published book competes with bestsellers from large publishers, instead of getting lost in a sea of self-published material.
