5 Easy Ways to Save Money in Book Publishing

The last 90 days have been jam-packed with authors who have come in with books that have been put together by their graphic-designer son, or a student, or themselves. There is an easier way to get the job done.

Do yourself a favor and take these 5 steps to save yourself time and money:

• Write your book in MicroSoft Word. If you write it in anything else, convert it to Word. One space after a period. Set up paragraph indents (do not tab over) and do not put two spaces between paragraphs unless you are putting in some sort of time delay in your story. Do not format with a bunch of fonts in Word. Do not use grammar checker as your editor.
• Use your own words. Words you actually might use. Don't pick a $10 word from the Thesaurus when a 10 cent word would be more understandable by more readers.
• Have beta readers read your book for critiques. Do they like your characters? Do they understand your story? Does it seem feasible or believable? When you are done telling your story and making changes suggested by your beta readers, have a professional book editor edit your book. Hire professionals and pay them.
• Have your book professionally designed. Do not ask anyone to lay out your book in InDesign if they have not used InDesign to layout a book before. Do not use Word to layout a book with lots of layout considerations, graphics, or other space-consuming formatting items UNLESS you are using a professional template. (See Joel Friedlander's Book Design Templates for Word if you are going to attempt this. http://www.bookdesigntemplates.com/).
• Proof your book in "pages" before you print -- that means when it is all laid out and pretty. Look at everything and spend the time to focus on it for the potential reader experience. 

Now. Write your book!