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!

Let an Editor be "The Samurai"

In Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg discusses the importance of editing. It's tough to edit yourself. And it's tough to have others edit your work. The truth hurts sometimes, but your book may have taken you 5, 10 or even 30 years to write. Why, like so many authors, do you want to skip the editing process or think you can do it all yourself? You can’t. Your mother, your sister’s aunt’s brother’s wife, who is a high school English teacher isn’t necessarily the professional book editor you need either.

In the words of Susan Driscoll, former CEO of iUniverse, “If you spoon with them or share DNA, do not ask them to edit your book.” Editing is a complex process involving much more than just making sure everything is spelled correctly and the commas are in the right place. If you believe that your mother would be totally frank and “brutally honest” with you about your book, you are not alone (and you are wrong - unless your mother is a book editor), and you could be jeopardizing your work. Editors will tell you if you need snappier chapter titles or should expand a point or develop a character.

Of 100 would-be authors I polled last year, 75% of them said that a relative would be a fantastic editor and that they would be honest about their book. In retrospect, 90% of them changed their tune after publishing about having their now ex-family member edit their cherished book.

...And that cousin who is an artist and volunteered to do your illustrations … don’t do that either! (What if you don’t like the pictures?)

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services