The Practical Guide to Self-publishing

By Paul Chiswick

The Practical Guide to Self-publishing deliberately sets out with the intention of covering the subject somewhat differently. It makes the assumption that the desire to self-publish is not necessarily to make money, or even to publish a physical book at all. It may simply be to produce a keepsake for a family member or an eBook for digital distribution.Practical examples are covered step-by-step.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Chiswick
• Release date: Aug 26, 2010
• ISBN: 9780956655202

Paul Chiswick

I think it would be fair to say that, on reflection, I've been lucky in my life. A beautiful and vivacious wife, a lovely daughter who hasn't brought me as much grief as she might have done, exceptionally good health and sufficient money not to worry overly about it. Long may it continue!I'm a product of the fifties 'baby-boom' and whether I like it or not, the values I had drilled into me as a child remain. I have vivid memories of when I was a boy playing street games with my friends in the traffic free back streets of a gritty, industrial town in Lancashire where my maternal grandparents lived; swimming in the municipal pool on a Saturday morning or attending the ABC cinema as an 'ABC Minor'; watching huge ships tramp silently up and down the Manchester Ship Canal and waving furiously to the sailors leaning over the railings.Then my parents upped sticks and moved to the much more bucolic atmosphere of Chepstow, a charming market town straddling two countries. From my bedroom window I watched as the twin support towers of the first Severn bridge rose like two massive rugby posts from the villages of Aust and Beachley. No doubt this sowed the seeds for my love of rugby and engineering.All too soon there was another move on the cards, this time back 'up north' to rural Cheshire and my fourth school in as many years. This time my family intended to stay - but not me. I was off to university in that land much misunderstood and maligned by my ancestors - Yorkshire, which turned out to be just like Lancashire except for the foreign dialect. Four years later and I was back in Cheshire - not through choice but because it was a great job offer. Thank God I did; if I hadn't I wouldn't have met my fantastic wife Julie who I still love deeply after almost thirty-two wonderful years of marriage.However, moving around makes one restless and before long Julie and I moved a little further than the neighbouring county - Papua New Guinea, in fact. Boy was it sticky! But the laid back lifestyle and complete lack of one-upmanship more than made up for the humid climate, and the colourful people we made friends with were marvellous. Now we had an appetite for travel - next stop Hong Kong! Four frantic years in a city that never sleeps was exhilarating but demanding. The energy put out by those all-night mahjong sessions would illuminate Blackpool for a week!Time to settle down and start a family, and as the demand for engineers had imploded at about the same rate as the current housing market we returned to good old Blighty and an uncertain future, but with a compensating baby girl, Charlotte Grace.Coming home (not going overseas, surprisingly) was a culture shock - I guess all returning expats will tell you this. I found myself over qualified and over expectant. Career change calling! What on earth could I do after almost ten years in my engineering comfort zone? I know - I'll try selling! Yes, like you, I, as a professional man, rather looked down on selling - it wasn't a profession; it was a job that mouthy, flashy, shallow people went in for, wasn't it? How wrong I was. During the past twenty four years in sales I have known some of the most charming, intelligent and engaging people one could ever hope to meet - colleagues and customers alike. I've come across ex doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, engineers - some disenchanted with their professions, some hungry for change. It's a challenging, if stressful life knowing that you're the crucial cog without which no one gets paid, and no two days are ever the same.But now that Charlotte's flown the nest and there's a pile of stories in the old cerebral attic waiting to be aired, I intend to bring them out into the open for all to enjoy. In those immortal, unattributed words:"Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all that he can ."

Book preview

THE PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SELF-PUBLISHING

Paul Chiswick

Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by photocopying or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

ISBN 978 0 9566552 0 2

Copyright © 2010 Paul Chiswick

About the author:

Paul Chiswick resides with his wife in a north Warwickshire village, in rural England. He lived and worked in Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong as a Civil Engineer, before undertaking a successful sales career in the IT industry. Now writing full time, he lists his interests as classic cars, vigorous exercise, travel, and reading.

Websites: http://www.paulchiswick.com and http://www.writeideas.uk.com

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/paulchiswick

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the help and invaluable assistance of the following:

Charlotte Chiswick, for proofreading this book.

The Society for Editors and Proofreaders, for information first published on their website:www.sfep.org.uk

Mark Coker, visionary CEO ofSmashwords,www.smashwords.com

Inky Little Fingers, a great printer and invaluable source of printing information,www.inkylittlefingers.co.uk

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS SELF-PUBLISHING?

Definition

Forms of Self-publishing

Ways to Self-publish

Vanity publishing

CHAPTER 2: WHY SELF-PUBLISH?

CHAPTER 3: PROS AND CONS OF SELF-PUBLISHING

CHAPTER 4: SKILLS REQUIRED FOR SELF-PUBLISHING

CHAPTER 5: TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING PROCESS

Publishing companies

CHAPTER 6: SELF-PUBLISHING CONSIDERATIONS

Critical assessment

Copy-editing

Proofreading

ISBN registration

Graphics

Cover Design

Typesetting

Printing

Binding

CHAPTER 7: TOOLS FOR A SELF-PUBLISHING PROJECT

CHAPTER 8: SAMPLE PROJECT - A BOOK OF MEMORIES

Option 1: Microsoft Publisher

Option 2: Microsoft Word

CHAPTER 9: SAMPLE PROJECT - NOVEL

Option 1: manuscript for external submission

Option 2: directly to finished book

CHAPTER 10: PREPARING FOR THE PRINTER

CHAPTER 11: EBOOKS AND READERS

CHAPTER 12: EBOOK FILE FORMATS

GLOSSARY

APPENDIX 1: LIST OF EBOOK FILE FORMATS

Introduction

There is a book in all of us.

How many times have we heard those words? Amazingly, it’s probably true. Everyone has his or her unique story to tell and, given the chance, many of us would wish to capture it on paper for posterity. Everyone’s motivation for producing his or her ‘book’ will be different. Some may want it to be purely for the consumption of their nearest and dearest, such as a record of their own life. How many of us would love to know more about our grandparents and great-grandparents? Others may have had a real-life experience that’s so interesting, unusual, or unbelievable that they want the rest of the world to know about it.

Or maybe the author is convinced he or she is the next JK Rowling! If commercial success is what you seek, then you may be in for a disappointment if you expect a publisher to come rushing to your door, brandishing a contract. Once upon a time (a time long gone, unfortunately) publishers were far more willing to take the risks involved in publishing an unknown author. They trusted their judgement, and knowledge of their readers. Profit, although important, was not their primary reason for being. What they sought was talent; talent that would delight and entertain their reading public. However, consolidation and an emphasis on profitability have changed the publishing world, perhaps forever.

Look around you on the shelves of bookshops and supermarkets. Nowadays, a very large proportion of books published each year are by ‘celebrities’, who may or may not have written, or indeed have had much input into, the book that appears under their name. Either that or they are by well-established and successful authors. Naturally, these books are easier to sell. Publishers are much more willing to spend money on their advertising and promotion, which makes the success of these books a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a result, the highly competitive market for unknown authors has shrunk dramatically over the last few years.

On top of this, in recent times we have suffered the credit crunch, which has only served to increase the natural caution of publishers.

So how do you get into print?

The guaranteed way - publish it yourself! The Practical Guide to Self-publishing will help you to do just that.

There are several excellent books available already on the subject of self-publishing, so why did I feel the world needed another one? It’s a good question and one to which I believe there is a good answer -

Most self-publishing books assume the author’s motivation is to make money and structure the subject matter accordingly, putting a heavy emphasis on marketing and sales.

Many self-publishing books assume the author’s intent is to publish a novel as opposed to any other form of printed document.

Some self-publishing books focus more on the theory of self-publishing only touching briefly upon its practice.

Few self-publishing books mention eBooks, an important and rapidly growing market for the self-published author.

None of the books shows how to go about a self-publishing project in a practical and easily understood way.

In summary, most self-publishing books contain a wealth of information on what self-publishing is, why you should or should not consider it, and how it works in theory.

The Practical Guide to Self-publishing deliberately sets out with the intention of covering the subject somewhat differently. It makes the assumption that the desire to self-publish is not necessarily to make money, or even to publish a physical book at all. It may simply be to produce a keepsake for a family member or an eBook for digital distribution. Its primary aim is to demonstrate the stages of a self-publishing project step-by-step. We will work through two very different projects: a Book of Memories, and a Novel.

In order to understand how a book is produced – be it the traditional way or by self-publishing - I will describe the publishing process from drafting, through copy-editing, proofreading, cover design, typesetting and finally, printing. The tools and skills required for such projects will be discussed, highlighting those areas you may be confident to attempt, and those you may not.

I will not touch upon Marketing and Sales as there are plenty of good books which will tell you all you need to know, and I feel this subject alone merits the dedicated attention of a book.

You may be surprised to find that