Publish U

By Jeannie Depp

Publish U takes the mystery and pitfalls out of self-publishing for the indie author.

Using the steps and methods outlined in Publish U, self-publishers can produce, design and publish their books in the most professional manner possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aykeen Press
• Release date: Jun 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781735990231

Jeannie Depp

Jeanne (JT) Larson is an artist and author that lives and works near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.She writes as Jannie Depp.

Book preview

PUBLISH U

A definitive guide to self-publishing

By Jeannie Depp

Copywrite page

Author’s note:

CHAPTERS

1: The basics

2: Self-Publishing

3: Imprint

4: ISBN

5: 3 months out

6: Internet

7: Two weeks out

8: Printers and publishers

9: The publishing process

10: Audio books

11: Your launch party

12: Distribution

13: Marketing

14: Global authors

15: In conclusion

16: Worksheets

Reviewers worksheet

Checklist

INDEX

CHAPATER 1: What you need to do before you publish:

There are several things you’ll need to do before you can even think about publishing your book. So let’s jump right into it, shall we?

First, write your book

Hey, don’t laugh. I know that it should be obvious that you have to write a book before you can publish it, but I’ve seen people so eager to see their books in print that they rushed through the writing process. As a result, their work was poor and didn’t sell well at all.

So take your time and tell the story right. If it’s a non-fiction book, take the time to get your facts straight, and to present them in an educational, entertaining way.

If you’re writing a novel, take the time to tell the story right and true. You had a great idea going in. That idea deserves to be told to the best of your capacity. The world deserves a good book. And you, as the author deserve to present yourself as well as possible.

Whatever kind of book you’re writing, take the time to get it right. Then you can think about the next step.

A couple quick tips about writing your book.

First, never use the tab button to indent the first sentence of your paragraph. Use your paragraph settings. You’ll save yourself some formatting headaches later on.

Next, never, and I mean NEVER hit the enter button to advance to the next page of your book. You’ll be resizing your document later, and all those lines you entered to get to the next page will become a formatting nightmare. ALWAYS insert a page break. You can do that by going to the insert option at the top and click on Page Break. Or you can simply hit Control+Enter. That will insert a page break and take you to the next page.

Editing

So, you’ve finished writing your book and you’re ready to take it to the next step. For many, that means getting it published. But hold on. There’s another step you have to take first. Editing. It’s important to make sure that your book doesn’t contain errors that could hinder the story of give people the wrong impression of you as an author.

It’s cliché, but you only get one chance to make a good first impression. If somebody reads one of your books for the first time and it’s fraught with errors, they probably won’t pick up another one. Get your book edited.

The first rule of editing your book is not to do it yourself. This rule is not negotiable.

Too many new or eager authors think that they don’t need to bother with an editor. They think they’ve written the perfect book and it’s ready to print. But it’s not. Trust me.

Think about it. If you’ve missed an error through several drafts of writing, what makes you think you’re going to catch it this time?

Seriously. Don’t edit your own books. Not even if you’re an editor. Get somebody else to do it for you.

There was an error that I missed when I went through the final draft of my screenplay, called History Fair. And the editor even missed it. So my book went to print with the word SHIP misspelled. Yep. That’s right. There’s a sentence that talks about the sinking of the Captain’s shit. It sounds funny, but imagine my horror when one disgruntled customer took a screen cap of it to put in a review on Amazon. And even though the error is fixed now, that review is there forever.

So please, don’t think that you can edit your own book. It just can’t work. Don’t do it.

As for me, I’ve got a new editor. And you should do the same if you find that your editor isn’t doing the job you think they should. Don’t be timid about it, and don’t worry about hurting somebody’s feelings if you have to let them go. This is your book we’re talking about. It’s your work, with your name on it. You want it to be the best it can be. That’s more important that some editor’s bruised ego.

In my case, I think the editor just ran a spell check and left it at that. The word that went to press instead of ship wasn’t misspelled, so it didn’t show up. And that’s not good enough. It’s not good enough for my work, and it’s not good enough for yours.

So where do you find an editor?

Looking for a good editor can be a daunting process. If you start with a Google search, you’ll be faced with page upon page of results from editors that want to help you make your publishing dreams come true. Where do you start? At the top of the list? Going through ad after ad, trying to pick someone that will do a good job for you without charging an arm and a leg? Before you know it, you’ll be in over your head with a desk full of notes that lead you nowhere.

My advice is to skip Google. All you’ll find there are people who want to sell you something, not necessarily people who want to edit your book. There’s a difference.

But don’t look too close to home for it, either. While your sister, brother, or great-aunt Ruth might be willing to do it for you, it’s probably not a good idea unless they’re actually qualified editors. No. What you need is a professional.

Kirkus has professional editing services, the kind that big publishers work with. They’ll do a great job for you, but they’re expensive, starting at around $1,200 bucks for one round of editing. Ouch! Expensive!

That’s another problem. Not just finding a good editor, but also finding one that won’t break your bank. Fear not. There are options.

You can find reasonably priced editors on Fiverr or Upwork. But again, be careful. You don’t know the qualifications of the people who post on there. Literally anybody can create a job listing on platforms like that.

Just take your time to read through the listings that seem promising, see what experience they have, see what their rating is on the platform, read any customer reviews, and check out their prices.

And don’t be shy about contacting the editors themselves to ask for their qualifications. If they’re truly professional, they’ll understand that you just want the best for your book and answer your questions patiently and professionally. If you come across somebody who gets irked or balks at being asked questions, they might not be the editor for you. Move along to the next.

Most of all, be patient. You’ll find the right editor for your book, someone who’s qualified to do the work, communicates well with you, and doesn’t cost too much. And you’ll get the perfect book out of it.

Book interior design

With all the words in order, the next step is to make sure that the interior of your book is designed properly. What that means is that your book isn’t just written well, but also that it looks good on the page.

Here are some aspects of designing your interior properly that you need to think about before sending your book to print.

Font

First, there’s font. The style and size of the font you use is important. It has to be crisp, clear, and legible. In short, it has to be readable, and it has to be comfortable on the eye for lengthy works, like your book.

Your Word program might have a default font that you used while you wrote your book. But that doesn’t mean that’s necessarily the best font for your book.

A classic Serif font like Times New Roman is easy to read and is generally a good choice. I suggest choosing Times New Roman as a safe and easy bet.

When choosing a font style, do yourself a favor. Don’t be cute and use some creative font for effect. The only thing that’ll do is make your book hard to read and tell the world that you’re not professional. It will be uncomfortable for your reader, and might even make them put your book down unfinished. Readers want a professional book, one that’s easy, familiar and comfortable to read. There’s an industry standard for a reason. Because it works.

There’s a site called Myfont.com that lets you compare different fonts side by side. If you can’t decide  on a font, seeing several fonts side by side might make it easier for you to choose. Chances are that you’ll probably go ahead and stick with a font like Times New Roman. After all, it’s an industry standard. Why rock the boat?

It’s also important to consider the size of your font. Unless you’re actively writing a book for the visually impaired, you don’t want huge letters. And you don’t want people squinting into a magnifying glass to try to read your work. You need a size that’s just right. Not too big, and not too small. Size 12 is usually good, especially if you’re using a font like Times New Roman. It just looks good. It’s easy to read, and it’s comfortable. Your readers can concentrate on your book, not your font.

It’s easy to change the font of your manuscript. Simply hit Control+A to select your entire manuscript, then select the font settings you want. This will change the font style and size of your entire document, including headers. So after changing the font of your entire manuscript, you might have to go back and resize those headers.

Once you’ve chosen a font style and size, stick with just one for your entire book. Don’t select different fonts for different parts of your book. It’s jarring to see different fonts, sizes, and styles all withing the body of the same book.

One exception is your headers. Maybe the chapter leaders, or section announcements. You can, by all means get creative with those. You can choose whatever font you like, make the headers bigger than the rest of the book,