You’ve dotted the last “I” and crossed the last
“T” and cracked open the bottle of bubbly to celebrate the completion of your
book. And congratulations are in order for it is quite a feat to organize your
thoughts and to have the discipline to sit down and put them in order, but now
what?
This
is a very brief overview (mostly for the newer writer) of what comes next after
you have written the great American novel, things you might not have considered
and how much they will cost.
PUBLSHING
There
are basically three ways to publish your novel. 1) go through a traditional
publisher, 2) go through a vanity press and 3) self-publish. Each has its own
set of pros and cons to consider. The best piece of advice I can give you is to
do your homework! Take the time to explore each option, what they mean to you
in your situation and then make an informed decision that will ultimately work
best for you!
COVER
They
say don’t judge a book by its cover but in this day and age you have too.
Whether online or at a bookstore, you have about 5-10 seconds to get someone’s
attention before they move on to the next book. Your cover should reflect what
your book is about and needs to be compelling enough for the reader to take the
time to pick it up (or click) and read the back cover. A good quality,
professionally designed cover is approximately $300-800 dollars.
The
back cover blurb or book description is one of the most important things you
will write. You’ve got to capture the feel of the story, the characters and
what’s at stakes in 200-300 words for a story that is thousands of words long.
Also, when writing the book description for Amazon, the description can be
different from your back cover blurb. When writing it, think search engine to
help your searchability, sales and ranking.
EDITING
If
you want to put a quality product out there you have to have it professionally
edited. I have learned this lesson the hard way. In order to save money I had
my manuscript read by three different people, all very talented but there were
still mistakes that got through. It is well worth the money to have it
professionally edited, even if means delaying the release of the book until you
can pay for it. Editing costs approximately $1.50 to $2.25 a word.
FORMATTING
Formatting
is simply translating your book into electronic or print form so your readers
will be able to buy and enjoy it. There is PDF for the print version and two
different electronic formatting, one for Kindle and one for Epub (Smashwords)
which covers the other electronic readers.
If
you are tech-minded and patient, there are step by step instructions from both
Amazon and Smashwords on how to do the formatting, thus costing you nothing. If
you don’t have the time or inclination to do it, there are a number of services
out there that will do it for you. Prices range from approximately $99 to $299
and many times that includes e-publishing it. PDF for print version is a
different and a more expensive proposition at around $300 to $500.
ISBN
Putting
it simply, the ISBN (International
Standard Book Number) is a unique number assigned to identify your book. You
need an ISBN for both print and electronic books, but Amazon and Smashwords
both provide those for free when you publish with them. However, you do need to
purchase an ISBN for your printed version. They can range from $39 to $125
separately but are often included when you purchase a publishing service.
Again,
this article is not the end-all for information when it comes to making your
book come alive, rather it’s a heads up of what’s down the road in your
literary journey to help you make the decisions that are right for you and
avoid the potholes that so many of us have hit along the way.
By Paul Byers. Along
with Catalyst, Paul has also written Arctic Fire
and Act of God with his latest
thriller, Greed coming out in late
spring. http://www.paulbyersonline.com/
