The first step to publishing your own book

Recently, Indie Authors Scotland ran a survey to establish what people think about self-publishing. As part of the survey, the respondents were given the opportunity to ask questions of Kim and I. For week two, I’m going to try to answer the tricky question of ‘Where do I Start?”

The obvious and slightly glib answer is to finish what you are writing. In a previous blog, I’ve written about the ways that writers prevaricate and prevent themselves from taking the next step.

That next step is to GET AN EDITOR. I cannot overstate the importance of producing a book that is well edited and proofread. The simple truth is that books from independent authors are judged more harshly than those from big publishers. There is still a bias against people who don’t have a publisher, despite the success that some independent authors have enjoyed. Readers almost want to find an error, just to prove that independent books can’t possibly be as good. I have read many books from large publishing houses that have typos or words that have been misspelled, but I would never think of reviewing it on that basis. If the book is self-published, a typo or grammatical error gives some readers justification to knock one or two stars off the review score. It’s a strange phenomenon that I hope will disappear over time, but it is something you have to be aware of.

My simple message to you is if you have a limited budget to produce your book, the one area you must spend the money on is editing. Next week I’ll look take a closer look at the costs associated with producing your book and explain how it’s maybe not as expensive as you may think.

You can get a 'Top Ten Tips For Self Publishing Success' free ebook and learn more about our ‘How to self publish’ courses on the Indie Authors Scotland website.

Five tips to help you produce a professional manuscript

The main and consistent theme of our ‘How to self publish’ courses is the importance of producing as professional a book as possible. That should begin with a professionally edited and proofread manuscript. Here are five tips to achieving that without having to spend a fortune.

1. Creative edit

Get someone you trust - a member of your family or maybe another writer - to read your manuscript to check that your story makes sense and has no gaps in it. If you are writing a non-fiction book, get someone who is an expert in the same field to do a similar check.

 2. Proofreading

Before sending it to your editor, check the book yourself for things you may have missed. Don’t use the computer you wrote it on, load it on to an e-reader or a tablet. If you don't have either of those devices then print it. It’s amazing how a different view can give you a new perspective.

 3. Get an editor

The one thing you must spend money on is a good editor. An editor is trained to look at text dispassionately and will find errors in spelling and grammar that you have missed. They have specialised skills and a good editor will help you to produce a professional book. Experienced editors may also offer help with the creative edit but make sure you specify what you expect from the editor you choose.

4. Get someone else to proofread it

It’s a good idea to let someone else see the book before you decide to publish it. There may still be one or two tiny little problems that can be identified by someone with a keen eye.

 5. Listen to the manuscript

Accessibility features are designed to help people with an impairment to get the most from their computer. There is a facility that allows those with visual impairments to listen to the content of the screen. I use this facility to do a final check of the book. By listening to it, your eye is no longer reading what you expect to read; another part of your brain is engaged and any errors become more obvious. Alternatively you could read it aloud but there is still the chance that you will read what you expect rather than what is actually written.

These tips may not completely eradicate every error - even books published by established companies can have little mistakes - but it will reduce them to a minimum. A well edited and proofread book can make a huge difference to how much enjoyment readers will get from your book.

You can learn more about our 'How to self publish' course at Indie Authors Scotland.