Once you decide that independent publishing is right for you, your next step is to decide how to handle the production of your book. There are several models to consider. No matter which one you choose, keep in mind that you, the independent author, are responsible to walk your book through the entire process. Choosing the right model for your book really boils down to deciding which parts of the process you want to do by yourself and which parts you want help with. Below are my thoughts on the four primary models. You’ll note that I don’t focus much on marketing and sales as part of this discussion. I strongly advise all independent authors to focus on their marketing and sales strategies early on in the process, but for the sake of brevity, I’m not including those parts of the process in this post. What you read below is all about the production of the actual book.
Model number one: Do it all by yourself (and lose your sanity in the process).
This model is when you do all the editing, designing, printing, distribution, marketing, selling, webmastering—you get the point. Don’t use this model if you want to have a commercially successful book. Considering the high level of skill it takes to perform each task (there’s a reason there are entire master’s programs in book publishing) and the amount of time it takes to perform each task, it should go without saying that this approach to independent publishing is the fastest way to bring on a mental breakdown. What’s worse, when you do it all by yourself, your chances of producing an awful final product go up exponentially. Any author who hangs around me will hear me say that publishing is a team effort. There’s safety in numbers. Having others to help catch your typos or dissuade you from using an unappealing cover will help you avoid releasing a bad book into the world and will keep you mentally stable.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t perform any tasks on behalf of your manuscript. You certainly can if you have the skills or are patient enough to learn them. It’s just best to limit yourself to a few tasks and get help with the rest. If you are really into the idea of doing as much of the work as you possibly can, I recommend you read Smart Self-Publishing: Becoming an Indie Author, by Zoe Winters. Zoe is a successful independent author who has learned a few things over the course of publishing her own books. Among the most important lessons she’s learned are assessing what she can do by herself and where she needs help. Learn from her.
Model number two: Run your manuscript through an assembly line.
One popular option among independent publishers is to use a self-publishing service like CreateSpace to publish a book. These services might appeal to you because their initial price points seem low, they offer a quick turnaround, and they often promise to make your book available to online retailers and physical bookstores. Truth be told, you can produce a quality product using these services, but usually not at the introductory price you see on their websites. These companies typically sell their services in packages. Although such a package might appeal to you, be aware that you get what you pay for. The cheaper the package, the less flexibility you have. For a few hundred bucks, all you typically get is your choice of a few interior and cover templates that will scream to readers that your book is self-published. If you want to customize the way your book looks (either on the inside or on the cover), you’ll have to pay for a more expensive package. Before long, your good deal might not seem as good as when you started.
When signing on with these companies, read the fine print. If you’re not aware of the terms of your contract, you might do something crazy like turn over your entire copyright to a company that has no real interest in your work. Yikes! Educate yourself about the terms you are agreeing to and learn how to assess what each company offers. I could write several blog posts about this topic. However, for the sake of time and not reinventing the wheel, I’m going to recommend that anyone who is seriously considering a self-publishing service read The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, by Mark Levine. In his book, Levine assesses all the major companies based on nine criteria. Think of it as Consumer Reports for independent publishers.
It’s important to note that although these companies call themselves publishing companies, most of them do not make money the way traditional publishers do. Traditional publishers make money off of book sales. Self-publishing services most often make money first off the sale of their packages, second off of printing, and lastly off of book sales. For this reason, many of these self-publishing services don’t have to care about the literary quality of your final product. Traditional publishers must care about the quality of the books they publish because they won’t make any money if their books don’t sell. Most self-publishing services are just as willing to run a poorly conceived murder mystery through their assembly lines as they are a work of high literary merit if the author is willing to pay for the process. You, the author, must provide the quality control. Just because you used a publishing service to produce a book doesn’t mean the book is good. If you want your book to sell, you’ll need to do all you can to ensure the quality of the writing. At very least, this means coughing up some money to have the manuscript professionally edited.
Model number three: Run your manuscript through a quality-controlled assembly line.
In response to the lack of quality control that exists through the package-based services, a crop of businesses have sprung up that offer self-publishing services to authors whose manuscripts must first be accepted in the same way they would by a traditional publisher. Once the manuscript is accepted, the author still pays for the production of the book, but they can at least be assured the book has been deemed “good enough to sell” by someone in the industry. These companies often keep a catalog of the books they publish and work to promote the books they accept (they do make some money off sales, too). The nice thing about these companies is that many of them specialize by genre. I won’t go into much detail about these companies here because they are still few and far between. I’ll just say that if you really want to go with an assembly line approach but are concern about issues of quality control, this is an option worth considering.
Model number four: Hire the professionals to do it.
I won’t even attempt to make it sound like I’m not biased here. I am. If your goal is to make it as a successful independent author, your final product needs to be as good or better than what readers will expect from traditional publishers. One way to ensure this is to hire the people the publishers hire. It’s no secret that most editing and design is no longer done in-house. Traditional publishers hire freelancers to do much of the work, and most of those freelancers are happy to work directly with authors. What’s nice about these freelancers is that they care about the quality of the final product because their names are attached to it. Yes, there are some who just want to get paid and will work on anything that comes their way, but most won’t work on a project unless they would be happy to include it in their professional portfolios. Because these professionals do care about the final product, they will offer you what most self-publishing services won’t: criticism. A freelance editor will tell you that your final chapter needs help. A freelance designer will tell you why your cover idea will repel readers. They care enough about the final product to tell you when you are doing something to compromise the quality. However, they also know how to respect your vision and treat you like the authority over your own work. They will find ways to fulfill your vision while maintaining the quality of the work. And, if you decide to ignore their criticism altogether, they will still do the work you ask them to do. Hiring freelancers is typically a winning move for independent authors.
Most authors I work with want to go this route. The biggest roadblock for them is the cost. Professionals charge professional rates. The total cost of hiring freelancers to do all the work can be a sticker shock to those who were looking at the bottom-of-the-line package deals offered by self-publishing services. However, once you start customizing their package deals, your rates start getting closer to the rates you’ll pay for professional freelance work. Why pay a faceless corporation comparable rates for work you could have done by a local professional?
The key to working with freelancers is to prioritize your needs. Make a list of what parts of the process you feel you need the most professional help with. Budget and hire accordingly. Below are the top three priorities I suggest.
Priority number one: editing.
Good content is what sustains book sales. A good cover gets you some attention in the store, but good content gets you word of mouth. If your budget doesn’t allow for a whole lot of freelance work, invest in editing first. You might have to wait until you can save up enough money to proceed with the rest of the project, but you’ll be glad you didn’t skimp here.
Priority number two: interior design.
Covers are marketing tools. Period. Interiors are part of the product. Without keeping this in mind, you might be tempted to spend most of your design budget on the cover and have little left over to spend on the interior. This is not what you want. Readers spend hours looking inside the book and seconds looking at the cover. A layout that isn’t easy to read will make it difficult for readers to enjoy more than a few pages of your book at a time before their eyes are strained. If it’s a particularly bad interior, they could give up reading altogether after a few pages. Interior design does matter for the longevity of your book, and that goes for both print and e-books. When it comes time to budget for your design, keep in mind your need for both a quality cover and a quality interior.
Priority number three: cover design.
Books really are judged by their covers. Since your cover is one of the biggest marketing tools you have, it’s important that your cover present your book in the right light. You don’t have to spend a fortune on the cover, though. If you can’t afford to hire a graphic artist to create a masterful work of art for your cover, you can still hire an experienced document designer to create a simple and tasteful cover that doesn’t look like it was made from a template. A simple yet professional-looking cover on a book with awesome content inside will sustain sales. Once the book’s sales gain momentum, you can use some of the profits to commission the best graphic artist in town to redesign your cover.
Ah, too many options! Help!
There are a lot of options available. And there are plenty of ways to invest in the wrong one. If you find yourself confused about which way to go, ask for help. Your local writers organizations are likely filled with independent authors who have learned a thing or two and would gladly share what they learned if you offer them lunch. There are also some helpful books on the topic of self-publishing (like the two I mentioned above). And in case you haven’t noticed (Shameless plug alert!), you are reading a blog by a guy whose job title is Publication Consultant. Paying for an hour’s worth of consultation about your project (and, no, I’m not the only person who offers such consultations) is worth your while. Whatever you do, don’t settle on a model until you are absolutely sure you know what you are committing to. It’s far better for you to delay gratification for the sake of educating yourself than it is to jump head-first into a process that will suck up your time and money and give you nothing in exchange.
Later this month and into the rest of fall, my blog posts will be devoted to examining the main parts of the publication process (editing, design, production, and marketing and sales). Each post will include advice on working with freelance professionals who offer these services. If you don’t want to miss what I have to say, sign up here to receive my blog post via e-mail.
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Vinnie Kinsella is a publishing professional living in the Pacific Northwest. He offers an array of publishing-related services, including publication consultation and project management for self-published authors, editing, and document design. More information about Vinnie’s services can be found at vinniekinsella.com.
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