What Every Author Needs to Know about Self-Publishing
There are many differences between self-publishing and traditional publishing. Today, most writers understand and appreciate the control self-published authors keep for themselves.
A key difference between self-publishing and traditional is the profit (or royalty) earned on each copy sold. Another key difference is the level of access to retail markets, and the burden on the indie author for marketing, design, and editorial costs is heavy. These professional services will need to be hired, replaced with a low-priced alternative, ignored, or gifted to you in some form.
But the greatest difference is rarely mentioned. The traditional publishing process will help you, a self-published or hybrid-published author, to see how your book ranks in context of the greater marketplace of institutions and readers and how your book might stack up and compete with what is found in chains or independent bookstores.
Understanding the traditional process—the whole process—is important to a Christian or indie author. It will help you better plan your content, sharpen your focus on a defined reader group, and perfectly articulate the problems your book addresses and what solutions you are offering.
It’s no mystery that every book requires editing, proofreading, cover design, and interior design, but there is so much more, and that’s my focus in this blog post.
How the professionals handle your book
Traditionally published books are subjected to intense scrutiny of their content, author credentials, title, subtitle, category—everything. Before anything is edited, proofread, or designed, before the advance is paid and the contract is signed, the traditional publisher will summon the most experienced and knowledgeable people in their company to ruthlessly evaluate your writing quality by comparing and contrasting it to competitive books. They will weigh you against comparable authors, the sales volume and composition of titles in your genre, and decide on your book’s perceived commercial value. This scrutiny will come from seasoned publishing professionals with many years of success and failure and mind-boggling book sales data.
These professionals aren’t just editors. This group includes marketing and public relations specialists who have successfully pitched New York Times bestsellers.
Then there are the sales executives who continually communicate with every imaginable entity that traffics in books and content. They are pros at getting buyers to say yes. They’ve heard and seen it all. All this is done before the book is contracted!—before the book goes through any editing or design. The publisher already knows the path forward before they take the first step. They take risks, but it’s not gambling, and they will be right more often than they are wrong.
Self-published books are seldom examined or evaluated at this level. Frankly, some self-published authors resist any critique of their work. But if you receive criticism, you will be better prepared to reap the benefits of your work. In sales and marketing, you want opened doors to productive relationships, better reviews, and a more productive author platform.
In any event, a traditionally published book is a finely crafted product. So what can the indie Christian author do before the writing, editing, and designing ever begins? While this is not an exhaustive list, I offer these six suggestions:
Establish an objective for your book
Before you begin writing, establish an objective you want your book to achieve. Keep it to just a few sentences so that when you voice them aloud, it flows well and works in written form.
Make it so you can say, “Yes, it achieved the objective,” or “No, it did not.” Ask yourself, what problem am I solving? What benefit am I providing? What benefits do I expect in return?
Create a road map for your book
Start with _____ and conclude with ______. Will it have a foreword? An introduction? Dedication page? Pages of endorsements? Appendices? “Value adds” such as an index or suggested reading list? Define your book’s parameters, establish the topics you will address and how you will weave in your unique treatment. This process will go far in creating your table of contents (TOC). In my career, I’ve sold many books on the strength of a book’s TOC. This is why traditional publishers give it priority. It is so much more than page numbers. It is an image of your book’s content and benefits. Or, at least, it should be.
Informative appendices can build interest
People dislike distracting content, but oh, they love insights. So save the content that doesn’t quite fit your book’s road map, and this content can be added later as an appendix. These insights can be your “apples of gold in settings of silver.” Your “fitting words.” (See what I did there?)
Title your book’s chapters as carefully as you would your book
As people review your TOC, your chapter titles should capture their attention. If your book has major divisions, identify them and slot the chapters within them. Too few writers do the necessary work on their TOC. Their TOC appears too long, lacks descriptive words, and is robbed of effectiveness. With great chapter titles, it is a powerful sales tool when you (or a salesperson) have little time to pitch your book (and you will seldom have much time).
Describe your targeted reader
This point is critical. Tell others whom you are targeting. Notice I didn’t say “market.” It’s time to get personal. In addition to selling well-established and bestselling authors, I represented countless first-time authors and not-so-well-defined content. In my pitch, I focused on describing the reader to the buyer. What is the reader’s spiritual or physical need? What are their roles in life? What are their challenges? What will they readily appreciate about your book? Why is the author (you) especially suited to write such a book?
Christian readers have these expectations for fiction, too. How does your novel address life’s challenges and inspire faith and action? Is there an important theme? Is it comparable to a hit movie? Publishers carefully identify and explain these elements to their retail and direct customers.
A publisher has a clear vision of the reader before it inks the deal, pays the advance, and assigns an editor. You should, too. Here is a great CIPA course on creating an audience for your book that dovetails perfectly with knowing who your reader is.
Take context into account
Context has nothing to do with you, your qualifications, or your writing ability. Your book exists not in a test tube but in real life and in light of current events. Is your book’s appeal enhanced against the backdrop of certain cultural shifts, religious movements, politics, or holidays?
Context is critical to a publisher’s publishing plan and should matter to you. Context should affect your content, book description, design, title/subtitle, endorsements, etc. Traditional publishers (editors, sales, marketing, and PR teams) are keenly aware of a book’s context and will use it at every turn. The self-published author should as well. This CIPA course will be worth your while to help you reimagine securing and using endorsements to promote and position your book.
You may not be able to give your book the expert treatment of a major publisher, but readers, a developmental edit, or editorial evaluation can highlight areas of your manuscript that really need improvement. Give your book a close critical eye and careful evaluation, and everything will flow better later when the editing, cover design, marketing, pitching, and selling begins.
About the Author
Dan Wright is the owner of Fitting Words LLC, a hybrid publisher serving ministries, businesses, other publishers, and aspiring authors.
He is a 37-year veteran of the Christian publishing industry with a rarely found spectrum of publishing knowledge and experience. This has come from managerial and executive roles in Christian and general retail, sales, distribution, marketing, direct marketing, product development, foreign language licensing, publishing, custom publishing, international distribution, and product design. He can be reached at dan@fittingwords.net.