Having your story professionally proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In a publishing world where your story faces heavy competition, pieces need a second eye to make sure they are more marketable and to give them the edge. Even if your story is never published, having that second eye can provide insights thatContinue reading “How to Find a Good Editor or Proofreader”
Category Archives: Self-publishing
Make Tables Readable in Your Self-Published Book
When self-publishing a nonfiction book, you probably will want to include tables of some sort. If writing a book about rock climbing, for example, you might include a list of the National Climbing Classification System. The problem with tables created in Microsoft Word is that they don’t resize well. In Word parlance, a table is aContinue reading “Make Tables Readable in Your Self-Published Book”
How to Create an Index for Your Nonfiction Book
Sometimes after finishing a nonfiction book, readers want to review a specific concept or idea that appears on only a few pages of the volume. The table of contents probably is too general to give them the exact page numbers that they want to read. Instead, they turn to the index. Indexes offer alphabetized listings ofContinue reading “How to Create an Index for Your Nonfiction Book”
Frontlist, Backlist Mean Little in Self-Publishing
After you’ve self-published several books, you’ll likely encounter a couple of terms that categorize your writing: frontlist and backlist. In corporate publishing, frontlist refers to your new titles that have just been released. The backlist are older books that are steady sellers. Often, corporate publishers would look at an author’s backlist and no longer print those that didn’t sellContinue reading “Frontlist, Backlist Mean Little in Self-Publishing”
What You Need to Self-Publish Your Book
Once you’ve decided to self-publish, you’ll need to make sure that you have all the materials necessary to get through the process. Unless you’re living off the grid, you probably have everything. Here’s what you need:• Computer with an Internet connection• Writing software (such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs)• Finished manuscript• Time It’s that simple. If you’ve got aContinue reading “What You Need to Self-Publish Your Book”
Should I Copyright My Manuscript?
You’ve just put the finishing touches on your book and are about to send it off to an editor, a literary agent, or maybe even a publishing house. Seemingly countless hours of thought and sweat went into your novel or nonfiction book, and it’s pretty good stuff, if you do say so yourself. But thenContinue reading “Should I Copyright My Manuscript?”
How to Avoid Copyright Infringement
Though you’ve finished writing your book, it still might not be ready for self-publication, if only for legal reasons. Legal reasons? “Don’t we live in nation with freedom of the press?” you ask. We do. Still, there are the legalities and liability of copyright infringement to consider. You don’t want to be sued for inadvertentlyContinue reading “How to Avoid Copyright Infringement”
Mainstream vs. Self-Publishing
“After being Turned Down by numerous Publishers, he had decided to write for Posterity.” – George Ade (U.S. dramatist & humorist, 1866 – 1944), “Fables in Slang,” 1899 For the past three decades, publishing houses increasingly have printed fewer books and cutting back on the number of titles they print. In addition, there already are aContinue reading “Mainstream vs. Self-Publishing”
What is Self-Publishing and Should I Try It?
Among my favorite ever Christmas presents ever came from a classmate during our fifth-grade Secret Santa exchange. She knew I liked to write stories and so give me a wonderful mini-printing press kit in which I could punch out tiny rubber letters and arrange them in words and sentences on thin bars. Press the bar intoContinue reading “What is Self-Publishing and Should I Try It?”