Tag Archives: How to Avoid Self-Publishing Mistakes

Your startup can save money by self-publishing. Mistakes will make you look less professional. So learn how to avoid self-publishing mistakes.

How to avoid self-publishing mistakes

• Learn how
  You need to learn self-publishing carefully. Develop a plan. It will include up-front expenses. You need to determine if your target market sector will accept self-published products.
• Table of contents and organization
  Have two or three subject matter experts help with structuring the table of contents. After the first draft is complete have them review the document and suggest changes to the structure and order provided in the table of contents
• Write well
  If you do not you can use a ghost writer or just an employee who writes well. There are numerous tools to check spelling and grammar
• Fact check
  Facts provided should be both accurate and internally consistent. I.E. do not have the required quantity of something change from page to page
• ISBN
  Go to Bowker Identifier Services and obtain an ISBN and register for Copyright
• Captions
  Photographs and charts should have appropriate and accurate captions
• Executive summary
  Write this last.
• Title
  After the executive summary is near completion; work with a good marketing person to finalize the title
• Use a good editor
  You can contract this out to save valuable staff time.
• Cover
  Use a good artist to design an appropriate cover.
• Graphic designer
  The formatting and layout will look much better if reviewed and edited by a graphic designer
• Do not forget
  Do include a title page, copyright page, dedication page and any other special pages that are required; Is a glossary appropriate? Bibliography? Index?
• Production
  Consider perfect binding or another inexpensive binding format. Be sure that the production company has good equipment if you choose perfect binding.
• Sales and marketing
  You need to plan ahead for advertising and other promotion as well as marketing and sales. Involve someone with experience
• Distribution
  Use both online and non-Internet distribution

Conclusion

With care and a little advice you can manage the risks of publishing in typical formats. You need to research concerns in some niches prejudice against self-published products. The benefits of self-publishing are higher percentage of revenue received and having more control.

References

• 10 Rewards and Risks of Self-Publishing
• Why Self-Publishing Doesn’t Work – And How It Can
• Self-Publishing – Potential Benefits and Risks
• Should You Self-Publish? 15 Questions

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