The Self-Publishing Checklist: Editorial, Production, and Distribution

Whether you’re wholly caller to nan publishing process aliases an aged pro, it tin beryllium adjuvant to person a to-do database to guideline your self-publishing task to completion, to guarantee you don’t miss immoderate important steps, and besides to thief you plan well capable to deed your target pub date.

I’ve created some an interactive worksheet that you tin customize for your book project.

Below I detail the chopped stages of nan editorial, production, and sales/distribution process. My extremity is to help you understand immoderate of nan assumptions I’ve made astir nan publishing process (which follows a accepted model), arsenic good arsenic wherever you tin prevention clip and expense.

The Editorial and Production Process

This process tin beryllium surgery down into astir 3 stages:

1. Editing
2. Design
3. Proofing

1. Editing

My checklist originates astatine nan constituent wherever you person a reasonably last manuscript that does not require higher level editing aliases important revision. While overmuch depends connected what level of editing your manuscript has already undergone, for most authors, I urge seeking a formal copyedit: you nonstop nan manuscript to a professional freelance copyeditor, who will attraction connected style, grammar, and consistency issues—and mightiness perchance do ray fact-checking if needed (very useful for nonfiction).

A emblematic copyedit for an 80,000-word manuscript takes 2 weeks, but bully copyeditors usually request to beryllium booked a period (or more) successful advance. Authors should springiness themselves astatine slightest a week, if not two, to reappraisal and make changes aft nan copyedit is returned.

2. Design

Depending connected your project, you’ll person respective stages of book design.

Front screen design. While nan manuscript is being copyedited, you tin begin on nan screen design. Some authors are capable to put together their ain screen designs utilizing devices specified arsenic Canva, but since your screen is often nan number-one trading instrumentality for your book, hiring a master designer is wise.

Before you prosecute a screen designer, I urge doing immoderate investigation and studying bestselling books akin to your ain successful genre, theme, aliases audience. Find astatine slightest 2 aliases 3 covers that you like, and constitute 50 to a 100 words explaining why these covers look bully to you. This serves arsenic nan commencement of a imaginative little you tin springiness to your freelance designer, to thief them create an due screen for your book.

If you haven’t already, you should besides finalize nan title, subtitle, and book explanation that will beryllium utilized astatine each retailers and connected nan backmost screen (for a people edition). It’s perfect if you person 2 aliases 3 versions of nan book description: a very short 1 (25–50 words), a short 1 (50–100 words), and a longer 1 (250 words).

Obviously, it’s imaginable to nutrient a beforehand screen for your book agelong earlier nan editing is complete; each you request is simply a last title/subtitle, a final decision connected your book’s trim size, and confidence successful what nan screen should look like.

Back screen design. Most ebooks only person a beforehand screen creation and nary backmost screen design. If you’re producing a paperback aliases print-on-demand edition, past you’ll besides request a backmost screen and spine. (Hardcovers will require yet different screen creation to relationship for nan flaps and accrued spine width.)

Traditional publishers typically produce the beforehand screen creation first, and they don’t complete nan backmost screen and spine until overmuch person to nan pub date. It’s not imaginable to creation nan spine until nan nonstop page count is known, and nan page count whitethorn beryllium successful flux until nan book’s interior is designed and laid out. The cover’s measurements are besides affected by nan printer you’re using, arsenic good arsenic nan type of cover and interior paper.

However, if your page count is patient and unchanging, and you cognize which printers aliases POD services you’re using, you tin person nan full screen designed arsenic portion of 1 process.

Important note: Many authors for illustration to see beforehand praise aliases blurbs connected nan cover. If this is your intention, past you’ll request to commencement gathering these blurbs before the screen creation process begins. Otherwise, you’ll request to instruct nan designer to usage dummy matter successful spot of nan existent blurb, and switch it retired later.

Print interior design. If you’re readying a people version and you person nan clip and money to invest, you whitethorn besides want to prosecute a designer for nan interior of your book. This whitethorn aliases whitethorn not beryllium nan aforesaid personification who designs nan cover—it depends connected nan freelancer and their accomplishment set. Here are immoderate considerations erstwhile deciding if interior creation is worthy nan investment:

• Books that are predominantly assemblage matter and thing much (such arsenic novels and memoirs), often do good pinch very basal aliases template designs. Joel Friedlander’s Book Design Templates are an inexpensive measurement to nutrient a good-looking people interior utilizing Microsoft Word aliases InDesign. His templates tin besides beryllium utilized to make your ebook files. Using a template strategy will dramatically trim down connected nan magnitude of clip needed for book production—usually by 1 month.
• Books that person a batch of elements aliases styles (usually nonfiction) whitethorn require a civilization interior design. Especially if you person illustrations, graphics, or any colour elements, you’ll want a designer who knows really to decently group up nan record and guarantee decent reproduction values.
• When producing some a people and ebook edition, ever support successful mind really you’ll guarantee that some editions person nan aforesaid last matter if you’re utilizing InDesign to nutrient nan people edition. InDesign tin export EPUB files, but it’s not needfully a straightforward aliases elemental process. A master interior designer who knows really to export EPUB files from InDesign tin beryllium indispensable, aliases you tin prosecute an independent ebook formatting master to do it for you.

Usually, earlier nan interior creation process begins, nan writer comes up pinch a database of each nan creation elements that occur successful nan book. It looks thing for illustration this:

Chapter title and section opener
A head
B head
Bulleted list
Numbered list
Block quote

If you’re not judge really to travel up pinch a database for illustration this, your designer should beryllium capable to thief aliases expect your needs for you. It’s champion if they show you a sample of nan design—or laic retired a azygous chapter—before continuing pinch nan full book, truthful you tin inquire for revisions aliases adjustments to nan design. Once nan afloat book is laid out, nan designer will nonstop you nan full record to reappraisal for immoderate last changes aliases tweaks. Once you’re assured nary of nan matter will displacement betwixt pages, past you tin nonstop nan record to an indexer (if you want an scale prepared for nan people edition).

Ebook creation (EPUB file preparation). There’s not really an ebook creation process—at slightest not for typical, reflowable ebook files (EPUB files). If your title has tons of typical illustrations aliases visuals—or needs to person a fixed page layout—then you’ll want to prosecute a master to hole your ebook files for you. You’ll apt spell done a process akin to nan people interior creation process—be judge to fund other clip successful your schedule for this.

However, many authors do not prosecute retired this work—and sometimes it seems location are arsenic galore ways to hole an ebook record arsenic location are authors. Some negociate by utilizing only Microsoft Word and nan auto-conversion process applied by Amazon, Draft2Digital, and others. Some usage package specified arsenic Vellum, Calibre aliases Sigil to hole nan files. This assets database offers a scope of devices to consider.

If you’ve ne'er earlier prepared an ebook record for publication, springiness yourself plentifulness of clip to do so—at slightest 1 week. If this isn’t a process you want to grip yourself, immoderate ebook screen designers will handle mentation of your ebook files.

3. Proofing

As you scope nan extremity of nan creation process, you’ll person to determine really thorough your proofing process will be. Some authors impervious their files themselves, and others nonstop them retired for a general proofread. If you deliberation your files are very clean, and very fewer errors person been introduced during nan accumulation process, past you mightiness skip hiring someone. However, if you skipped nan copyedit, and you’re nan only personification who has ever looked astatine nan files speech from nan designer, past it’s a smart thought to salary for a proofer earlier publishing.

Important note: As Dana Delamar points retired successful nan comments section, immoderate authors are amended disconnected pinch an earlier proofing process—one that starts before ebook creation and record prep. A critical question to ask: Will you beryllium editing your last files directly—or will you person nan entree and capacity to do so—or is personification other responsible for nan last touches connected nan files? For example, if a freelancer is preparing and delivering last ebook files you won’t (or can’t) unfastened aliases modify successful immoderate way, it becomes basal that you supply cleanable files to trim costs aliases delays.

The Sales and Distribution Process

This process tin beryllium surgery down into astir 2 stages:

1. Preparing your metadata
2. Uploading your files and going connected sale

1. Preparing Your Metadata

Before you caput disconnected to Ingram aliases Amazon to publish, it’s champion to do each your investigation and legwork successful beforehand arsenic to really you will picture nan book, really it will beryllium categorized, what pricing you will use, and truthful on. That way, erstwhile you scope nan publishing interface, you’ll person each nan information astatine your fingertips and you won’t person to stop, think, spell searching for missing information, aliases consciousness pressured into making a decision.

2. Uploading Your Files

This is possibly nan easiest and quickest portion of nan full publishing process: making your book disposable for sale. In astir cases, it won’t moreover return you an hr to get your book into nan strategy and nether review. With Amazon successful particular, your book is often disposable and connected waste successful twenty-four hours. If you’re not fresh to spell connected sale, past you tin group nan book arsenic a preorder and input whatever pub day you want. (Amazon allows preorders up to ninety days successful advance; Smashwords and others let for 1 year.)

You should person nan pursuing files fresh to upload for your print-on-demand edition:

• Full screen layout file (PDF): if you’re using both Amazon KDP and IngramSpark, you will request a different screen layout record for each, since they each will supply different measurements for you to use
• Full interior layout record (PDF)

You should person nan pursuing files fresh to upload for your ebook edition:

• Front screen image: JPG, PNG, aliases different image format
• Ebook file: EPUB will consequence successful nan best quality, but most retailers/distributors let you to upload a Word document, among different communal record formats

What’s Not Covered successful This Checklist?

My checklist covers each nan steps progressive successful creating your book and making it disposable for sale. However, it does not touch connected immoderate trading concerns, specified arsenic sending retired beforehand reappraisal copies, utilizing societal media anterior to merchandise aliases afterward, collecting endorsements, promoting a preorder, etc.

The interactive type of my checklist allows you to group immoderate pub day you want, which will then automatically make suggested deadlines for each measurement of nan process. If you’d for illustration to produce official-looking advance reappraisal copies (ARCs), past simply alteration nan day to erstwhile you’d for illustration to person ARCs. Alternatively, you tin nonstop retired early, unproofed integer copies of your book to group who you’d for illustration blurbs or publicity information from while you begin the accumulation process.

• Click present to download nan PDF checklist for printing connected letter-size paper.
• Click present to entree nan interactive checklist and download/save it for your ain files.

For More: My Most Popular Posts connected Self-Publishing

• Start Here: How to Self-Publish Your Book
• How to Publish an Ebook: Resources for Authors