CHAPTER 3
From Manuscript to Distribution: a Self-Publishing
Checklist
As you go through the publishing process, you’ll need to follow several steps—but in order to do so, you have to know they exist. The steps in this checklist apply regardless of which self-publishing route you take. If you end up using a company like mine, we feed these steps to you as they come up and make it impossible to skip a step or complete them out of order. If you’re doing this on your own, with a consultant, or with another publishing company, make sure there is someone capable handling each item on this checklist.
The checklist below is not a step-by-step how-to. Every publishing situation will be different, and you may encounter some steps flipped in order, or combined with other steps, or tasks in addition to those you see here. This is simply a guide to remind you of the big-picture steps that must happen before your book can reach distribution. Many of the checklist items are covered in depth later on in the book. Once your book is published, you’ll need another checklist to execute each of your book marketing ideas; we’ll look more closely at those tasks in chapter 7 and appendix I.
Editing
If you skipped chapter 2, go back and read it now. I don’t want to beat a dead horse here, but I’ll just take one more swat. Hire a professional book editor—one who does this for a living. A poorly edited book is DOA. If you’re planning on not heeding my advice on this one, nothing else on this checklist (or in this book) matters.
Cover and Interior Design
Remember, excellent book design encompasses more than just the front cover. The back cover, the spine, the interior—none of these should be an afterthought. And interior formatting matters. In the interior alone, there are a ton of elements to consider, including but not limited to:
In an attempt to have fewer pages (thus cheaper printing costs), some authors attempt to stretch the margins in order to cram more words onto each page. That may fool the average consumer, but it’ll rarely pass muster with voracious readers or buyers from bookstores and other retailers.
The trim size of a book must be chosen prior to the interior design phase for a very simple reason: just like you can’t build a house without knowing what size to build it, you can’t build a document without knowing its trim size. Common trim sizes for paperback fiction and nonfiction include 5” x 8”, 5.5” x 8.5”, and 6” x 9”. Hardcover books are typically 6” x 9”.
Print-on-demand printers only offer standard trim sizes. In appendix A, you can see a full list of what most POD printers consider a standard trim size (as small as 3” x 4” and as large as 9.25” x 12”). Specialized books, like photography books or full-color cookbooks, may require a customized trim size and are not generally good candidates for print on demand anyway, due to the high cost of printing color interiors in the POD model.
Make sure your designer can guide you as to the design elements that will make your book look and feel like it came out of a New York publishing house. One of the best ways to compete against traditionally published books is to put out a product that looks like it could have come from a traditional publisher.
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
The ISBN is a thirteen-digit number that uniquely identifies a book. An ISBN is needed to sell your book through online or offline booksellers regardless of format (i.e., hardcover, paperback, audio, e-book, etc.). This number, which is also embedded in the book’s bar code, allows libraries and booksellers to identify the author, the author’s book, the book’s price, and ordering information. The ISBN attached to the book lists the publisher as the main contact.
If you’re acting as your own publisher, your only choice, should you want to sell your book anywhere other than from your own website and/or at your own events, is to use your own ISBN. If you have different formats of your book (i.e., paperback, hardcover, MOBI or EPUB e-books), you will need different ISBNs for each. If you’re buying ISBNs on your own, you can either buy one for $125, or you can purchase a block of ten for $250. (Be aware that industry professionals are able to tell by the ISBN that the book is a single self-publication rather than part of a publisher’s block of numbers.)
You can assign ISBNs to any format of any book you write. For example, if you write two books and each has an e-book (a MOBI version for Kindle and EPUB for every other device—both of which need their own ISBN), paperback, and hardcover edition, you’d use eight of the ten ISBNs purchased. You can complete the entire process online.23 A non-priority application takes about ten days to process.
But beware: Do not buy a single ISBN through any third party. Buy only through Bowker at www.myidentifiers.com/isbn/main. If you see an offer for a single ISBN that costs less than $125 and is sold from a third party, don’t buy it. The problem with those “single” ISBNs purchased from third parties is that they come from a “clearing house.” Frequently those ISBNs start with a 615 prefix, and when an author puts one of these third-party-purchased ISBNs on his or her book, the ISBN is not associated with the author (or the author’s publishing company name), but rather is associated with the third-party company that initially sold the ISBN. This can get messy.
Once the ISBN has been assigned to a book, it should be reported to R.R. Bowker’s Books in Print database. The listing is free as long as you submit the information about your title on its website, BooksinPrint.com.
If a self-publishing company publishes your book, you may have the option of providing your own ISBN or using one of theirs. Most of the publishers mentioned in this book purchase ISBNs in blocks (the smallest is a block of ten). The publisher, as purchaser/owner of the ISBN, assigns an ISBN to each edition of the book the author has licensed it to publish.
Most self-publishing companies require that the author use an ISBN assigned by the publisher. A few publishers allow authors to provide their own. The biggest upside to using a publisher’s ISBN is that you don’t need to spend another $250. The biggest downside is that if you decide to end your relationship with that publisher, the publisher will need to take your book out of print (since the ISBN is tied to the publisher, not you) and you will need to put the title back in print with a new ISBN. If you have your own ISBN already, the number is portable and moves with the book. Aside from the extra cost, another downside to using your own ISBN is that you are now holding yourself out as a book publisher. Should a commercial book buyer decide to research your publishing imprint prior to deciding whether to buy your book, they may be dissuaded if they find record of only your one title.
Choosing which ISBN route is best for you requires some projection on your part as to where you see the book and your writing career in the future. If your publishing budget is only $3,000, I wouldn’t increase it by 10 percent just to get your own ISBNs. If your book is part of a bigger plan, however, you may want to invest in a block of ten.
Bar Codes
If you have your own designer, he or she should be familiar with how to purchase and create a bar code. Most self-publishing companies automatically include this service. All books use the Bookland EAN bar code because it allows for the encoding of ISBNs. Almost all book retailers and wholesalers require the Bookland EAN bar code to appear on the bottom right-hand corner of the back cover; this is what the retailer scans at the point of sale to identify the price and information from the bookseller’s database. Like with any other bar code, the computer then automatically reports the price to the cash register. If the price of the book is not embedded into the bar code, neither the retailer selling your book nor you will be happy. If the price isn’t embedded in the bar code or printed on the book cover, the store will have to sticker it. That’s a lot of extra work. And, if your books get returned, they will be virtually unsellable, since the stickers can be hard to remove, and store A isn’t going to buy books with store B’s stickers on them. Make life easy for everyone—embed the price of your book in the bar code. Again, most self-publishing companies provide the bar code as part of their services. If you buy a single bar code directly from Bowker, the cost would be $25.24
Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN)
The LCCN is a unique identification number that the Library of Congress assigns to titles prior to publication. The LCCN is not the same as a copyright registration with the Library of Congress. Librarians use the LCCN to access the associated bibliographic record in the Library of Congress’s database or to obtain information on various book titles in other databases. The publisher prints the LCCN on the copyright page in the following manner: Library of Congress Control Number: 2001012345.
Only US book publishers are eligible to obtain an LCCN. To receive an LCCN, publishers must list a US place of publication on the title page or copyright page and maintain an editorial office in the country capable of answering substantive bibliographic questions.
There is no charge for registering, but the publisher must send a copy of the “best edition” of the book for which the LCCN was pre-assigned immediately upon publication to the Library of Congress. The “best edition” essentially means the one that is made of better material. So, if you had a hardcover and a paperback version of your book, you’d submit the hardcover. Books published only in electronic form are ineligible for an LCCN. Unlike an ISBN, the LCCN is assigned to the work itself, not any specific format, and doesn’t change with each new edition.
Should you wish to apply for an LCCN on your own, the first step is to complete the Application to Participate and obtain an account number and password, which takes one to two weeks.25
Retail Price
Whatever your book is to you, it’s a commodity to the rest of the world, no different from toothpaste, candles, or bathroom rugs. Consumers expect to pay a price within a certain range, based on format, length, and genre. So, if you want to sell books to anyone beyond those who know you, you need to set the price in a range that the market will bear.
The cost to print your book is not the only factor to consider when setting your retail price—you need to also consider factors like the cost of comparable titles and the “look and feel” of your book. This is not to say that you need to undervalue your work, but you need to be realistic. One of the biggest mistakes a self-published author can make when setting the book’s retail price is making that price too high, effectively pricing the book out of the market.
Most new authors, especially those printing on demand, set the retail price based on what they want to make per book after factoring in the print cost and any trade discounts taken by the reseller (e.g., Amazon’s cut of your book sale). The problem with this approach is that a 200-page paperback novel is only worth so much to the marketplace. Your consumers (and the book buyers from retailers, for that matter) don’t care that your cost per book is high because you only printed fifty copies. The book is worth what it’s worth.
When a traditional publisher takes on a new title, it makes all of the major decisions about the book, including setting the retail price. These publishers have sales, marketing, and distribution forces all weighing in on the book’s price. They know what the market will bear and where the consumer’s financial sweet spot is. As a self-published author, the retail price of your book is ultimately your decision. It’s completely understandable to be concerned about your profit margins, but in order to have a shot with consumers, you need to price the book as close as you can to other books in the genre. And when you’re printing fewer (and therefore more costly) copies of your book than your marketplace competitors, the price-matching game can be a challenge.
How can you find out what this price range is? Do your research. Take some time to really think about your book before you reach the pricing step. Consider your target audience, other books in your genre/categories, your overall book design, and your print specs (trim size, paper weight, page count, etc.). Then peruse Amazon.com or your local bookstore and find titles that match yours as closely as possible, taking special note of how they’re priced. This research will be invaluable when thinking about how to position your book in relation to competing titles.
Few self-publishing companies educate you about the realities of setting your retail price. But by giving you the “freedom” to choose your retail price without explaining what I’ve explained above, they are essentially giving you a self-destruct button. Don’t destroy your book’s chances before it’s even released.
Proof Copies
Once you have set your retail price, you’ll receive a proof copy. A proof copy of your cover and interior is essentially a dress rehearsal before printing. Authors usually get an electronic proof in the form of a PDF file. Then, once that is approved, a physical proof is generated. POD printers usually send a physical proof that looks like a bound book. Short-run and offset printers typically send a proof that has the cover and actual book files separated. Either way, the proof is your final chance to review your book before it is sent to the printer.
The formatting process often involves a lot of back and forth between authors and formatters; given that formatting is done by humans, you need to expect the possibility of human error. In traditional publishing, there is always a proofread to catch any errors that may have occurred during the formatting process. But for self-published authors, that last set of eyes is usually the author’s, unless you’ve paid an editor for a proofread—which, by the way, you should seriously consider. Luckily, in most cases, you get two bites at the apple: the electronic proof and then the physical proof.
This final approval is such a critical step in the publishing process, and yet I’ve seen people approve proofs in less time than it takes to eat a French fry. Take your time! Text can move, change, and in some cases disappear in formatting. Take it from a guy who has rushed a proof approval. The result was a glaring spelling error on the first page of the book (which is even more embarrassing when your book contains a section called “It’s the Editing, Stupid”). Yes, I am that author. You know what also sucks? Throwing away 500 copies of the book you just printed. Prematurely approving your proof is a mistake you’ll only make once— but it’s a mistake you can easily avoid.
The E-Book Version
Once you’ve approved the proof, you can get started on the e-book conversion process. Of course, not all authors put out the e-book in tandem with their print book, and it’s up to you when to release the electronic version. Chapter 6 is dedicated to e-book publishing and distribution, so you can read the details there. Just make sure this step is on your checklist.
Copyright Registration
Once you have the final PDF proof of your book, file for copyright registration with the US Copyright Office. Copyright registration is important, especially if you think you have a book that may really sell well, thus becoming a target for those who may want to misappropriate your work. By registering with the US Copyright Office, you are eligible for statutory damages and attorneys’ fees in the event that someone steals or otherwise uses your work without your express permission.
The US Copyright Office requires that you submit two copies of the “best edition” of your book along with the copyright application. But, since you only have to submit the best edition available to you at the time of the filing, you can save yourself two copies of your book and simply file the PDF you send to the printer (so long as you file the copyright prior to having actual books in hand).
The current turnaround time by the US Copyright Office is four and a half months for electronic filings and up to eight months for paper filings.26 But the effective filing date of the registration is the date that your application arrives at the US Copyright Office, not the date by which they process it. For more details on the benefits of copyright registration, go to http://www.bookpublisherscompared.com/why-copyright-your-book/ .
While you can register a copyright for $35 using the US Copyright Office’s online system, many self-publishing companies offer this service. Obviously, they are going to charge more than $35 for their time in handling the process for you. It’s reasonable to pay $100–$125 for this service, though make sure you know whether this amount includes the registration fee of $35 or if you’ll have to pay that separately.
I always wait until my books are ready to submit to the printer before I register my copyrights. If you register too early in the publishing process and a significant amount of content changes, you may need to consider filing it again. Some authors file a copyright registration before they submit the manuscript to anyone (agents, publishers, self-publishing companies), fearing their work will be stolen. Legitimate companies would never publish your work without your permission and have no interest in doing so.
Preparing Your Files for Print
While you certainly can click “Print to PDF” in Word to get a printable interior, that interior file won’t look like it came out of a traditional publisher. Remember, that is always the goal—to make your book indistinguishable from a traditionally published title so that your work is accepted by the industry.
Don’t forget about the cover. How you prepare your cover file for a printer will depend on whether you’re printing a hardcover or a paperback. Printers have templates (or require you to build a template per their cover specs) for hardcovers. For paperbacks, it’s all math. To determine the width of a paperback cover, the equation will factor in the front and back cover trim size, bleeds, and spine width. For the height of that cover, the equation factors in the trim size and bleeds.
This section isn’t meant to be a tutorial on how to prepare a book for print. It’s here to show you how many aspects you must consider when preparing these files. Please, please, please hire a professional formatter who can design and build your book in InDesign (or a similar professional program), as this person can then work with you or your chosen printer to submit the files correctly.
Selecting a Book Printer
Not all book printers are created equal, nor can they all produce the same book using the same files. Selecting a book printer is a part of the publishing process where having some experience on your side is helpful. We do millions of dollars’ worth of printing each year and select our printing partners carefully. Just because someone has a printing machine, some glue, and the lowest price doesn’t mean they’re as good as any other printer. The good ones are craftsmen. I’ve visited all of our non-POD printers. They are passionate about printing and take pride in what comes off the presses.
Many authors think that they can skip the middleman (i.e., the publishing company and/or publishing service provider) by working directly with the printer. Often, you will pay more because you’re a one-off customer without an established relationship with that printer. Plus, setting up the files properly for print and understanding color matching (for covers), overruns (namely, the idea that you are required to accept a print run that is up to 5 percent less or 5 percent more than your initial print order), and so on can be complicated. Like I said earlier, not all printers are the same—and if you choose by price alone, your choice will likely come back to bite you.
Print on Demand and Short-Run Digital Printing
The term “print on demand” (or “POD”) has become synonymous with self-publishing. In fact, many people refer to self-publishing as POD publishing. The reason the two have become linked with each other is that virtually all self-publishing companies have a service that provides POD distribution as well as printing. So, for example, when a book in POD distribution is ordered on BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.com, that order is sent to the POD printer—who is also the distributor of the book—and the book is printed and then sent out. (Amazon will sometimes order multiple copies in order to keep them in stock and ship them out internally, but this is an exception to the POD model rather than the rule.)
POD printing is a technology whereby books are printed on a digital press, making it feasible to print in quantities as low as one. If you choose POD distribution, you will ultimately end up with a POD printer. POD printers are generally very limited in the types of covers, paper colors and weights, trim sizes, and special features they can provide—not because the technology doesn’t exist, but because the process would then not be efficient and cost-effective when producing so few copies. (You can view the available POD printing options offered by Lightning Source, the company that provides POD printing and distribution for most self-publishing companies, at http://www.millcitypress.net/publishing/pod-trim-sizes.)
CreateSpace.com (a division of Amazon.com and a competitor to Lightning Source) offers POD printing and distribution, too, though it offers fewer options than Lightning Source.27 For example, CreateSpace only supports distribution of paperback books through its distribution channels.28 Also, if you want your book to have cream-colored paper and be part of CreateSpace’s Expanded Distribution program, there are only four trim sizes to choose from.29 While Lightning Source and the companies that use it offer more trim sizes, hardcover availability, and other printing options, Lightning Source’s options are limited compared to a short-run printer. You have to accept these types of limitations if you want the main benefits of POD: micro print runs and the option to carry no inventory.
A POD printer is a short-run digital printer, but a short-run digital printer isn’t necessarily a POD printer. The machine types are similar, but the POD printer may have no minimum print run, and the two major POD printers, CreateSpace and Lightning Source, are directly tied to a POD distribution platform. A short-run digital printer may have other book production options available (e.g., color photo inserts), but these will be costly.
So what’s the difference between a POD printer and a short-run digital printer if the machines are nearly the same? Short-run digital printers often use more and better materials than a POD printer. For example, Lightning Source only offer 50-pound paper for black and white interiors, while a good short-run digital printer will offer a range of paper weights from 50 pound to 100 pound for such an interior.
Another difference between POD printers and short-run printers is the process of preflighting. Preflighting is the process of checking the book file for bleeds, making sure the color profile is correct, that fonts are embedded, and so on. At the big POD printers, this process is all automated, unless the automated process returns an error, at which point human eyes get involved. Also, the big POD printers print many different books on the same machines at the same time with the same printer calibrations. Short run printers typically print one title at a time and can more easily adjust calibrations if something needs to be tweaked for optimal printing.
If you’re thinking about producing a book with the highest production values, you’ll want to consider offset printing (see below). However, it will be nearly impossible to price the book competitively if you have all of the printing bells and whistles, like an odd trim size, color inserts, and cover embossing.
A common misconception is that the quality of digital printing is not as high as that of offset printing. With the exception of heavily illustrated books (coffee-table books, children’s picture books, cookbooks), which look crisper and more vibrant with an offset printer, the average reader would likely not be able to tell the difference between a book printed digitally and one printed offset.
Offset Printing
If you’re printing books with special design elements such as color interiors, photo-quality paper, or embossed covers, and/or your print run is going to be 500 copies or more, offset printing will make the most economic sense.
In an offset print run, the ink is pressed into the page as opposed to a digital print run (POD or short run), where the ink is lasered on, using either sheet-fed or web presses. Sheet-fed presses are for covers, dust jackets, glossy inserts, and illustrated books with heavy paper stock. Web presses are used to print more standard book interiors. The printer will actually choose which parts of your book get printed on which press.
Print Book Distribution
Securing book distribution doesn’t mean that your book will be placed on bookstore shelves. It simply means that your book will be available through online retailers, and to brick-and-mortar retailers or wholesalers that choose to buy it.
The first thing to understand about book distribution is who the players are. Wholesalers like Ingram and Baker & Taylor have accounts with retailers and order books directly. Publishers that are big enough to handle the purchase order and return process often have direct relationships with wholesalers. Then there are distributors who represent (mostly smaller) publishers and sell directly to wholesalers and retailers. Finally, there are jobbers, who are essentially specialty wholesalers. For example, if you want to get your book into Target, you’ll be sent to its jobber, Levy Books. If Levy thinks your title is Target-worthy, it will purchase your book either from your distributor or directly from the publisher. Other jobbers of note are A. Merchandisers (Sam’s Club/Walmart), the News Group (Kroger, Publix, SuperValu), and Select Media (Office Depot, Office Max).
Virtually all self-published authors fall into one of these distribution models: print-on-demand (POD) distribution or traditional distribution through a distributor or wholesaler.
POD Distribution
POD distribution is handled by companies that provide both book printing services and wholesale distribution. Most self-publishing companies have a relationship with a POD printer/distributor and only offer POD distribution. If you publish directly through a company like Lightning Source or CreateSpace, your book’s distribution model will absolutely be POD. If you publish with any of the companies I discuss later in this book (other than CreateSpace), you’ll be indirectly using Lightning Source. A few companies offer both POD distribution through Lightning Source and traditional distribution options. But, those companies are the exception, not the rule.
POD distribution through a company that uses Lightning Source ensures that your book is available through most major online retailers. Standard POD distribution through CreateSpace means your title only has distribution through CreateSpace and Amazon, but you do have an option for additional distribution through Lightning Source. For the purposes of this section, “POD Distribution” assumes the broadest POD distribution possible.
If a book is ordered on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com, that order is electronically sent to the POD printer, and the book is printed and sent to the customer. Due to the fact that POD books are printed to order, your book is always listed as “In Stock” with Ingram (the wholesaler) and many online retailers.
POD distribution also ensures that your book is in Ingram’s database and available for order by any retailer with an Ingram account. This is why self-publishing companies state that your book is available through 25,000 retailers—and technically, it is. If I walk into my local bookstore and ask the clerk to order me a copy of your book, so long as that store has an Ingram account, the clerk can complete the order. Upon receipt of the order, the POD printer/distributor would print and then ship the book. When the book arrives, I would go back to the same bookstore where I’d placed the order and pick it up.
In reality, POD distribution is best suited for authors who don’t want to have any inventory and are focusing primarily on selling through online retailers. Many brick-and-mortar retailers are unlikely to stock POD books. If the book is printed through Ingram’s Lightning Source division, it shows up in the retailer’s Ingram account as printed by Lightning Source, regardless of the publisher, with a notation that 100 books are in stock at an Ingram warehouse in Tennessee (this amount is mythical). Taken together, these two facts are often interpreted by a bookstore to mean that the book is self-published, which then may lead a bookstore or other retailer to assume that the book may not have sufficient quality or marketing dollars to be viable. Think of such biases as literary profiling. Such assumptions are not necessarily fair or accurate, but that’s life.
Bookstores are only interested in carrying products that someone wants to purchase. If a book has little marketing behind it, the obvious question is, “Why carry a book that no one knows exists?” There are obviously situations in which bookstores order self-published POD books. But, when you choose to go down this distribution path, it’s best to do