5 Steps to Follow Before Self-Publishing Your Book

So, you are done writing your book and ready to self-publish it. Congratulations! Tap yourself on the shoulder. Not many people have made it so far. However, the bad news is that you are not over yet. Before you can self-publish your book, your manuscript must be polished. If you follow the steps below, you will offer a top-quality product to you readers.

1) Have your manuscript proofread

Proofreaders are people – most of the time professionals – who have a superior knowledge of the language in which they work. They are able to spot errors that authors would not find because the latter are too focused on what they write. Hence, they are essential in the career (and success) of any serious writer.

According to Wikibooks, “Proofreading is the process of carefully reviewing a text for errors, especially surface errors such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, formatting, and typing errors.”

Examples of what a proofreader would spot:

-”Their clothes became soaked, but the walls seamed to be holding.”

-”Pam said, ‘Darlin, we know a whole lot of stuff, but we don’t know everything.’”

-”If science didn’t have its damn thumb up its butt it could go so much farther than it has.”

-”Some winters ended up having more sun than the Summers.”

-”They could see a couple of surfers sitting on their boards. No one else was in site.”

Did you find the errors?

So, make the investment. It will be worth your money in the end.

2) Have your manuscript edited

According to the same source, editing is “typically completed throughout the writing process — especially between drafts — and often suggests contextual changes that affect the overall meaning and presentation. The focus is on changes that affect style, point-of-view, organization of content, audience, etc.”

In this case, you can try to edit your manuscript yourself. Nobody knows it better than you.

3) Review changes

Once your manuscript has been proofread and edited, re-read it once or twice more, to ensure that you are happy with all the changes. If you are not, get in touch with your proofreader and/or editor as soon as possible. It is an essential step in the pre-publishing process. You must be entirely satisfied with the entire package.

4) Create a cover for your book

This step can take place during the proofreading and editing stages. You can either ask someone to design a cover for you or do it yourself. Should you choose to do it yourself, Photoshop is the best tool. If you like to take pictures and are familiar with the graphic designing software, you will be able to create astonishing covers. And sometimes, it only takes a couple of hours!

A cover is the first thing that a reader sees. It determines if he or she will open the book or not. So, it must be designed with care. Once created, show it to people around you. And ask for honesty and constructive criticism.

5) Send your book to reviewers

Reviews are a very efficient tool to bring publicity to your book before it is actually released. It helps build anticipation, especially if your manuscript has received excellent critiques from bloggers and other professionals. So, if you have done the right amount of research, you should be able to target the right niche of reviewers.

Do not forget to also update your fans frequently on how the book is advancing. If you have a blog, publish your reviews and posts there. Create a Facebook Fan Page to share reviews, short extracts and news too. Promoting sparingly is an excellent exercise to pave the way for success.

So now, are you ready to take your book to the next level?