Good Evening!  In my self-publishing circles, the word is getting the right people on your team and being sure you have a “buy-in” by all of the team for the schedule and timeline you set in place for your author’s book launch.  It is critical to the success of the team, and  paramount to the future of the book launch that everyone involved stay focused for the duration.

For my clients, I immediately set the timeline in place, working backwards from the author’s final “needed” date and then set-up the schedule with all the players.  The players at this stage have committed to the author and to me that they want to be a part of what we are doing.  They have submitted bids to us and have been tentatively approved pending anything unusual.  We are ready to go.

The team will usually involve a proofreader and/or editor, a book design person, a cover design person, possibly a photographer and/or illustrator – depending on the type of book we do.  Of course the printer is the final step.  As the consultant, and possibly the peer reviewer too, I put the umbrella over all of the activities and tie them together. 

Getting these people working and sharing their progress on the project in the order requested is part of my job.  If possible, we all meet in advance in several introduction meetings to make the author comfortable.  In the case of the printer, that is usually not done since I have used out-of-state printers, but when possible with the other vendors, I try to make that happen. 

Before you make a decision to self-publish you need to be sure you have the funds to pay for the editing $500-$2000 estimate, the designers $500-$1500 estimate each, the printer varies by book numbers in the order, the consultant $500-$1000 plus the items pertinent to your book for photographer and illustrator.

Take time to review the following questions before making the decision you are ready to self-publish.  Please email me or comment here about what you are doing and where you are at on your publishing journey to becoming a successful author.  Do your research on traditional publishers too, then make a decision and move forward.  Good luck!  Patricia

SELF-PUBLISHING QUESTIONS TO ASK at this time:

·        Do you want to be in charge of YOUR publishing process?

·        Are you able to see YOUR book as a business/investment in your future?

·        Do you want to make a fair amount of money with YOUR book?

·        Do you want to learn about the publishing elements best for YOU?

·        Do you want to go through the process of publishing YOUR book quickly?

·        Do you want to have control over YOUR intellectual property?

·        Do you want to handle the tasks involved in marketing YOUR book/product?

·        Are you willing to commit YOUR efforts to continuously promote it?

·        Are you willing to learn more about marketing YOUR book online?

·        Are you willing to take a national/international view of YOUR book?