Self-Publish Your Book

The story begins almost five years ago. As I walked to my car after a piano lesson, I had a lightbulb moment: I was irrepressably enthused with the idea of assembling a collection of recipes designed to comply with a 30-day liver detoxification regimen. In case you're new here and wonder why in the world I might be excited about such a thing, the short story is that the year before I had sought out a naturopath to help me restore my energy and to prevent any more hair loss. Among other things prescribed by my new medical guru, the month-long diet without processed foods, caffeine, wheat, dairy or sugar had a profound effect on my health - I felt fantastic!

I charged ahead, deciding to self-publish rather than pursue acceptance with a conventional publisher. And with the idea burning in my head and nothing yet on paper, I attended Publishers' University, a 3-day educational event hosted by Publishers' Marketing Association. This was followed by an overwhelming weekend at BookExpo, a book lover's idea of heaven-on-earth! PMA is a great organization and I recommend it to anyone considering self-publishing. So, here's ...

Lesson #1: Join a professional organization. Read the newsletters, enter your publisher's profile online, on paper, anywhere possible. The wealth of information, experience of other members, and networking potential is well worth the annual membership fee.

There are other national organizations for independent book publishers, as well as many regional groups, too. I was introduced to PMA by my brother who works in the technical end of publishing. Had he not called me up at the end of April and said, "You have to go to this!" I don't know how long it might have taken me to figure out that the extended support of a professional organization could be so valuable. Publishers' University and BookExpo always occur at the end of May/beginning of June - I had one month to prepare for my first foray into the Big Apple in twenty years.
So perhaps Lesson #2 is: Seek out anyone and everyone you know remotely involved in the industry. Give their advice serious consider

I purchased a train ticket, reserved a room in the hotel directly across the street from Penn Station, assembled three day's worth of all-black outfits, and printed up some business cards identifying me as a publisher! And thus a new career was born.

Upon my return from New York, it was necessary to dive bomb into manuscript preparation and print production. My deadline was little more than two months away and this was a one-woman operation!
Why a 2-month deadline? Good question. My plan was to launch the cookbook as a vendor at the annual conference of naturopathic physicians. That year's conference date was August 10th, which gave me two months and ten days before setting up my table in Salt Lake City's convention hall. While there is something intensely gratifying about creating from what feels like thin air, the flip side of that is that it's a lot of work. Planning is everything. So here's the next lesson:

Lesson #3: Assemble a team of knowledgeable professionals to help you bring your self-published title to fruition:
- proofreader
- editor
- book designer for design & layout
- book cover designer
Because I had already clocked more than two decades in the publishing industry, I was familiar with many of the steps involved in producing a book. In fact, my first job in the industry was typesetter - I worked on one of the very first computerized typesetting systems that replaced "hot metal". A lifelong artsy type with considerable graphic design experience and a chronic do-it-yourself'er, I never considered outsourcing any part of the book design or layout production. However, I called upon a commerical photographer friend to shoot the cover art and contracted with another business associate for proofreading and copyediting. If there's one thing I've learned - the hard way - it's that I cannot proofread my own typing.

A favorite highlight of creating Eating Clean was the photo shoot. A friend gave up her airy, white kitchen with a center island for a morning and the photographer and I moved in. With bags full of all sorts of fruits and vegetables, and dishes prepared from the book's recipes, I filled the counter top with my bounty. Experience on catalog photo shoots had taught me about filling the camera frame, which meant that I needed to think about what would show in the background as well. Thus the hydrangea plant in the rear, peeking over the blender, and a soup pot on the stove. It took us exactly three hours to set up, photograph, and return B's kitchen to its original state.

If you were being published by someone else, they would determine the physical elements of your book. But as a self-publisher, all of the choices are now yours.

Print-on-demand, commonly referred to as POD, utilizes standard formats for finished book dimensions, paper quality, and interior formatting. So if you decide to work with a POD provider, and your book is all text and a novel, for example, you will only need to provide cover art. However, if you are thinking about going with a POD provider and your vision for the book involves illustration, graphs, or other unique features, be sure to discuss these details with your POD contact before committing to their services.

My book is a cookbook, a book that needs to lay open easily on a kitchen counter without pages flopping over. One POD printer tried to talk me into their "lay-flat binding", but I wasn't convinced that it was user-friendly enough for my book's intended purpose. In the end, I sought out print quotes from three printers. The range of prices can be amazing! The printer that I finally chose went the extra mile, as the saying goes, to help me create a book that matched my vision. Eating Clean-100 Appetizing Solutions uses an enclosed wire-o binding. This means that the wire-o is hidden behind the readable spine. Because a readable spine is one of the criteria required by many bookstores for display, this was an important element in my planning.

If I were to do this over again, however, I would not go with the first print-run quantity that got me the best unit cost! Herein lies the mistake made by many first-timers. By printing 3500 books, my unit cost was appealingly low. The special binding of the book made it expensive to produce, so when I saw the difference per unit between printing 3500 or 1000, I went with 3500. Wrong!!! (Dan Poynter says the same thing, by the way.)

Lesson #4: Know what you want your book to look like, inside and out. Be open to suggestions for modifications from your printer. But if your book has a special purpose, keep this in mind. (Examples: a book for small toddlers; a how-to manual; a study guide)

Lesson #5: Don't let unit cost lure you into a larger print run! Next, I'll tell you about an opportunity (a great one!) I missed because I printed 3500 instead of 500 or 1000!