HOW TO MAKE A BOOK

The Pressbooks Guide to Self-Publishing

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TODAY’S TO-DO LIST

1. Learn how to turn a Manuscript into a Book.

TOMORROW’S TO-DO LIST

1. Turn your a Manuscript into a Book.

THERE ARE TWO WAYS

TO DO THIS.

(TRY) TO GET PUBLISHED

(BY SOMEONE ELSE)

OR

BECOME A (SELF)-PUBLISHER

GET PUBLISHED (BY SOMEONE ELSE)

PRO CON

Brick-and-mortar bookstore distribution (sometimes)

Lower royalties

Professional editing, design, cover, marketing (maybe)

Constraints on what you can do: marketing, pricing, promotion, giveaways

etc. etc.

(SELF-)PUBLISH

PRO CON

Can publish in a matter of days

Selling books is hard

Higher royaltiesEditor, Production Editor, Designer, Marketer not

included

etc. etc.

THE REST OF THIS PRESENTATION

IS FOR

those who want to be (self-)publishers

HOW TO MAKE A BOOK

1. WRITING: getting your words onto the page

2. EDITING: polishing your words

3. PRODUCTION: turning your words into a “real” book— ebooks and print books including covers

4. SELLING: getting your book into stores

5. MARKETING: (trying to) get people to buy your book

PART ONE: WRITING

“A word after a word after a word is power.” ― Margaret Atwood

Ready to write? You can work in Word (or your favourite writing software), or login to pressbooks.com and write & style your

book directly in our online editor.

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

― Ernest Hemingway

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

― Maya Angelou

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It's that easy, and that hard.”

― Neil Gaiman

“I hate writing. I love having written.” ― Dorothy Parker

“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ― Jack London

PART TWO: EDITING

“The first draft of anything is sh*t.” ― Ernest Hemingway

Editing is part of what turns a manuscript into a book.

Traditionally, publishers took on the critical role of editing.

If you are self-publishing, an external editor is not

necessary, but is highly recommended.

• Developmental editing (early stages/shaping) • Line editing (to improve writing and voice) • Copy editing (grammar and beyond) • Style editing (Chicago, APA, MLA, AP or other) • Proofreading (to catch typos and misspellings)

TYPES OF EDITING

You can easily edit your book in pressbooks.com. Our system tracks changes,

allows you to add editors or reviewers as collaborators, and lets you fix errors and typos

and reexport all your files for publication as many times as you want.

If you are looking for a great editor, you can contact your local writer’s federation, or try:

* bubblecow.co.uk * writerly.com

PART THREE: PRODUCTION

"Of all the things which man can do or make here below, by far the most momentous,

wonderful and worthy are the things we call books."

— Thomas Carlyle

WHAT FILES DO YOU NEED TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK?

1. PRINT FILES …and/or…

2. EBOOK FILES …and…

3. COVER FILES

NOTE: Covers are different for print and ebooks.

PRINT FILES

To make a print book, you need a designed PDF file, called an “interior file.”

PDF interior files look like … “books”: title page, page numbers, chapter headings,

etc. etc.

pressbooks.com produces beautiful print book files automatically for you —

without you having to learn anything about book design, or hiring a designer.

EBOOK FILES“Ebooks” are special files used in ebook reading devices (such as a Kindle). There are two (main)

kinds of ebooks:

MOBI: the file format used by Amazon Kindle

EPUB: the file format used by Apple’s iBooks, Kobo, Nook, Google and just about every

other ebook platform

pressbooks.com produces beautiful ebooks for you — without you having to

learn anything about ebook file formatting, coding or hiring an ebook

developer.

COVER FILES

Ebooks and print books have different cover file needs:

EBOOKS: a single file, JPG, 1:1.5 aspect ratio, maximum 2MB.

PRINT: a PDF file, sized according to the trim size and page length of your book. A print cover has three

parts: front cover, back cover and spine.

Need a great cover?

Here are some places to go to get your covers made:

* octagonlab.com ($47-247) * fiverr.com ($5 and up)

WHY PRESSBOOKS.COM

WAS INVENTED:

To make it easy for anyone to produce (the files needed to publish) beautiful books.

4-STEP GUIDE TO MAKING A BOOK

WITH PRESSBOOKS

1. ADD YOUR BOOK INFORMATION

(Title, Author, etc.)

2. IMPORT, ADD, EDIT &

REARRANGE YOUR CHAPTERS

3. CHOOSE A THEME

(BOOK DESIGN)

4. EXPORT YOUR BOOK IN

PDF, EPUB & MOBI

Now you can download your files … and do what you like with them!

PART FOUR: SELLING

“I am fatally attracted to all bookstores.” ― Lewis Buzbee

You’ve written your book.

You’ve edited your book.

You’ve produced your files.

You’ve got a “book” now!

But it’s not a book until people can buy it.

SELLING EBOOKS

There are 5 big ebook stores you want to be in:

• Kindle (< it’s easy to publish here yourself) • Kobo (< it’s easy to publish here yourself) • Nook Press (< it’s easy to publish here yourself) • Google Play (< it’s a bit harder to publish here) • Apple iBooks (< it’s a pain in the butt to publish here)

PRINT-ON-DEMANDPrint-on-demand (POD) technology means you can print one copy of a book economically.

With POD, you can sell your book in online stores (such as Amazon). When someone buys your book, the book is printed, and shipped directly to the buyer.

This means that it is just as easy to publish a PRINT book as it is to publish an EBOOK.

PRINT-ON-DEMAND

There are two good ways to sell your POD book: • createspace (Amazon only) • IngramSpark (Amazon & everywhere else,

hardcover print-on-demand, PLUS ebook distribution too!)

WHAT ABOUT ISBN?• An ISBN is an “International Standard Book Number” …

which helps the industry track sales. • You need a different ISBN for your print and ebook versions

of the same book. • Some bookstores require an ISBN ( such as Kobo). • Some ebook stores don’t (such as Apple, Kindle, Nook

Press). • Smashwords, createspace, Amazon will all give you free

ISBNs. • BookBaby will charge you $19 for an ISBN. • If you are in the USA you can buy ISBNs from bowker.com.

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR BOOK INTO BOOKSTORES? You can get your ebooks into ebook stores yourself.

Or, you can get a distributor to do it for you.

Some recommended distributors are: • Smashwords (they take 15%, don’t distribute to Amazon) • IngramSpark (costs $49 + % of sales; advantage: they will do

ebooks AND print-on-demand and hardcover print-on-demand)

• INscribe Digital (for authors with more than 5 books)

PART FIVE: MARKETING

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is

a lot of hard work.” – Stephen King

Marketing your book is hard.

HERE ARE SOME MARKETING SUGGESTIONS • Learn about / include SEO & metadata for search. • Amass as many reviewers and (good) ratings as you

can get. • Build an email list!! • Communicate on social media. • Have a website/blog! • Go to in-person events: book signings, book fairs… • Get media coverage. • Guest-post on other people’s blogs. Link back.

Marketing your book is up to you. Here are some great marketing bloggers you

should read:

• Jane Friedman: http://janefriedman.com/blog/ • Hugh Howey: http://www.hughhowey.com/ • Joanna Penn: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/ • James Altucher: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/ • Carla King: http://selfpubbootcamp.com/ • Chris Brogan: http://chrisbrogan.com/ • Emily Craven: http://ebookrevolution.com.au/

BOTTOM LINE

HOW MUCH DOES ALL THIS COST?

• WRITING: free (if you do it!)

• EDITING: Average around $7.50/page (~$1,500-2000/regular novel) • PRODUCTION FILES: – Ebook: $19/title, one-time fee, unlimited edits & exports (in Pressbooks) – PDF: $99/title, one-time fee, unlimited edits & exports (in Pressbooks) – Cover: From $5 to $2,500 (we recommend $100-200)

• SELLING: – EBOOKS: Free (minus % to retailer and/or distributor)

– PRINT: Manufacturing fee per book sold, plus % to retailer /distributor

• MARKETING: Depends on your time and budget

HOW PRESSBOOKS.COM

CAN HELP

Turning your manuscript into a real book is a long, tough process.

PRESSBOOKS.COM makes part of that process

— making beautiful ebooks and print books — easy for everyone.

Make your book today at: PRESSBOOKS.COM

or… send questions to:

support@pressbooks.com

http://pressbooks.com