The New Publishing

How many of you are self-publishing your work? If so, are you only publishing the e-version of the book? Or are you also doing print copies?

Have you given up on getting an agent?

If you're getting it printed yourself, how are you doing it? Using a local printing company? Using Lightning Source? Going Print On Demand?

So much has changed, just in the years that I've been  writing. For example, I've been writing my newsletter, Doing It Write, for 14 years now. When I began, no one had heard of e-books. They hadn't come into being. If you wanted your book published, you queried agents and checked your mail constantly to see if any had responded. (A lot of us still do that today.)

But we're into a new era of publishing. More and more authors are "doing it themselves". This is especially true when it comes to e-books. A lot of authors do their own e-books because it's fairly easy to do.

Even putting your book into print is not all that difficult to do anymore. Admittedly, it takes time and the formatting can be a bit arduous.

If you do it yourself, either in e-form or print, then you also have to do the promoting. Writers who have agents and publishers also find that the bulk of the promoting is on their shoulders, too.

We're now in a new era of publishing. Some of us are adapting and participating. Some are kicking and screaming. Either way, we're now in a new world of publishing. 

Publishing is not static. It's a world that is still changing.

Lightning Source

Lightening Source, part of Ingram, is an on-demand printing business. They work with publishers to get your book in print. Most bookstores order from LSI. Publishers can order boxes of their books.  

It is not the only on-demand printing business, of course. It does, however, have a lot of connections with those people and businesses where you want your book to be known.

Getting your book onto Lightning Source is not terribly complicated. Getting your book ready to upload can be complicated, however.

You'll need to create three documents: front matter, book, and back matter. There are requirements concerning margins, mirror pages, and page count. And you must format your book to the page size you've chosen for your book. Unless your book is going to be 8.5X11 inches, don't submit that size of a page, even though it is probably the usual size document you work in. If your book is, for example, 5.5" X 8.5", then the pages you submit must be set at that size.

Once the three sections are created, you need to combine them into one document then create a pdf. All fonts used in the combined file MUST embed in the pdf. By "must" I mean if a font does not embed, you must figure out why and repeat the process until the fonts embed.

If this is your first book, once you've uploaded both the book and the cover, you must order a proof to review.

When you get your proof, read it carefully. Look for any mistakes or goofs. If you find mistakes, correct them then go through the process of creating a pdf of the new version.

Then re-upload. But make sure you've caught and corrected everything. Otherwise, you'll have to go back and do it all again. Each time you re-upload your pdf files (whether it's the book files or the book cover file), you pay a fee for doing it and for receiving another proof.

That will change with the second book, though. But the first one is a learning experience - and learning costs.

Hopefully, there were no mistakes from the beginning and you only had to upload the files once.

But remember, Lightning Source works with publishers. Your publisher may do all the formatting for you. Or they may expect you to submit it to them ready to go to Lightning Source.

Going Solo But With Help

Last Thursday, I talked about hiring a publicist to help you do promotions for your book. This week, I thought I'd back up a bit and talk about actually getting your book into print, assuming you're going solo, without an agent.

If you don't have an agent or a publisher, then it'll be up to you to get your book into print. Getting it into an e-book is pretty easy. Amazon makes it pretty simple, so if you want to go the e-route first, then I would recommend you start there.

If you want to go first into print, it's not so easy, at least, I don't think so. But instead of just having your local printing shop print your books, I would recommend you look into Lightning Source.

There are tons of paperwork to fill out. And it can feel like a maze. But ... I recommend Lightning Source because they are the ones most bookstores order from. Whether you establish your own publishing company or sign on as an individual author, you will be included in their list of new books.

That, of course, doesn't mean bookstores will order your books. Most bookstores, let's face it, look for the "name" authors, not the unknowns.

But, let's say, you live in Texas and have a cousin in Oregon. The store there doesn't have your book on their shelves. Your cousin can request that they order your book for them. If more than just one person does that at that store, they might order a couple of extras to put on the shelf. You're now on their radar, even if it's just a small blip.

If you get your local bookstore to let you do a signing, they can order books from Lightning Source for the event.

Of course, I'm not saying you have to go with Lightning Source. But I think it has a lot of pluses.