The Basics

As I mentioned earlier, the actual tasks to get a book from file to paper is pretty uncomplicated. My wife does all the preparations of the manuscripts and most of the other things on the list that I am about to show you and she refers to it as the exciting and creative stuff (something that as you may recall, I disagree with completely!)

The opportunity to sit down with a raw script and turning it into a finished physical book is in her mind the most beautiful thing. She loves the tweaking and tinkering and searching that she puts into it and most of all the fact that she has no idea when she starts what the end product will look like. The whole experience is completely organic until all of a sudden she discovers she’s finished laying out the book and it is ready for printing.

I would not do it that way. I have a more pragmatic or black and white approach to the whole thing. If this journey from ebook to paperback was a train trip she’d be sitting looking out the window and I’d be the one reading about how trains work (as I wouldn’t be allowed to drive the thing).

Now on to the basics

Let me show you the complete list of what you need to do. This is in effect the finished checklist, and for those who only want an overview, this is where the book ends for you. All you have to do to get your ebook into print is to start at the top of the list and work your way down it.

1. 
   
   Select printer/publisher


2. 
   
   select among the book sizes available from the printer


3. 
   
   Set your sales price & discount rates


4. 
   
   layout manuscript if required by the publisher so the text fits with the book size.


5. 
   
   Use an editor / proofreader / experts to improve your script.


6. 
   
   Obtain ISBN number (your own or someone elses)


7. 
   
   create book cover, front, back & spine.


8. 
   
   Submit finished master files to the printer / POD publisher & pay any upfront fees.


9. 
   
   Register the book on Nielsen BookData (in the UK)


10. 
    
    Start Promoting the book to your target outlets


11. 
    
    Review your proof copy of the book, if you are given one. Sign off any changes required.
    
    


12. 
    
    Send library copies to where they need to go ( depends on country)
    
    

 

- then get on with the hard part!

 

My wife the professional book publisher disagrees with parts of that list by the way. She would argue that the first thing to do is make sure you have enough room in the budget to do what you want. You must of course keep a close eye on the budget, but the choice of printer will also decide if you need to spend alot upfront or to take a smaller profit per book copy sold. If you can’t afford to spend most of your money upfront then that would of course limit your choices.

 

 

 

Now that I have shown you what you need to do the rest of this book is on the HOW.