Producing your book

Producing a finished book is a fairly involved process. If you are self-publishing, it makes sense to seek the help of someone who has done it before, rather than 'reinventing the wheel'.  We can project manage this process for you, including referring you to members of our trusted network of service providers as appropriate.

Below are a few of the tasks that sit between a completed manuscript and a finished, published book.

Editing

Whether you've written your book yourself or used a ghostwriter, it will need going over by a professional editor who is detached from the project and will pick up small errors and inconsistencies. 

Design

As a self-published author you need a book cover that will make your book look 'published'. Self-publishing should not mean amateur or home-made design. The same applies to the internal layout of your book. Apart from looking great, both the cover and inside of the book need to be prepared in a way that the printer will be able to use.

Administrative stuff

You can make your book look the part and increase the chances of potential buyers finding it by doing all the things that trade publishers do. Your book will need an ISBN (a globally unique number) and matching barcode. Cataloguing (CiP) data needs to be obtained from the National Library of Australia (or equivalent in your country). A properly prepared copyright page will be needed for the front of the book. Post publication, a legal deposit requirement means that a copy of your book needs to be send to the National Library of Australia and to your state-based equivalent. Finally, your book needs to be listed on Books in Print so that any bookshop is able to find it for an enquiring buyer.

Distribution

Once your book is published it makes sense to make it as widely available as possible. Distribution to book retailers is not precluded by self-publishing, though it is increasingly difficult. One thing that can be done is uploading of your book to Amazon.com, making it available for sale from them. Once set up, when an order comes in they will print the book themselves and send it out for you.

We have been through this process many times and so are well placed to guide you through it. For ghostwritten books we will typically incorporate this project management into our quote. For smaller projects we can provide as much or as little of this for you for an appropriate fee. Contact us to discuss your options.