5 Major Steps from Manuscript to Book Sales

5-Tips

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Just finished your manuscript and you are ready to sent it off to the editor?  It’s a great feeling of accomplishment, isn’t it?  You certainly would like to go on a month-long vacation – and you would have deserved this leisure time, for sure!
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But there is a lot more to do before book launch, in fact, it will be a busy time while your book is at the editor:

  • Get Your Book Copyrighted
  • The Editing Process
  • Cover Design / Book Layout / Formatting
  • Set Your Book up for Pre-Orders
  • Get Advanced Book Reviews

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Copyright Your Book.
Your first and most important task is to copyright your book, as you are most likely going to be sending your manuscript out to a lot of people.  While most people are honest, there are many of examples of book authors that have had their manuscript copied, stolen and copyrights disputed.  Get your book copyrighted before it leaves your hard drive and don’t worry if it is the final version or not, you can update the copyrighted version at a later date.
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I saw a brilliant poster at a print shop / book designer, which said: “Pick Any Two, I Pick One”.  It was a triangle and on each tip had these words: Money – Quality – Time/Speed.  When you hire freelancer / employees or subcontractors, such as editors, book and cover designers, always keep in mind: You get what you pay for…  Don’t shop for the cheapest, rather the best partners and freelancers.
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The Editing Process:
Even though many authors are talented writers and mostly very proficient at grammar, they should never be the book editor of their own project!  You might have logged long hours going through your manuscript with a fine-tooth comb, read, write, delete, re-write, re-read, delete…
Then, after carefully reviewing the spelling and grammar and fact-checking the document, you may have even handed the manuscript over to your your former English teacher and every member of your writing group, however none of this is equal to a professional edit.
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Contact editors whose sites inspire confidence and ask about their work process, rates, time frames, and any other information you need to know. Request a sample page edit from these respondents you like. Samples are often free, and around one to five 250-word pages.
The editing process is not meant to offend you or detract from all of the perfecting you have already done.  Rather, an edit is meant to increase the quality and success of your book, regardless of subject or genre.
Choose an editor on the basis of compatibility and how well the results of his or her editing appeals to you. ask for references, but learning about the editor’s background shows you how long he or she has been in the business. It also gives an idea of how many and which types of clients have actually trusted him or her to edit. There are several steps involved in editing and professional trade publishers often employ special editors for each of these steps:

  • Line editing
  • Content Editing
  • Copy Editing
  • Proof Reading
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The Book Cover and Title.
The correct title can really help to ensure the success of your project – or not…  A great cover will raise the attention of potential readers.  And yes, books are judged by their covers.

  • The title must be easy to understand and speak.
  • It should ideally be less than 32 characters.
  • You should be able to purchase the exact URL for the title.
  • The title should clearly demonstrate to readers what they will discover in this eBook.
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Cover Design
You never get a second chance to make a first great impression!

  • Keep the design clean.
  • Use a focal point to orient the user
  • Make sure people can read it without glasses.
  • Make the design match the content.

For Print:

  • Use the spine properly.
  • Include a photo of the author.
  • The largest font size is used on the information that is most important

Book Layout Designer Joel Friedlander has a great blog post series about book layout mistakes to avoid. You can learn almost everything about book design by following Joel Friedlander’s blogs and also by reading his books, to be found at www.TheBookDesigner.com.
Technical information can be obtained at Basic Book Design for the answers to your initial book design questions.  Find even more cover design inspiration:
http://faceoutbooks.com/ (print book covers)
http://causticcovercritic.blogspot.ca/
http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/
http://bookdesigner.com/53972/book-covers/
http://bookcovers.creativindie.com/cover-samples/
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/creative-book-cover-story/
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Print Book Layout.
Books Should Look Like from Traditional Publishers!  The best way to have a great book layout is through a professional.  However, some authors don’t want to use a book lay-outer, or don’t want to fork out the costs involved.  Another way to solve a lot of these print book formatting problems while also getting a well-designed, industry-standard book, is to use a book template.  Joel Friedlander created this fantastic solution. Find out more and see the available designs at:BookDesignTemplates.com.

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e-Book Formatting
It’s the digital version of a book layout, and an important step in creating an e-book – which should be done by professional too.  Author Guido Henkel wrote: “To me, one of the key elements that sets apart a professional e-book release from that of an amateur has always been the technical presentation of the book.  Sure, anyone can write a document in a word processor, run it through some export tool, use a fully automated conversion utility or peruse the services of an online service, but the sad fact of the matter is that none of these approaches typically results in, what I call, production-level digital books.”
Many authors simply don’t know any better.  They write their book, complete it and look for the fastest, cheapest and easiest way to deploy it.  Don’t be one of those authors!
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Set Your Book up for Pre-Orders.
If you plan the book launch within the next 3 to 12 months you can start right away to pre-sell your future book.  Apple iBooks can be set to pre-order twelve months before book launch and Amazon allows you to make your new books available for pre-order in Kindle Stores worldwide three months before launch date.  You need to send your book cover image and the manuscript – unedited, you will exchange it later with the final version, and the basic information for your book.
A great advantage of using pre-order is that you can start promoting your Kindle book pre-order page on Author Central, Goodreads, your personal website, and other places ahead of its release to help build excitement for your book. Also, pre-orders will contribute toward your sales rank, which can help more readers to discover your book.
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Get Advanced Book Reviews
Brand new books from trade publishers have almost always reviews and endorsement at the time of book launch. You might wonder: How is this possible? Publishing houses take lots of efforts to network with influential book reviewers / book bloggers, and bestseller writers as well as media book reviewers.  They start 6-8 months before book launch to send out advance copies of the book in order to get reviews ahead of the printing and formatting process.
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Check it Out!
New author-publishers can learn a lot in book stores and libraries: Check out how professionally published books look like: Many of these trade books have either on their back cover (paperback) or on the binding flap (hard cover) several snippets of the book reviews, as well as endorsements from bestselling writers or other professionals, that have been already written before the book was printed.
The more work you do to promote your book before the publication date the more people will already know about it, and that means more sales! Pre-editions include advance reader copies (ARC’s), Galleys, salesman’s editions, proofs and sometimes manuscripts, and nowadays often digital versions.
The key, and this is what traditional publishers do, is to have these ARC’s printed well in advance of your publication date in order to distribute it to book reviewers, at trade fairs, festivals, and at sites such as Goodreads approximately eight – six months! before publication date.  This gives reviewers enough time and you can add the reviews to the book layout, while the reviewer can add their writing to your book retail websites or author pages, and write an article about your book on their blog or website.  Additionally you can use their original comments for book fairs or book signings.  It is important to create a time frame and to plan the publishing endeavour well in advance!
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We give you here just an overview what’s involved in book production, there are many other tasks that are covered in a great blue print, compiled in Joel Friedlander’s really helpful blog articles
Start with his article: Why Self-Published Books look Self-Published
After going through the pre-production stages – the editorial and design part – your next step will be distribution of your new book.
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Actively Market Your Book Before Launch!
While your book is at the pre-publishing service providers, don’t forget to actively market your upcoming book!  Prepare your author pages on Goodreads and Amazon, starts Goodreads Giveaways, if you have an ISBN and planned a print book.  Get as many pre-orders and reviews as possible, plan and invite all your potential readers to your book launch – virtual and in person.

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