Dee’s marketing blog: The secrets of successful self-publishing (part one)

Dee Blick is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the world’s largest marketing body. She has 26 years’ marketing experience gained working with blue chip organisations and SMEs. Dee is the author of the bestselling book; Powerful Marketing on a Shoestring Budget for Small Businesses. In the last five years Dee has won six awards for her published work and has featured on the BBC as a marketing entrepreneur. Dee writes for a number of business publications and she is an active blogger and twitterer.

Part One: How to Publish Your First Book

If like me you’ve ever dreamt of writing a book, the thought of taking your precious manuscript on the ‘find me a publisher’ circuit can be enough to put you off from writing the first word, let alone the entire book. And so your potential bestseller remains a wistful afterthought in a quiet moment.

I was in this position two years ago.

I had won many awards in the media for my writing and I’d identified a gap in the market place for a small business marketing book that was neither superficial in its content nor overburdened with marketing theory. I had been given the details of a publisher and a tentative first communication had taken place.

Then, as my good luck would have it, I met FMWF columnist and entrepreneur Saira Khan. We were filming together for Beat the Boss. Saira’s advice to me was as you would expect, forthright and incisive. Go down the self publishing route and reap all of the potential financial rewards whilst remaining the owner of the copyright of your book.

Before we go any further, I’d like to stress that self publishing has come a long way in the last few years with the advent of digital print on demand. Authors no longer have to keep boxes of books in their home. One book at a time can be printed. This coupled with the rise of Amazon as an all-inclusive online bookstore has levelled out the playing field between self published authors and authors paid by a publisher for their efforts. Indeed, many successful authors have chosen to embrace self publishing. For example, renowned journalist Lucy Cavendish, a bestselling author with Penguin, has recently started her own self publishing press with a group of talented writers, deliberately eschewing the traditional publishing route to market.

Of course, you have to be able to write and there are absolutely no excuses for cutting corners on either the content or the presentation of your book simply because you don’t have a publisher standing over your shoulder. You want your book to stand proudly on any bookshelf. So don’t go down the self publishing route if you are half-hearted in your approach.

So now 14 months down the line and with a modest bestseller on my hands (My book regularly reaches the top 50 in its category on Amazon and has had many fantastic national reviews.) what have I learnt as an author that may be of value to you if you’re thinking of publishing a book? It’s a huge subject, hence the reason why this is the first in a series of three articles.

Let’s start by looking at how much of the self publishing process you are going to handle yourself and how much you will outsource. For example, you could do everything bar the printing. That is, writing your book, designing the outer jacket, laying out the contents and indexing – before handing it to a specialist book printer. On the other hand you can pay a self publishing publisher to handle the entire publishing process from the moment you hand over your manuscript to them. They may also sort out your all-important ISBN number, register your book with Amazon and other online sellers, and ensure that the book wholesalers (that are used by most bookshops and online retailers) register your book on their database. I decided to appoint a specialist self publishing publisher. I did not want my book to be compromised by looking home-made and given that I was writing a book in addition to running a full-time marketing business, I simply didn’t have the time.

So, make that call but take care not to cut corners.

Having made your decision, you must find an editor. I challenge any author to have the level of objectivity and skill that is needed to edit their own work. Find someone who can pull you up on your grammar and punctuation and who’s not afraid to question your content. A chapter completed in a hurry at the end of a long and tiring day may need to be revisited. Who do you know that’s an absolute whizz with grammar coupled with sufficient knowledge about the subject matter of your book to enable lively and spirited discussions?

In my next article, I’ll share the all-important steps in creating a book jacket that will help to make those all-important book sales. If you have any questions post them below and I will do my very best to answer.

Useful Resources

www.authorhouse.com

www.lulu.com

www.bookguild.co.uk

www.isbn.org.uk

How to Publish Your Own Book – Anna Crosbie (available via Amazon)

Posted by Dee Blick on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 5:00 am.

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