When an author decides to publish their own book, there are many questions to be answered. It’s the first of these questions about self-publishing I want to address in this article, and that has to do with starting a publishing company. Some authors will decide to simply print copies of their book for their own […]
How Print-on-Demand Book Distribution Works
We’ve all heard about it, we talk about it, we call it by the wrong name, but do you really know how print-on-demand book distribution works? You will by the end of this article. I’ve written in an earlier post about the confusion over the terminology commonly used to describe print on demand book distribution, […]
Creating a PDF for Lightning Source Print-on-Demand in InDesign CS4: Part 3
In these posts I’m reviewing the steps that I take to create a PDF file for digital print-on-demand printing at Lightning Source (LSI) from Adobe InDesign CS4. File creation using this process must be performed at least twice for each book submitted to LSI; once for the interior (bookblock in LSI terms) and once for […]
Creating a PDF for Lightning Source Print-on-Demand in InDesign CS4: Part 2
Last time I described how I check the status of all my linked graphics with the Link Palette, and how I re-link any missing files. The last check I make of my InDesign CS4 file before beginning the export process is to look at the book’s fonts. This is a key step in making a […]
Self-Publisher’s 5-Minute Guide to Book Printing Processes
Podcast: Self-Publisher’s 5-Minute Guide to Book Printing Processes With all the talk about print on demand, digital printing and the future of the publishing industry, it’s easy to forget that we’ve got books to produce in the here and now, and we need to know the best way to produce those books today, this week. […]
Self-Publishing Basics: Deciphering the Bookland EAN Bar Code
Self-publishers know that they must have an ISBN for their book if they want to sell through retail channels like bookstores. The ISBN not only identifies the publisher, the language group of the country the book is published in, and the specific title, it is also used to generate the scannable barcode found on the […]
8 Milestones to Self-Publishing Success
Over the past two years many friends have asked for help understanding the new way books are published. This is common when you know a lot of writers, and recently I realized that most of my friends have either published books in the past, or are working on books right now. Although I love helping […]
Self-Publishing Basics: Book Chapters and Subheads
The post continues the series called the Book Construction Blueprint, providing reliable guidance to anyone taking on the construction of a book that must conform to generally-accepted practice. Chapter Titles Most nonfiction books are at least divided into chapters. Chapter lengths vary widely, and the goal of trying to keep chapters the same length may […]
Self-Publishing Basics: Print on Demand—What Is It?
Do you remember this conversation from your own school days? “Ms. Murphy, can I go to the boy’s room?” “Well, Billy, you certainly can go to the boy’s room. You know where it is, and I saw you running after Sally Ketchum today at recess, so I know your legs are working fine.” “Oh, great, […]
Self-Publishing Basics: A 5-Minute Guide to Copyright
Well, we’re all busy and who has time to research copyright? This is the province of lawyers, big publishers with legal departments, and plagiarism trackers, isn’t it? No, every self-publisher needs to have a bit of information on copyright and the way the law works in the United States. Okay, I promised this would take […]