Self-Publishing 101 Part 3

Today I want to continue the self-publishing mini-series and venture on into the final segment, which is Part 3. If you missed Parts 1 & 2, I will link those videos down below for you to watch.
PART ONE

PART TWO


If you'd rather watch Part 3 instead of read this post, feel free to click play below! Otherwise, read on.
PART THREE
To recap, in Part 1 we talked about all of the things you should have completed before even uploading your manuscript to a POD company: ensuring your MS is in tip-top shape, choosing your title carefully, finding a high-quality professional cover designer, writing the back cover synopsis, creating a publishing company, and getting your ISBN numbers. I’d recommend having all of these things completed 5-6 months your projected publication date. And then there was Part 2, which consists of setting up your account with the POD company, setting up your title, setting your retail price, setting your wholesale discount, setting your categories, working through the edits from your professional editor, and thinking about getting early reviews for your book. If you haven’t watched these videos, I’d highly recommend doing so before watching this one, otherwise you’ll probably be confused, and more likely than not, overwhelmed. With that being said, let’s talk about Part 3. And since we left off at number, 13 we’ll start at number 14, which is to:

14. Look over your back cover blurb·         I know we talked about the back cover blurb or synopsis in Part 1, but it’s an incredibly important part of your book when it comes to getting it to sell, which is why I want to bring it up again. If you missed Part 1, you’re probably asking yourself, “What exactly is a blurb?” Blurbs are essentially a paragraph or two that paint a brief picture of the main plot of your book with just enough information to leave the reader satisfied, yet leaving enough information out to make them want to read more. Sound difficult? That’s because it is. You thought writing a book was hard? Now try condensing all of those thoughts and ideas into 8-10 measly sentences. Blurbs can be very challenging to write and it’s certainly something that takes practice. Take a look at your back cover synopsis and make sure it includes these 5 core elements:1.       The first is to think of the first sentence of your book blurb as a pick-up line. It must be new, clever, and engaging – not a line that we’ve all heard a million times before. In this first sentence, you could introduce your main characters by focusing on the predicament in which they find themselves like Bella Pollen does in Hunting Unicorns: “Adrift in a rapidly changing world, the Bevan family cling to tradition while wrestling with taxes, tree blight and the need to keep the family skeleton firmly in the cupboard.” Or you could set the scene and create the mystery right out of the starting gate like Kate Morton does for The House at Riverton – “On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life.” Try to avoid clichés in your opening line at all costs. Nobody likes them.2.       Second, you’ll want to talk about your characters in your blurb. When introducing your main characters, show them in their best or most interesting light and give them dimension. Remember to talk about the dilemma your characters are facing. What personal demon do they need to conquer? You need to give your reader a reason to care or be interested enough to find out more.3.       Third, make sure your blurb is not misleading. Write the blurb for the audience you want to read your book and be honest. Don’t dress a murder mystery as a romance novel. There’s only so long someone can be strung along before they realize, “Hey, this isn’t what I thought it was”, and eventually toss your book aside. If you don’t deliver on your back cover blurb, your reader will most likely stop reading it, and you don’t want that!4.       Fourth, don’t give everything away. You want your potential reader to buy your book, so try not to give away too much of the plot. This is the part that takes some serious skill and focus because you need to find that fine line between revealing enough for your reader to want to know more while maintaining that air of mystery.5.       Fifth, keep your readers wanting more. Trying finishing the blurb with a cliffhanger. Rather subtly, but very cordially, invite people to find out more. End your blurb with conflict. Your reader should wonder, “How in the world are they going to solve that?” There are a few different ways you can end your blurb:§  With a question like in A Scandalous Proposition– “What will Adam do when he discovers Florentina’s deception?”§  Hint at future danger like in Risking Trust– “When their investigation leads them to a city hall conspiracy, both their lives and their newly reignited flame could be permanently extinguished.”·         At all costs, resist the urge to hint at how things work out and your back cover blurb will be pure gold!
15. Write your wholesalers’ blurb·         The wholesalers’ blurb is what is fed automatically from your distributor (such as Ingram Spark) to wholesalers and online retailers about your book. You may also have heard this called the ‘meta’.·         Different distributors have different rules and specifications for their blurbs. Most have a character limit. Ingram Spark, for example, has a limit of 4000 characters (including spaces) for their ‘meta’.·         It’s important that your meta/blurb is constructed properly so that you will attract the right audience and the right customers when they read it online. Most of the time, if you’ve written a great synopsis for your back cover, you can use that same synopsis as your meta. You may have to trim a few sentences, but it will work. For nonfiction, your meta is extremely important because it must address and acknowledge where your readers have come from, where they are now, and where you are going to take them. Try to avoid schmoozy hype and overblown descriptors in your copy. Try not to use words like amazing, life-changing, incredible, etc. Find your unique selling point and use it to your advantage.16. Determine what you’ll put on your back pages·         While the blurbs we just talked about are invitations for your readers to step into your book, the back pages of your book must be an invitation for your readers to step into a deeper connection with you. Here are some ideas of things to fill your back pages:·         An acknowledgements page·         An about the author page with website and social media links·         Sneak preview of a chapter or two from the next book (if it’s a series)·         A list of other books you’ve written (sometimes this is on the opposite side of the title page in the front of the book)17. Format the interior to prepare for paperback printing·         The first question here is, “Should I do my interior myself or hire someone?” This really depends on two things: whether or not you have the technical skills and software to do it and whether you have the time, patience, and interest to learn how to do it right. Many cover designers offer interior formatting and layout services, but this can be expensive. I actually did my interior layout myself and I’ve received numerous compliments about how professional it looks. I searched for some interior templates formatted specifically for paperback books, tweaked them in Microsoft Word, and copied my text over to that template. The website www.diybookformats.com has some great interior layouts for free, and I actually used one of them for The Alpha Drive, if you want to check those out. I’ll link it below in the description.·         Most professionals use InDesign to do the interior book layout. But now with POD, such as Ingram Spark, you can actually format your paperback book in Word and convert it to a high-resolution PDF. If it’s formatted correctly, the print book will look exactly as it does in the PDF. ·         I used Word for my interior layout and I couldn’t be happier with it. Let’s go over some basic tips if you want to use Word to format the interior of your book:o   Use formatting styles in Word and define headers, footers, and page numbers carefully. Most people who use Word will format every word or paragraph individually, but Word has the capability of defining styles, which will make your life a whole lot easier. Spend some time getting to know how to use these styles and plan out the styles for your book. Or use a pre-made interior template and skip this step entirely.o   Use section breaks and page breaks. Putting a section break for each chapter can help you organize your headers and footers, keep the page numbers consistent, etc. But again, if you use a pre-made interior template, you can save yourself the headache of learning this and skip this step.o   Use high-res (300 dpi images). This is more important for nonfiction books, but try to ensure your author photo is at least 300 dpi, otherwise it may print blurry. Both Ingram Spark and CreateSpace will give you a warning notice if your images are below 300 dpi. Just be careful with IngramSpark because every time you re-upload something, it’ll cost you $40. With CreateSpace, you can upload as many times as you want at no cost and no additional fee.o   Use a commercial quality PDF Converter. For Createspace, you can upload a Word document with your interior layout or a PDF. But for IngramSpark, you can only upload a PDF version, no Word documents. All fonts need to be embedded into the document, especially for IngramSpark, otherwise your document won’t be accepted, plus it costs you $40 to upload a new version each time you mess up. Word 2013 does have the capability to embed fonts, but I would highly recommend getting the free trial of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. You can get a free trial for 30 days. Once your manuscript is complete, you can save it as a PDF, then open Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, go to File à Save As à Press Ready PDF (PDF/X). This type of PDF will ensure that all fonts have been embedded.18. Upload your final draft to the POD company and upload your cover, either ARC or Final·         Once you have your interior formatted, you can finally upload your MS to the POD company of your choosing, as well as the cover. If you’ve chosen to get early reviews and have people you want to send ARCs (or advance reader’s copies) to, then you can upload an ARC cover. You can ask you cover designer to make one for you. Normally, this is a red bar at the top of the book that says NOT FOR SALE – UNCORRECTED PROOF or NOT FOR SALE – ADVANCE READER’S COPY. It can also be a red square on the cover that says the same thing.·         Createspace is great for ARCs because you can upload as many edited/updated versions as you want for free AND see the actual layout in their digital proofing program, all for free. This lets you see what your book will actually look like once it’s printed out, but is digital on your computer, so you can see if the pages are laid out correctly, if there are consecutive blank pages, if there are weird characters, or if the text is lining up properly.19. Order a physical proof·         Once you have your manuscript and cover uploaded to the POD company of your choosing, make sure you ORDER A PHYSICAL PROOF. Please do not blindly approve your title until you are holding a finished copy in your hands that you’ve gone through with a fine-tooth comb and you’re confident it’s free of errors. ·         Ordering a proof can cost $5-10, depending on the size of your book, and you can expedite shipping if you want, but CreateSpace tends to deliver your books within 4-5 business days. ·         Once you’ve gone through that physical proof, make adjustments as needed, or if it’s fine as is, you can order more (up to 5 at a time on CreateSpace) to send as ARCs to early reviewers.
20. Approve the title·         If you’re not sending ARCs and you have your final MS and cover design uploaded, AND you’ve ordered a physical proof that you’ve reviewed multiple times to ensure it’s ready for publication and you’re 100% satisfied with that proof, ONLY THEN should you finally approve the title. This means that your book will officially be available for purchase on Amazon and will be a part of expanded distribution, if you chose that option. So congratulations! You did it! You are now a published author!
So that concludes Part 3, the final segment, of this Self-Publishing 101 Mini Series. I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful. I'll see you guys in the next post!


Until next time,