Writing Treatise Shorts II The Publishing Check List:

 

Writing Treatise Shorts II

The Publishing Check List:

                Again, this is not a guide how to get published, but a thoughtful check list. Please see the link N.TAC.W’s guide to getting self-published in the modern era link in the description.

I just see so many folks mess themselves up so wanted to provide a quick check list to save money and time.

 

1.        Whether if you are publishing with a venue or self-publishing do RESEARCH on the company. Reviews on their page often are artificial. Too many good reviews is a bad sign just as much as all negative reviews.  There are vanity presses praying on writer’s hopes and dreams hoping to make money. Rule of thumb you should not have to pay for the book to be actually published (there are some things you need to buy, but often than not you should not be paying more than a couple hundred dollars if you have to pay for anything). Venues make money from selling your book, not from you trying to get the book published

On top of researching about the company itself and its policies look what other books they publish. Are they trash? Do they have many books in their venue?  Are you a good match for them?

The watchdog publisher list.
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/best-self-publishing-services/
Warning greens are be taken with a grain of salt. Money is changing hands between companies, but at least it tells which companies to definitely stay away from.

2.       Read the fine print. Read the publishers requirements for sending a manuscript in. 
Two rules of thumb. If the publisher just yoinks the book with little effort and no review periods might be a bad sign. If a publisher comes out of the blue asking to publish a book when you never sent them a manuscript avoid them.

3.       Agents. You do not need them. One can help, but you can go up to the front door and knock for yourself. If you do well enough a publisher may hook you up with one. Much like predator venues, there are predator agents out there.

 

4.        Review your contract. Make sure you are getting paid fairly, the amount of books being published, copyright, retailers sold through, time restraints, etc. A good publisher should review the contract with you via lawyer. Make sure what it is providing you. Pay attention to time tables.

 

5.       If freelancing make sure you are getting paid and who holds the copyright, especially if a project becomes liquated (falls apart), and the time tables (did I mention the time table). These are the three major things. Unlike publishing through a publisher or self-publishing freelance projects are negotiable if you have experience.  The reality of freelance work: you are getting paid by the word in cents per 100 words. Commissioners on FA jack up their prices. Those prices are not the reality. Getting paid by the page is usually seen as negative in the writing world. It does exist, but it usually reserved for nonfiction (such publishers know the length of their documents ahead of time). It is easy to screw with page length and why by the word is usually chosen for freelance contracts. 

 

6.       What may you need to pay for? ISBN (and other copyright documentation), cover, and an editor. A good publisher, in hypothesis, should provide all this for you. Sometimes they don’t.

 

7.       They may ask if you have a cover already. If they allow you to provide your own cover make sure you have a legal binding OFFER FOR COMMISSIONED ILLUSTRATION document signed by you and the artists commissioned. This can really get hairy. It is a document which provides all the legal mumbo jumbo for you and the artist and makes sure the publisher is clean to use the cover for the book. Many young artists do not understand the legal issues and are not used to signing documents used to the quick and easy commission world online. Most of the time, if you are allowed to use your own cover you are paying for it. Many artists do not understand it is coming out of your pocket and not the publisher.  It is not a commercial use license unless the publisher handles that on their own and pays for the work to be done (have you seen the uncanny nightmare CGI covers…. fat chance!).

 

8.       If you are self-publishing you will have to pay for all three of these.  Make sure your editor is a good one (knows there stuff and is not your friend you asked to edit the work for you). It is nice to develop a relationship with a good editor. A good editor is paid by the word.  Even if you have a publisher and they are providing an editor it’s a good idea to get one for yourself earlier to clean stuff up before a manuscript is read.

9.       Are you writing in the right tense? Are you sure?

10.   Publishers tend not to like to see work floating online and you will have to take it down. Some publishers allow for the preview (usually prologue and first couple chapters) to appear elsewhere.

11.   Get a good summary for your book. So many books fail at this. It should tell the reader what the book is about.

12.   Find a scary blocke to giving you a critique nightmare of your life *coughs* before you send a book in. No pains no gain. Good publishers sit you down with a copyeditor and skin you alive. If you’re self-publishing, this is not going to happen. It is a healthy bit of learning.  You want the book to be the best that it can be.

13.   Once a book is published it is free to review, critique, destroy and be read by everyone. It is open to review which reflects you and future success. If you did not get the critique beforehand this is what hurts. A Review is like asking for thoughts. Few critique through review. It is difficult to learn from a review. Anyone can put a star and thoughts. True, words are words, but tied to a published book instead of skirting issues and getting a good critique on it early can save you from the agony.

14.   Did I also mention the timetable? If you have no timed contract with a publisher and you are self-publishing you have all the time in the world to shape, critique, edit, and rewrite the thing so probably should get that in. Once on the timetable… Shakespeare save you.

 

15.   Once the book is published you are marked. It is easier to publish books. Audience begins to stickyou to genres, styles, ideas, logic, ethics, emotional soundness, respect. 

 

16.   The first book is a first book. What I mean by that is it is going to have problems as you learn through the process. Many first books don’t do well. In fact a book and its success depend often on luck and serendipity. Yet, you published a book and no one can take that feat from you.