How to publish your own book in the U.K.
A brief guide to self-publishing
There are lots of web sites about this. Below is a guide for beginners based on my own experience.
A brief guide to self-publishing
There are lots of web sites about this. Below is a guide for beginners based on my own experience.
Let me make it clear from the start, I am talking about printed books here, not Kindle and online copies.
First the good news: self-publishing is surprisingly easy. Now the bad news: the vast majority of self-published books do not sell, and end up being pulped, as I explain below.
A tip before you start
Try and get as many people as possible to read and comment on your book before you even think of publishing. And beware the person who just says, “very good”. They probably haven’t even looked at it! The best reviews you can get at this stage is from someone who mauls it to pieces. Unless it is simply abuse, his comments can point out every failing, and gives you a chance to put it right. Also you will not realise how many typing errors you have made and not noticed until someone else reads it.
Introduction
Before the advent of the word processor and the home computer, publishers received about 30 submissions a month. Now they can receive 300 a week. Not surprisingly, unless you are a known author, or have some idea which catches their fancy, they will simply reject your book without even reading it. I guess this is what has happened to you, or you would not be reading these notes.
In response to this a number of firms have sprung up offering to help you self-publish. My only comment here is: be cautious. Find out exactly what it is they are offering you. If it is only to get your book printed, and then distribute it (you having to advertise it and take the orders) then they are charging you for what you can easily do yourself. However, there are good firms on the market. Just read carefully what they are offering you, and then search their name on the internet. Bogus firms soon get exposed in blogs produced by the people they have cheated.
Legal Aspects
Publishing in the U.K. as far as the law is concerned, is simply to make public. You have published if you stand in the street and announce your book out loud, provided you can prove you did it.
If you are at all worried about someone copying your work before it is printed, then print a copy on ordinary A4 paper, and then send it to yourself by recorded delivery in a sealed envelope. It helps if you can get a friend to sign and date it across the seal. When it arrives, do not open it, but keep it just in case you have to produce it in a court of law.
When it is printed, on the first page of your book you must have the words:
“Copyright © [The year] [Your name]. All rights reserved.
[Your name] has asserted his/her moral rights to be identified as the author of this work under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.”.
This is quite sufficient to safeguard your work. The copyright laws in Britain are strict. Extra wording about not allowing copying are not necessary.
Planning
So you have decided to publish the book yourself. As I said above it is surprisingly easy, but the vast majority of self-published books do not sell, and end up being pulped. There are three parts to the process: publishing (including printing), marketing, and distribution. The first is easy; most self-publishers come to grief on the next two.
The problem is not getting your book published, but marketing it. Who is likely to buy it, and how are you going to tell them about it? How are you going to take orders and supply them? Before you even start you must ask yourself these questions. The normal way books are marketed is by advertising. How much it is going to cost to advertise your book, and in which journals or web pages?
Of course, one marvellously cheap way of advertising your book is getting a journal to print a review of it. But there is no guarantee that any journal will review it, or if they do, will give a good review. Another way is by social media. If you can find a network of people interested in your book, then it may be a source of sales. But note the “may”.
The brutal fact is, you may think the whole world has been waiting for your book, but the world may have a different opinion.
Check list:
1. What is the market for this book? Who will read it?
2. How do I reach them? Which journals/web pages?
3. How much do those journals charge for adverts?
4. How may adverts can I afford?
5. How many books do I need to sell to cover the costs? See the Summary in the next section.
6. Am I likely to sell that many?
7. Am I ready for the worst case scenario: only a handful of sales, or none at all?
8. How are people going to order my book?
How many to print?
Summary of costs:
1. Printing – normally a one-off payment to a printing firm.
2. Marketing – mainly advertising.
3. Distribution: This can be done for you by firms such a Nielsen and Amazon. If you are going to distribute, then the main costs are postage and packing (in padded envelopes). Then comes printing invoices and delivery notes (sometimes), and collecting payment from bookshops. Remember bookshops and online distributors want 1/3 or 1/4 or even 2/5 off.
Given your expected sales, the price of your book must cover all of these.
So how many should you get printed? Start with the smallest economic number, given that printers charge less per copy the more they print. My advice is that you should aim at breaking even if you sell about 1/2 of the first print run.
Finding a printer
Do an internet search of printers in your town. Also look in the local papers and guides.
Two warnings: first if you get a call from a person claiming to be a printer after you have made the search but before you have contacted anyone: beware! These are probably cowboy outfits who will take your money and then vanish. Point to note: how did they know you had done the search?
Second warning: after you have found what seems a suitable printer, look up their name on the internet. Have any people posted warnings about them in their blogs? Also check the printer’s web page for any doubtful signs. E.g. It must have a clear postal address. If it does not, then stay away from them.
Once you have found some reliable-sounding printers, email them asking for quotes, and attach files of book and cover. They need not be in their final forms at this stage. You should not send Word or other processor files to printers. Convert them to Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files, and then send those. There is an option in Word to do this. Be ready for vastly differing sums being quoted. Some printers are used to printing de luxe art books, and charge accordingly.
One tip: a friendly printer will often make suggestions about the layout of your book. Listen, but do not necessarily follow. It is your book, after all.
Now comes the one great snag: most printers insist on being paid in advance. You will just have to accept this. They have been cheated as well! You may be able to pay half now and half when it is delivered, or on its way.
ISBN
The International Standard Book Number is the number you see above a bar code on the back cover of a book. Strictly speaking, it is not necessary to have one, but bookshops use it when ordering books. Also, once you have obtained one or more from Nielsen, you can add your book to their database. Amazon and other suppliers regularly troll this database for titles, so a few days after adding yours, it will appear on Amazon and other lists.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, Nielsen only issue ISBNs in ones or tens. Buying ten is cheaper than buying two! You will have to try and predict whether your book will have a sequel, and if so, how many.
Producing a barcode from an ISBN is easy: there are online sites which do it for free.
In case of problems reading the barcode, have the ISBN printed on the front inside cover.
Formatting
I presume you have used Microsoft Word or something similar to write your book. Now you have to decide on the format you want to have it printed in. Printers today are becoming very flexible, but previously paperbacks were printed as 4.4 inches across by 7 inches high as standard. I use the following in Word:
Width 4.4 inches, height 7.0 inches.
Mirror margins: Top 0.3 Bottom 0.3; Inside 0.5 Outside 0.35.
Header 0.35 Footer 0.4.
There is no need for you to follow this, but it gives you an idea.
Be aware that printers print pages in blocks of 4, so your book will probably have a number of pages divisible by 4. If it does not, they may add extra blank pages at the end to make it up. There is nothing wrong with this, but it means wasted pages you could have used in some way.
The Cover
Design the cover in landscape format so it matches the width of 2 pages plus the spine. The width of the spine is dependant on the thickness of your paper, but for normal 80gsm (80 grams per square meter) paper, the width of 120 pages is 0.35 inches. Allow for a bit of wander and bending of pages. The usual cover thickness is 250gsm.
The book arrives
One of life’s great pleasures is holding in your hands a fresh book which you have produced. Enjoy the moment; then have a careful look at it. Is it correct? Have they printed what you asked for? Is the print, binding and artwork satisfactory? I had to tell a printer to print it again on one occasion.
Now the real work starts!
1. Send 1 copy to British Library. You must do this within 1 month of receiving the book. Get their address off the internet. N.B. include your full postal and email addresses in the covering letter.
2. Set up the book on Nielsen Title Editor. This, as I said above, means it will appear on Amazon and other web sites in a few days.
3. Send “thank you” copies to anyone who helped produce the book.
4. Add it to your web page, if you have one.
5. Email journals asking if they are interested in reviewing your book. Include a brief summary. If no reply for a week, then phone them.
6. Advertise by whatever methods you can.
7. Wait for orders. Good luck!
First the good news: self-publishing is surprisingly easy. Now the bad news: the vast majority of self-published books do not sell, and end up being pulped, as I explain below.
A tip before you start
Try and get as many people as possible to read and comment on your book before you even think of publishing. And beware the person who just says, “very good”. They probably haven’t even looked at it! The best reviews you can get at this stage is from someone who mauls it to pieces. Unless it is simply abuse, his comments can point out every failing, and gives you a chance to put it right. Also you will not realise how many typing errors you have made and not noticed until someone else reads it.
Introduction
Before the advent of the word processor and the home computer, publishers received about 30 submissions a month. Now they can receive 300 a week. Not surprisingly, unless you are a known author, or have some idea which catches their fancy, they will simply reject your book without even reading it. I guess this is what has happened to you, or you would not be reading these notes.
In response to this a number of firms have sprung up offering to help you self-publish. My only comment here is: be cautious. Find out exactly what it is they are offering you. If it is only to get your book printed, and then distribute it (you having to advertise it and take the orders) then they are charging you for what you can easily do yourself. However, there are good firms on the market. Just read carefully what they are offering you, and then search their name on the internet. Bogus firms soon get exposed in blogs produced by the people they have cheated.
Legal Aspects
Publishing in the U.K. as far as the law is concerned, is simply to make public. You have published if you stand in the street and announce your book out loud, provided you can prove you did it.
If you are at all worried about someone copying your work before it is printed, then print a copy on ordinary A4 paper, and then send it to yourself by recorded delivery in a sealed envelope. It helps if you can get a friend to sign and date it across the seal. When it arrives, do not open it, but keep it just in case you have to produce it in a court of law.
When it is printed, on the first page of your book you must have the words:
“Copyright © [The year] [Your name]. All rights reserved.
[Your name] has asserted his/her moral rights to be identified as the author of this work under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.”.
This is quite sufficient to safeguard your work. The copyright laws in Britain are strict. Extra wording about not allowing copying are not necessary.
Planning
So you have decided to publish the book yourself. As I said above it is surprisingly easy, but the vast majority of self-published books do not sell, and end up being pulped. There are three parts to the process: publishing (including printing), marketing, and distribution. The first is easy; most self-publishers come to grief on the next two.
The problem is not getting your book published, but marketing it. Who is likely to buy it, and how are you going to tell them about it? How are you going to take orders and supply them? Before you even start you must ask yourself these questions. The normal way books are marketed is by advertising. How much it is going to cost to advertise your book, and in which journals or web pages?
Of course, one marvellously cheap way of advertising your book is getting a journal to print a review of it. But there is no guarantee that any journal will review it, or if they do, will give a good review. Another way is by social media. If you can find a network of people interested in your book, then it may be a source of sales. But note the “may”.
The brutal fact is, you may think the whole world has been waiting for your book, but the world may have a different opinion.
Check list:
1. What is the market for this book? Who will read it?
2. How do I reach them? Which journals/web pages?
3. How much do those journals charge for adverts?
4. How may adverts can I afford?
5. How many books do I need to sell to cover the costs? See the Summary in the next section.
6. Am I likely to sell that many?
7. Am I ready for the worst case scenario: only a handful of sales, or none at all?
8. How are people going to order my book?
How many to print?
Summary of costs:
1. Printing – normally a one-off payment to a printing firm.
2. Marketing – mainly advertising.
3. Distribution: This can be done for you by firms such a Nielsen and Amazon. If you are going to distribute, then the main costs are postage and packing (in padded envelopes). Then comes printing invoices and delivery notes (sometimes), and collecting payment from bookshops. Remember bookshops and online distributors want 1/3 or 1/4 or even 2/5 off.
Given your expected sales, the price of your book must cover all of these.
So how many should you get printed? Start with the smallest economic number, given that printers charge less per copy the more they print. My advice is that you should aim at breaking even if you sell about 1/2 of the first print run.
Finding a printer
Do an internet search of printers in your town. Also look in the local papers and guides.
Two warnings: first if you get a call from a person claiming to be a printer after you have made the search but before you have contacted anyone: beware! These are probably cowboy outfits who will take your money and then vanish. Point to note: how did they know you had done the search?
Second warning: after you have found what seems a suitable printer, look up their name on the internet. Have any people posted warnings about them in their blogs? Also check the printer’s web page for any doubtful signs. E.g. It must have a clear postal address. If it does not, then stay away from them.
Once you have found some reliable-sounding printers, email them asking for quotes, and attach files of book and cover. They need not be in their final forms at this stage. You should not send Word or other processor files to printers. Convert them to Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files, and then send those. There is an option in Word to do this. Be ready for vastly differing sums being quoted. Some printers are used to printing de luxe art books, and charge accordingly.
One tip: a friendly printer will often make suggestions about the layout of your book. Listen, but do not necessarily follow. It is your book, after all.
Now comes the one great snag: most printers insist on being paid in advance. You will just have to accept this. They have been cheated as well! You may be able to pay half now and half when it is delivered, or on its way.
ISBN
The International Standard Book Number is the number you see above a bar code on the back cover of a book. Strictly speaking, it is not necessary to have one, but bookshops use it when ordering books. Also, once you have obtained one or more from Nielsen, you can add your book to their database. Amazon and other suppliers regularly troll this database for titles, so a few days after adding yours, it will appear on Amazon and other lists.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, Nielsen only issue ISBNs in ones or tens. Buying ten is cheaper than buying two! You will have to try and predict whether your book will have a sequel, and if so, how many.
Producing a barcode from an ISBN is easy: there are online sites which do it for free.
In case of problems reading the barcode, have the ISBN printed on the front inside cover.
Formatting
I presume you have used Microsoft Word or something similar to write your book. Now you have to decide on the format you want to have it printed in. Printers today are becoming very flexible, but previously paperbacks were printed as 4.4 inches across by 7 inches high as standard. I use the following in Word:
Width 4.4 inches, height 7.0 inches.
Mirror margins: Top 0.3 Bottom 0.3; Inside 0.5 Outside 0.35.
Header 0.35 Footer 0.4.
There is no need for you to follow this, but it gives you an idea.
Be aware that printers print pages in blocks of 4, so your book will probably have a number of pages divisible by 4. If it does not, they may add extra blank pages at the end to make it up. There is nothing wrong with this, but it means wasted pages you could have used in some way.
The Cover
Design the cover in landscape format so it matches the width of 2 pages plus the spine. The width of the spine is dependant on the thickness of your paper, but for normal 80gsm (80 grams per square meter) paper, the width of 120 pages is 0.35 inches. Allow for a bit of wander and bending of pages. The usual cover thickness is 250gsm.
The book arrives
One of life’s great pleasures is holding in your hands a fresh book which you have produced. Enjoy the moment; then have a careful look at it. Is it correct? Have they printed what you asked for? Is the print, binding and artwork satisfactory? I had to tell a printer to print it again on one occasion.
Now the real work starts!
1. Send 1 copy to British Library. You must do this within 1 month of receiving the book. Get their address off the internet. N.B. include your full postal and email addresses in the covering letter.
2. Set up the book on Nielsen Title Editor. This, as I said above, means it will appear on Amazon and other web sites in a few days.
3. Send “thank you” copies to anyone who helped produce the book.
4. Add it to your web page, if you have one.
5. Email journals asking if they are interested in reviewing your book. Include a brief summary. If no reply for a week, then phone them.
6. Advertise by whatever methods you can.
7. Wait for orders. Good luck!