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Create Your Publishing Plan In Just 5 Steps

So you’re ready to get your book published… Congratulations! This is a huge step. Here are 5 steps to help you go from just having the book written to having it published!

Are you ready to chat about your publishing options? I’d love to talk to you. Apply for a Discovery Session here.

030816-Plan1. Clean up your manuscript

Go through and look for idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies. For example, I know I’m a huge fan of starting sentences with conjunctions (and, but, so, yet) and I have an over abundance of phrases in parenthesis. These are my personal writing idiosyncrasies. I don’t want to get rid of them all, but I make sure that each use either furthers the writing or is needed to keep the writing in my “voice”.

I also clean up any inconsistencies. For example, in my cookbook I published, I found that I’ve used the following:

  • tablespoon
  • Tbs
  • TBS
  • Tbsp.

That’s four different ways to say the same thing!

Decide on one standard format and will be keeping it the same throughout the book. (And using the same format for cup, pound, and teaspoon!)

When I edit for clients, this is one of the main areas in which I focus. I don’t really care if you want to say fig. or figure but I want it to be the same throughout the book!

When you're ready to publish your book, here's a 5-part plan to help! #amwriting #publish Click To Tweet

2. Write the “extra” pages

There’s more to your manuscript than the main bulk of the content. You also need your title page, acknowledgement and/or dedication page, copyright message, about the author blurb, and how to get more information instructions – which can be a list of your other titles or even your contact information.

As I work with clients to take their book projects from manuscript to published, I find we tend to forget the all-important “extra” pages that a book will probably have. So after a manuscript is turned over to me, I usually turn around and give the client homework.

3. Think about your cover

I give my clients a cover-creation worksheet that helps me get inside their head and really find out what they are looking for in the look of their book’s cover. But when a client has thought about it before hand it can really make all the difference!

For example: What color scheme do you like? What feeling are you trying to convey on your book cover? Do you want a picture or just text?

A great place to start is to create a Pinterest board and pin images of covers you like. ANY cover you like – it doesn’t have to be in your genre. Bonus points if you mention a few reasons WHY you’re drawn to the cover.

4. Define your publishing goals

I always think of goals as a moving target. You may begin your publishing journey looking to have a physical book to sell from stage at a speaking event and through the course of the process discover that holding a book in your hands with your name on the cover is the dream that keeps you up at night.

When I have my initial call with clients, I always ask what their publishing goals are. I get one of three responses:
A. Sharing their message
B. Credibility
C. Fulfilling the dream of becoming an author

Through the publishing process, I find that those initial goals will deepen and expand. You’ll find that your book and the process of getting it published will open up new avenues you never knew existed!

5. Understand that it is a process

030816-ProcessIt doesn’t matter if I’m publishing one of my own manuscripts or if I’m working with a client; publishing is a process!

Like my cookbook, for example: I thought it would be a slam-dunk to take my three existing camping cookbooks (eBooks) and put them into one print edition. A simple, week-long project. However, as I was editing all 101 recipes in the same book for the first time, I found typos, unclear instructions, and that I wasn’t even close to being consistent in how I convey measurements.

And this was the third time I edited each individual recipe!

But I understand that taking a project from manuscript to published book is a process. It goes through revisions, tweaks, and changes.

Remember that you don’t have to face the challenges of publishing your book alone! In fact, publishing books is my FAVORITE part of my business. If you’re ready to publish, then I’m here to chat with you!

Kim Galloway
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