Beginner’s Tips for Aspiring Authors and Publishers

• Read all you can about self-publishing. There are many different aspects of the business to consider before you even start writing your book.
• Join St. Louis Publishers Association (SLPA), Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), or other professional publishing associations.
• Research your market. Be sure your book fills an existing need.
• Compare. Spend a couple of hours at a bookstore studying books that are similar to the one your plan to write. Check for price, size, number of pages, overall appearance, and tone.
• Know who your target market is and how you’re going to reach them.
• Enlist the help of other professionals, especially in areas where you lack expertise.
• Get several bids for each job—printing, artwork, and such—you’re going to have done by an outside contractor. Get references and be sure terms are in writing.
• Find out from those with some experience what questions to ask BEFORE getting those bids.
• Hire someone else to edit your manuscript, regardless of the strength of your editing skills. Writers are not good editors and proofreaders!
• Make every effort to send an error-free book to the printer. Correcting your errors during the printing process will be very costly.
• Have your book cover professionally designed.
• Send bound galleys or advance copies to reviewers and possible endorsers several months before you go to press.
• Be sure your distribution plans are in place BEFORE you get your books back from the printer.
• Don’t be afraid to ask “Would you explain what that means?”