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The ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, is the number that identifies your book or audiobook from among all the others. Libraries order books by ISBN. So do grocery stores and bookstores, which get discounts so they can resell them and make a profit for their service. Some platforms, including Kindle Direct Publishing, offer free ISBNs as a convenience. Remember that not all conveniences are free. ISBNs are assigned by publisher. When you allow your platform to assign their own ISBN, you are in effect allowing your book to appear in Books in Print as if they are the publisher, not you. Kindle Direct Publishing now offers a slight nuance. As their customer service representative told me, “We will register your book’s imprint name as ‘Independently published’ with Bowker (the […]

Does your homemade book cover look homemade? You may be losing sales. Readers will judge your book by its cover. Do It Yourself I showed you in “Ordering Your Book’s Front Matter and Back Matter” that you can’t use the same inside text files for both softcover print on demands (PODs) and ebooks because the front matter and back matter items appear in different order. You can’t use the same cover file for both formats either but for a different reason. Your ebook and POD front covers can be the same, but ebooks don’t have a back cover. Also, like butterflies, they don’t have a spine. If you have artistic skills or desire, you can design your own cover by uploading photos and images from your personal collection or that […]

No one ever got into book publishing for the love of designing a copyright page. But the front matter and back matter have to get done. Fortunately, it’s easy. Publishing with Another Company When you publish your book through another company you don’t think about designing the copyright page or assigning an ISBN. Those tasks fall to the publisher, who also arranges for the book to be copyrighted, whether in the publisher’s name or yours. You’ll write your own author’s introduction (also called preface); the dedication, to whomever or whatever inspired you during the writing of your book; and the acknowledgments page, where you thank everybody who gave you support and encouragement along the way. You’ll format the table of contents. And you’ll track down and invite someone with credibility […]

In my last entry, I noted that we are in a Golden Age of book publishing. The technology revolution has made it easy and inexpensive for anyone to become an independent publisher, including you. Is traditional publishing obsolete? Advantages of Traditional Publishing Of course not. Publishing with them still has advantages: They pick up most of the costs for editing, design, typesetting, printing, fulfillment, and distribution. They can attract big-name endorsements for their books (but so can you if you know how to locate them, ask them, and not give up if you don’t hear back). You have a better chance of getting an advance — which in the academic market is often more than all the royalties you’ll ever receive. They are more likely to get their books translated […]

Now that your book is nearly finished, you need to be thinking more about publishing. Do you go the traditional route and give your book over to an established publisher? Or do you take advantage of current technology and publish it yourself? I’ve gone both routes. Each has pros and cons. In this entry, I’ll talk about independent publishing. In my next entry, I’ll give my take on traditional publishing. Independent Publishing While You Sleep We are in a golden age of independent publishing. Digital technology is everywhere. It’s easy to learn. It’s inexpensive. In the pre-digital age, you had to print 3,000 copies of your first edition in order to get a good unit cost. Today you can print out one book at a time and get comparable prices! […]