A Brief Guide To Selecting The Best Book Publishing Services
Should I Go for a Package Deal? One of the first things to understand about book publishing services is that many companies providing them to the self-published author will offer a "package" -- a set of services that are included for payment of a one time fee. I would advise most self-published authors to go for a package deal in an effort to minimize expenses. Many unscrupulous book publishing services will attempt to get more money from the author by charging for these same services. What Types of Services Are Available for Publishing My Book? In general you can group the types of services which will be made available to you by book publishing companies in several different categories. The first category of book publishing services concern the manuscript editing and proofreading phase. Some book publishing services will offer (or include in their packages) manuscript evaluation, proofreading of your text, and editing. Remember that your book is going to be judged as inferior if it contains a lot of typos or mistakes -- so any opportunity to have your manuscript checked and edited is a big plus. The second category of book publishing services concern those things that actually make up the physical appearance of your book: the layout of the pages, the design of a cover, the use of color in illustrations, etc. Once again, the more options a book publishing company gives you in this area the better. There is no advantage to you as the author if your book does not look attractive when it has been printed -- no matter how much money you may have saved, it probably will not sell. The third category of book publishing services that may be offered to you has to do with the sales and marketing of your book once it has been printed. Different book publishing services may offer you different options: some firms may offer to contact book wholesalers; other companies may offer you the opportunity to set up your own website on the Internet to promote your book; some book publishing services will also make an attempt to sell your book directly to the public (most commonly to an online bookstore of some sort which they maintain); some book publishing services will simply give you a list of contact addresses for bookstores and distributors and tell you to do the marketing work yourself! Evaluating Various Types of Book Publishing Services When evaluating various types of book publishing services, you need to be very wary of any firm which will not fully and completely disclose all of their fees for producing your book. Many of the scam book publishing services are not in business for very long -- the longer a company has been in existence, the more likely it is that they are a reputable firm to do business with. It would be well when evaluating them to ask them for a list of authors who have worked with them -- contact a few of them for their feedback (and make sure to contact some who have recently worked with the company, not just those who may have had books published by them in the distant past). If the book publishing service you decide to work with requires you to sign a contract, examine it very carefully. Look out for any contract language that would involve you signing away rights as an author that you wish to retain. My own personal feeling on the matter is that any author who self-publishes should retain ALL rights to their published works -- so don't settle for anything less. |
