Friday, July 4, 2014

Author Goal: Affordable Publishing

Here's the context for my urgent writing while on vacation as Hurricane Arthur keeps winds and rain hurling against the coast. I started a Yellow Pages Directory search this morning for a vacation nail salon. Leafing pages backward to "N" for nails, I stopped at "P" for "Publishers." I think that you, dear author, will understand this kind of distraction. 

An ad for Dorrance Publishing caught my eye. Dorrance claims to stand for any writer's ability ("freedom") to  publish. The pricing can be high yet seems to be reasonable if Dorrance does editing, formatting, and design, as well as print setup and printing. I would, however, advise a different route. Many services like Dorrance exist today, and I have a few general comments to get new authors thinking about options and avoiding rash decisions. 

You can learn to do basic professional formatting for your manuscript. Also, you can hire a professional editor to do an analysis of your book, all or part of it, and train yourself to do adequate proofing. You can hire an interior book designer, a professional cover designer, and buy your own ISBN number or series of numbers for later use, and/or a reasonably-priced book printing POD service that can allow you to choose distribution access to Amazon.com and other online booksellers. You can also research affordable ebook formatting to publish your book initially or later as an electronic book.

If you are an author already keen on these facts, then you have an opportunity to help other writers learn about ways to avoid leaping into high- cost services. I hope you will pass this kind of information to others. 

I have given a taste of options to prepare you and others for publishing basics. If you want more detailed information, you can let me know via Twitter @OpinariPeople ( caps not needed). I think it is urgent  for publishers and established authors to help book writers avoid leaping into publishing costs beyond their means.

This is written on the 4th of July. Happy Independence Day!

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