Article: 10 Tips for Aspiring Authorpreneurs — The Book Designer

Books are generally divided into three parts: The frontmatter, the body of the book, and the backmatter.

Keep in mind that there is no book that has all of these parts. Use this list instead to make sure you have the right content in the right category, and that elements of your book appear in the sequence in which they are expected.

Normally, unless otherwise noted, each of these items should start on a right hand page.

Frontmatter

The Frontmatter are the pages at the beginning of a book before the body of the book. These pages are traditionally numbered with lowercase roman numerals.

Half title Page—Sometimes called the Bastard Title.  This page contains only the title of the book and is the first page you see when opening the cover.

Title Page—Contains the title, subtitle, author and publisher of the book.

Copyright Page—Is on the reverse of the Title Page, and contains the copyright notice, publisher information, the ISBN number, Library of Congress number, and printing information (usually “Printed in the United States of America”). Legal notices, credits for illustrations or cover design are also commonly listed on the page.

Dedication—Not every book carries a dedication but, for those that do, it is opposite the copyright page.  A dedication is always personal. Professional acknowledgements go on the Acknowledgements page or in the Preface.

Foreword—An introductory essay written by someone other than the author.  The Foreword is always signed, usually with the Foreword author’s name, and title.  Please note that the Foreword (literally meaning “the word before”) should never be spelled as Forward.

Preface—An introductory essay written by the author that tells how the book came into being, followed by thanks and acknowledgments to people who were helpful to the author during the time of writing.  The Preface is usually signed with the author name, place and date. .

Acknowledgments—The author expresses their gratitude for help in the creation of the book.  The acknowledgement page should not be more than 1 page.  If you have a Preface page that includes acknowledgements, then you do not need a separate Acknowledgements page.

Introduction—Here the author introduces the material that is covered in the work.  Typically, an author tells the reader what will be revealed in greater detail if they continue reading.

Table of Contents—Also known as the Contents page, this page lists all the major divisions of the book including parts and chapters and their page numbers. Depending on the length of the book, a greater level of detail may be provided to help the reader navigate the book.

Please note, you should include all your Front Matter in your Table of Contents (with the exception of the Title and Copyright Pages), even though they come before the Table of Contents.

A Table of Contents should start on a right hand page, unless it requires the use of two pages, in which case it should start on the left hand side.

Prologue—In a work of fiction, the Prologue sets the scene for the story and is told in the voice of a character from the book, not the author’s voice.

Body

The Body is the main portion or body of the book.  These pages are traditionally numbered with Arabic numerals with page 1 beginning with the first text of the main body (which means page 1 is usually the first page of the first chapter).

Parts—Both fiction and nonfiction books are often divided into parts when there is a large conceptual, historical or structural logic that suggests these divisions.

Chapters—Most fiction and almost all nonfiction books are divided into chapters for the sake of organizing the material.

Backmatter

The Backmatter are the pages after the body of the work.

Epilogue or Epilog—A short essay, in the voice of the author, that brings closure to the work.

Afterword—An Afterword either covers how the book was created (in which case you would not have a Preface) or it is written by someone other than the author, seeking to put work in some wider context (often done if the work is being reissued after many years)

Postscript— The postscript is a final “PS” note at the end of a book, providing additional information that doesn’t fit as part of the story or main point of the book.

Appendix —A supplement to the main work. An Appendix typically includes referenced documents cited in the text, or articles peripherally related to the subject of the book.

Notes—If your main text requires notes to amplify or document certain passages throughout the text, please arrange the notes by chapter in a notes section.Glossary—An alphabetical list of terms and their definitions, helpful in understanding the terms referenced frequently in the book. 

Bibliography—The bibliography section lists the sources for works used in your book. Be sure to arrange the sources alphabetically by the author’s last name.

Index—An alphabetical listing of people, places, events, and subjects cited along with page numbers.  This is typically done for a scholarly, non-fiction book.

About the Author—A brief biography, nor more than 1 page, about the author.  This is typically the last page of a book and is on the left hand side.  The author biography should either be on the last page of the book, or on the cover of the book (but not both).

A self published book can be a great way to get new prospects for your business, add value to your services and increase your revenue.   Here are just a few ways self publishing a book can help your business:

A book is the new business card

Nobody cares about your business card.  They will likely throw it away after they meet you.  A book on the other hand, seldom gets thrown away.    A business card just means you have access to a print shop.  A book differentiates you from your competitors (who are still passing out business cards).

A book gives you instant credibility

A book makes you an expert.  If you are consultant or someone who makes their money by selling their expertise, a book is about the best took you can have to establish your credentials and make you stand out among all the other consultants, counselors, and experts.

Speaking engagements, talk and radio show appearances and publicity are much more likely to happen if you have a book.  In our society being a published author equals being an expert.

A book is a lead generation tool

A book is an excellent way to generate leads and to make leads into likely customers.

If you are consultant, don’t just put a lead form on your website and wait for people to contact you.  Tell them if they register on your site, you will send them a free book with information of interest to them.  This will generate a lot more potential leads then no offer.

If you teach classes or offer a consultation service, give prospects a free book with the view that those that read the book will be more likely to pay the tuition for your classes.  You won’t make money on book sales if you give away your books, of course, but if doing so increases your sales conversions to your main business, then a book giveaway can still be a money maker for you.

Books can also be used in businesses we usually don’t associate with books.  For example, if you have a wine shop and you make your money from selling fine wines, you may want to consider offering a free book on evaluating fine wines.  An educated wine consumer is much more likely to spend money on a fine wine than someone who doesn’t know their Chardonnays from their Merlots.

A book can help educate your prospects and an educated prospect is more likely to see the value in what you offer.

A book offers added value 

Giving away a book in association with your service or class can add perceived value to your business services.

For example, you can require your clients to purchase your book as a part of the service you offer. For example, Bookstand Publishing had a doctor author who offered a weight loss service, who required all his clients to purchase his print on demand weight loss book (and he charged a lot for weight loss service too).

In another case, a consultant who published a print on demand book began including the book as a part of his speaker’s package so clients would receive something tangible when they attended his paid seminar (and, of course the book included his contact information and list of services so class participants could contact him again in the future).

A book is an additional revenue stream

Often speakers who speak for “free” or who charge a low dollar amount for their seminars take a different approach and sell books in the back of the classroom.  This is an excellent way to sell books, as customers are most likely to buy your book after having been inspired by your speaking.   Almost every big name speaker sells books in the back of the room (or offers a book as a part of their speaking package)

As another example, if you offer counseling sessions, and your book is relevant to that field, put your book on a bookstand with pricing and ordering information so that all of your counseling clients see it.  You can even offer a book signing at your place of business.  The fact is that your existing clients are the best prospects to purchase your book.

Retail sales of your book on Amazon, Barnesandnoble.com and other online sites, can happen for your book as well, if you smart about how your market and promote your book.  And being smart about how you market and promote your book will usually also help you in marketing and promoting your business as well.

• Be sure your book is in ONE electronic file.
• Set up your page size. The Directions below are for MS Word 7 and 10
• The most common and most economical trim sizes is 5.25 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall. To format to our other sizes, please change the “PAPER SIZE” per the following instructions. All other adjustments stay the same.
• In MICROSOFT WORD, open a NEW Document and click on PAGE SETUP under PAGE LAYOUT.

• Set your PAPER SIZE to Custom 5.25” x 8.25”.

• Set your MARGINS to Mirror Margins with the Inside Margins being .75″ and the outside margins being .5″. This creates space for the binding of the book. We recommend .7” for the top and bottom margins.

• Format your PARAGRAPHS to FULL Justified and Single Spaced. Indent the first sentence of the paragraph using the SPECIAL box and FIRST LINE by 0.5” as shown below. No spaces between paragraphs.

• You are now ready to put your book into this format. Close your existing book file. With the above described blank document open in Microsoft Word, go to the top Tool Bar; and the INSERT tab. Click OBJECT and then Text From File. Select your book and click INSERT. You have now put your book in the correct basic format.

• If your book is in separate files, for example each chapter in its own file, you must INSERT Chapter One, then place the cursor at the END of Chapter One and INSERT Chapter Two, and so on, into the main book file.

• Once the file has been inserted, view the page size on your as TWO PAGES. This will make the chapter location and the page numbering easier to visualize.

• Body Text should be set to 10 to 12 point Times New Roman text font. Actually, you may use any font you want; however, it is best to use an easy-to-read font. Also, keep the font and the font size consistent for a professional-looking book.
• Page Numbers should be positioned “Bottom of page (Footer)” On an even numbered page, the Page Number should be on the Outside Left. On an odd numbered page, the Page Number should be on the Outside Right.
• To begin page numbering you must first insert a SECTION BREAK on the last page prior to where you want page ONE to begin. In most cases page one is also the first page of Chapter One.
• You want page ONE and all other ODD-NUMBERED pages to be right-hand pages. Page ONE is always an ODD-NUMBERED and RIGHT-HAND page.  When working in Microsoft Word, this can be a bit confusing. A right-hand FACING page may appear on the left side of your screen when you are viewing the document as TWO PAGES. This will become clearer if you put page numbers on the OUTSIDE. Page ONE will then have the page number on the right side of the page, making it a right-hand page. If page ONE is a left-hand page, simply insert a PAGE BREAK before the SECTION BREAK. Remember, you are creating a book, so think as though you had the book lying open in front of you on the table.
• Here is how to set the Page Numbers in MS Word 7 and 10:
  • Go to Insert
  • Go to PAGE NUMBER
  • Go to Bottom of Page
  • Choose a Left Hand Page Number for an Even Numbered Page (For example Plain Number 1)
  • Choose a Right Hand Page Number for an Odd Numbered Page (For example Plain Number 3)

  

• Each chapter should begin on its own RIGHT-HAND page. This often requires adding a blank page at the end of a chapter in order to make the next chapter begin on a RIGHT-HAND page. If you choose not to adhere to the right-hand Chapter starts, however, that is acceptable to us.

For more information on formatting your manuscript for publication you can request a FREE copy of Professional Self Publishing Made Easy published by Bookstand Publishing.  Registering will also give you access to our preformatted MS Word Templates that you can download to your computer.   To register, please go to www.bookstandpublishing.com and fill out your name and email address on our home page.

Ten years ago, if you could not interest a traditional publisher in your book, you could spend tens of thousands of dollars preparing your book and thousands of dollars more with a custom printer to fill your garage with boxes of books. Thanks to digital printing technology, however, it is now possible to obtain a professional quality copy of your book for under $1,500. With Bookstand Publishing, you normally receive 48 copies of your book in the initial printing. The initial printing is included in the publishing package price. Visit our web site at www.bookstandpublishing.com for a list of all the benefits of publishing with Bookstand Publishing.

Here are a few questions you may want to ask yourself:

1. What is your motivation and purpose for publishing your book?

Writing a book is a lot of work. Publishing one is even more work. Is your purpose clear and sufficiently well conceived to sustain you through the experience? If profit is a motive, then the venture must be treated as a business. Typically, from start to finish, a writer will spend 10% of his or her time writing the book, 15% publishing it, and 75% marketing and promoting the finished book. Keep your purpose clear!

2. Is your book written for a specific market niche or group of people?

It is more expensive to promote a book to a wide general audience. Marketing costs are less when the target audience is specific, definable, and accessible.

3. Do you have a way to sell books direct?

Selling books direct (at retail price to your target audience) is the most profitable way to recover your initial self-publishing investment. The standard heavy discounts to wholesalers and bookstores can be costly for slow-moving books. In fact, without a solid marketing plan, selling books to bookstores can be the least profitable way to distribute your book. Think of alternative ways to distribute your book: Organizations, associations, corporations, conventions, fundraisers, and back-of-the-room sales after lectures or workshops, to name but a few. These are known as special sales markets. 

4. Are you willing to go out and promote your book?

A general rule for authors: A book stops selling when the author does. No matter who publishes your book, you are responsible for creating the demand for it. A book will not sell well sitting on a bookstore’s shelf, unless interest is generated for your book. Don’t forget: Writing a book is about 10% of the effort, publishing it is about 15%, and marketing it is 75%!

5. How many copies do you think you will sell?

Beyond your friends and family, who will be interested in your book? Knowing your market and how to reach those people are important questions to answer before you invest in self-publishing. The fact is that 95% of all books published sell fewer than 7,500 copies. With Bookstand Publishing’s print-on-demand services, though, you will not incur the added expense of printing thousands of copies of your book, only to stockpile them in your garage.

6.  What is Print-on-Demand (POD)?

At its simplest, print-on-demand (POD) publishing means that whenever a book is demanded (ordered, bought, requested), a copy of the book is printed to fill that specific demand.

This article is excerpted from The Self-Publishing Checklist by Andy Baldwin.  You can request a FREE copy of this book be sent to you here: http://www.bookstandpublishing.com/pod4/

Here are the basics of how to self publish a book:

1.  Write your manuscript

You need to write your novel, how-to-book, short stories, memoir, or poetry in a single electronic manuscript, preferably in Microsoft Word.  Gone are the days when writers wrote on typewriters or wrote out their stories in longhand.  If you have your manuscript on a typewriter or written out in longhand you will need to find someone who can input the manuscript into a MS Word document or other electronic format.

Here are some tips that will help ensure that your manuscript looks professional and is ready for any good Full Service Self Publishing Company:

• If you have pictures for the book, insert them into the manuscript where you want them to go.  Most self-publishing companies will not charge you anything additional for pictures if they are already inserted into your manuscript.
• Be sure all pictures are at least 300 dpi (i.e. a high resolution image)
• Always use the tab or alignment tools to indent and align text.  DO NOT use the space key
• NEVER use the Enter Key at a line’s end to force a return.  Let the software do the work for you.  The only exception to the rule is poetry, where it is fine to use the Enter Key at the end of a line or stanza.
• Always use the Page Break to start a new chapter or when you want to the text to move to the next page. DO NOT use the Enter Key or Space Bar to create a new page.
• DO NOT worry about page numbering.  Your Full Service Self Publishing Company should do this for you at no additional charge.

2.  Edit and re-edit your manuscript.

Your manuscript needs to be edited before you submit it for publication.  While the author can make the first several edits, the final edit should be done by someone other than the author.  The author is too close to the story and his or her mind will see things as correct when they are not.   Here is a good article by my friend (and Bookstand Publishing co-worker) Rick Helley on why editing is so important: Editing Your Self Published Book.

Minimally, you need to edit for grammar, punctuation, tense, and consistency. A book with lots of grammatical and spelling errors, or one that is hard to read will not be taken seriously by reviewers or readers and it will not sell well.  It will also reflect poorly on you.  A professional edit is great. If you can’t afford a professional edit, have a family member or friend, with editing experience, edit you book.  (I have found that a lot of English teachers will be happy to edit your book on the side)

3.  Submit your manuscript to a Full Service Self Publishing Company

For the first-time author, I strongly recommend you use a Full Service Self Publishing Company, such as Bookstand Publishing.  Full Service Self Publishing Companies will help you lay out your manuscript, help you with your cover, give you advice, provide you with electronic proofs of your book before it goes to press and much more.

In particular, you want to be sure that your Self Publishing Company provides you with:

• ISBN number
• Bowkers Books in Print Registration
• Distribution on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com
• Distribution through the wholesaler Ingram and/or Baker & Taylor
• Print on Demand order fulfillment

Please see my article on Finding a Good Self Publishing Company.

4.  Decide Upon a Cover

With most Self Publishing Companies you will have the following cover options:

1. You can choose from any of the cover templates the company provides
2. Supply your own cover artwork.  The supplied cover artwork must meet specifications of the Self Publishing Company.
3. Have your Self Publishing Company create a custom cover for you for an additional fee.
4. Provide a single image and have your Self Publishing Company create a unique cover for you from the single image. You can use a photo you have taken or you can purchase an image from any stock photo company usually for less than $35.  I prefer to use www.istock.com but there are many stock photo companies to choose from.

5. Work with you Self Publishing Company to develop a marketing plan appropriate for your book.

Books don’t sell themselves. You need to promote them.  Work with your Self Publishing Company to develop a marketing strategy for your book.

Some books, like memoirs, will not require much marketing since the target market may be just family and friends; however, if your market is bigger you may want to consider a variety of different marketing services such as:

• A Kindle Adverting Campaign
• A Press Release
• Publicity Campaign
• Website Design
• Professional Reviews
• Bookmarks and Postcards
• A Book Return Program for bookstores
• Bookstore Advertising

Additional Resources

Bookstand Publishing has lots of resources to help you prepare your book for publication and promotion, and you can receive them with no obligation by registering on the home page at www.bookstandpublishing.com.  By registering you will receive:

• Access to our FREE Self Publishing Guides
• Access to our Kindle Advertising Site Guide
  
• Access to our pre-formatted MS Word Templates for all different book sizes

WHY EDITURZ ARR KNEADED

By Rick Helley, Guest Blogger and Senior Editor at Bookstand Publishing

I came across this rather amusing item on page 12 of the May 7, 2010, issue of The Week magazine:

An Australian publisher has destroyed 7,000 copies of a cookbook after a recipe called for “salt and freshly ground black people.” The recipe, for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto, was meant to call for black pepper, but a typo led a computer spell-checker program to insert the erroneous word.

During my years as a copy editor in the corporate world, some gaffes approaching that one crossed my desk, such as the following:

•  A report discussing diesel emissions from ferryboats in San Francisco Bay included the line, “emissions from the San Francisco fairies.”
• A report on boiler emissions noted, “After eating lunch, the boiler exploded.”
• A company abstract about pollution control touted the firm’s “Population Abatement Systems” — to which I responded, via a note to the author, “Project Manager, Josef Mengele?”

 In addition, about twenty years ago, a newspaper in my city included a recipe for seafood salad calling for shrimp and, among other ingredients, “Crap.”

And, in 2002, the City of Lauderhill, Florida, decided to honor actor James Earl Jones with a commemorative plaque. Someone, however, failed to proofread the plaque, which ended up with the inscription:

Thank You
James Earl Ray
for Keeping the Dream Alive
City of Lauderhill
January 19, 2002

 The lesson here is that grammar checkers and spell checkers, as convenient as they may be at times, are no replacement for human editors and proofreaders.

Photographs and images in your book can help you tell your story and add interest, clarity and excitement to your book. A powerful image on the cover of your book, can do a lot to help sell your book.

However, the laws and regulations for when you can and can’t use a photograph in your book can be confusing and, if you aren’t careful, can get you in trouble.   Here are some simple guidelines to help end the confusion and keep you out of trouble.

Permissions

As a rule, if you didn’t take the picture yourself, you have to have written permission from the copyright holder to use the image in your book. The two exceptions to this are:

• Public Domain:   Under United States copyright law, all images published before January 1, 1923 in the United States are now in the public domain.    Just because something is posted on the World Wide Web does NOT mean it is under public domain.  In fact, most images on the World Wide Web are copyright protected and cannot be used without permission.
• Fair use:  Fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.   You can read more about Fair Use here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use   Please keep in mind that if you intend to profit from the sale of your book, the images you use in your book will probably NOT be covered by Fair Use.

Getting Permission

If you have a specific image you want to use, you will need to write a letter or send an email to the person who holds the copyright of the image and ask permission to use the image.  In some cases, the copyright owner of the image will allow you to use the image for free, but in many cases they may request you pay a fee for the right to use it.

There are a number of stock photo sites that will sell you images and the right to use the image in your book for a nominal fee.  My favorite image sites are:

• www.istockphoto.com
• www.Shutterstock.com
• www.Fotosearch.com

This is a FREE stock photo site with over 350,000 images:

• http://www.sxc.hu/

Wikepedia offers a list of image resources for public domain images:

•  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.php?curid=63057

Wikepedia is a good spot to search for images as the copyright restrictions on images are clearly labeled and many have been released into the public domain or are available for restricted use.

Images of People

If you took a picture of a group of individuals you may or may not need to get their permission to use the image in your book.

If you are using the image for editorial purposes, it’s usually okay to use them without permission.

If you are using photos with people in them for advertising, you need their permission.  People have the right to profit from their photograph or likeness and this right continues after death and is given to their heirs

Usually, using an image on the cover of your book would be considered an image for advertising purposes (since your cover is used to promote and sell your book) and using an image inside your book would be considered for editorial purposes.  For example, If you have pictures inside your book showing people white water rafting down a river, you will probably not need their permission. If you put that same picture on the cover of your book, however, you should get their permission.

Logos and Brand Names

Be wary of using logos, symbols, brand names, company names, and trademarks in an image.  Even using very old images of a brand name or trademark still in use, can get you in trouble.

Please note that I am not a lawyer and I am not engaged in rendering legal services.  When working with legal issues, or if you have any questions on using a photo in your book, you should always seek experienced, professional counsel.

Quotes from published books
Generally you need to get permission if you quote, in total, more than 100 words from a published book.  Less than 100 words is usually considered fair use for which you don’t have to have permission.

Quotes from periodicals
Generally, you need to get permission if you quote, in total, 50 words or more from a magazine or journal.  Less than 50 words is usually considered fair use for which you don’t have to have permission.

Quotes from poems or song lyrics
You must have permission to quote from a poem or song if you use two lines or more.

Quotes from a book, magazine or song published previous to 1923
Anything published previous to 1923 in the United States is considered in the Public Domain and you can use the material in your book without permission.

Quoting the Bible 
The King James Version of the Bible is in the Public Domain since it was published previous to 1923.  Most every modern Bible translation has a permissions web site that outlines how you can quote their Bible translation.  Typically, they allow you to quote from their Bible translation proving you provide proper copyright attribution; the quotes do not comprise an entire book of the Bible, and the quotes are less than 25 percent of the entire work.

Using Pictures and Graphics
You need to have permission of the photographer or artist to publish their photo or artwork in your book.  Just because a picture is on the web, does NOT mean that it is in the Public Domain.

Your best bet in using pictures for your book is to purchase images from a stock photo company (such as www.istock.com) where they have the rights to the images and will sell those rights to you for a nominal fee.

The other site that is good for finding images you can use in your book (especially if you need photos of a public figure) is Wikipedia. Wikipedia always indicates if an image they use on their site is in the Public Domain and, if not, they will tell what you need to do to get permission to use the image.

Using Pictures You Have Taken
Usually, you need to have permission to use a photo from anyone in the picture that is recognizable.

When in doubt, get permission or check with your attorney