Once upon a time, long ago, printing or publishing your own book was looked upon with less than grand praise. Some would have thought that the big publishing houses wouldn’t take the work, so the author had to publish the manuscript themselves. This misconception has progressed and matured side by side with the advances in technology. Almost ever household has a computer and printer. We buy programs that easily print our books in booklet form. Even printing the pages front and back, so all we have to do is fold and staple it (called "saddle stitching"). Ta-da, we have published a book.

On the other end of the spectrum, we can also take our work to commercial book printer and have it printed and bound just like the best selling paper backs on your shelves (they are "perfect bound").

As a graphic designer, I often suggest to my customers that they need to write something. Even if it is a small booklet. It is a great marketing tool - it shows their customers that they are the expert in their field - its fun for the ego - and it really helps them to become focused on what their business is all about. Much like the enlightening process of writing a Mission Statement can do for a company. When you have decided to self publish, there are a few things to think about first:

1. If you write long hand or on a typewriter, or talk into a tape recorder - it can be transcribed by a transcriptionist onto a computer. If you tape your books, remember that transcriptionist’s work with different size cassette tapes. I have a transcription machine that uses "micro-cassettes". So it might be a good idea if you know a transcriptionist that will do your work, check that you use the correct size tapes.

2. When the work is typed on the computer, it should be in Microsoft Word, or Corel WordPerfect, unformatted and without any images inserted. Unformatted means just stick with the font Courier 10 or 12 point or other common font. As a side note, the publishing houses want it in Word and in Courier. This is because each letter in Courier is the same width. The letter "i" is the same width as the letter "m". This way they know by a count of the pages how many pages it will be in their printed and bound form.

3. Hire a graphic designer to make your book look more professional than you could have imagined by formatting/designing the text and designing the cover.

Maybe you are familiar with working with printers and you want to produce the final art yourself and you have the programs (PageMaker, InDesign...). Take a look at other printed books on the same subject to give you ideas about formatting and designing your book. If it is a technical manual, see how other manuals are laid out. Do they have an index? A table of contents? If it is a novel, look at other novels you own. Where is the copyright information? Are there acknowledgements? How many title pages are there and is there a page for information about the author or is it on the back cover?

Only until the book is finished can you get a good quote. You will know exactly how many pages there are - to get the best quote, make sure you printin "full-signatures" of 16 page increments. When you know the pages and the paper that you will use, then you will know how thick the book will be. Then you can adjust the art on the book cover to allow for the thickness of the binding.

4. When getting quotes from printers, allow them to make suggestions. The same goes for the designer. This is their profession, they know what works and what looks good and what is professional. Some printers typical book is 5.5" x 8.5" is at least 30%-40% less in cost than a 6" x 9". One of the many reasons why you should use a printer that specializes in printing books. A printer that is set up to run 10,000 or more can’t give you a good price for 1000 books.

5. What’s your marketing plan? Now that you have a garage full of boxes of your book you will see that the easy part is writing the book. Self publishing requires plenty of work on your part. You would have to do a lot of work marketing yourself even if you went to a publishing house. But self publishing you get all the glory and all the rewards.

© Julie Howell