Pre-Publishing…

Many of us—especially first-time authors—are most likely unfamiliar with this term. Defined somewhat loosely, pre-publishing consists of the activities that come after you’ve written your manuscript and before your book reaches the printer. It covers three primary areas—content preparation, cover art creation, and marketing research.

Unfortunately, this area of the publishing cycle is often given short shrift by self-publishing authors– although it deserves to be a critical point of focus. One of the main reasons for its lack of attention is the simple fact that it doesn’t concern writing; Instead, it involves the mechanics of editing, formatting and publishing that typically make us uncomfortable.

Even worse, it involves marketing research that we are often unprepared for.  For example, are you choosing an appropriate title for optimal ranking in the search engines? Is your book’s printing price going to enable you to make any money? These questions, and many others, are best answered early in the publishing game, yet we ignore them until our post-publishing sales activity—or lack thereof—points to a problem. And by then it’s too late.

From my years at Lulu I was able to witness firsthand the positive results that properly executed pre-publishing activities have on reader reviews, online visibility, and overall sales. As I’ve continued to consult and coach authors through my new company, PublishandSell.com, I’ve created and fine-tuned this process to make it more easily understood and accessible by first-time authors. I can guarantee that you’ll see the value in tackling these tasks early on—and you’ll be glad you did!

The Big Picture

There are three main areas of publishing, and proper pre-publishing is the essential first step to a successful overall publishing experience. The pre-publishing process is followed by the actual publishing step, which is then followed by your primary post-release marketing activities.

As you might have guessed by now, inadequate pre-publishing sets you up for future problems—or delay at the very least–because the important decisions that should be faced early on are postponed, or even ignored. For example, let’s say you’ve just finished the final draft of your manuscript (and let me be one of the first to extend my congratulations!), but the marketer in me requires that I ask you a few questions. Have you identified the primary market segment for your book? How are most successful books in that market segment presented? Hardcover? Softcover? 6×9 trade paperback? Do you know what font type/size you’ll want for your book? Are ebooks—the fastest growing market segment today—gaining traction with your target audience? Also, how large is that market segment? What are their buying habits? How will you reach them, and influence them to buy your book?

If you think about it, having these answers early will help your next steps– the actual publishing and marketing activities–go a lot more smoothly, and can greatly empower you to higher degrees of overall success.

Furthermore, you’ll find that just having a record of these decisions will be beneficial, enabling you at anytime—now and in the future—to go back and remind yourself why you acted as you did, and what your mindset was early in the game. Sure, you’ll make mistakes on your first book—first-timers always do—but you’ll find that these notes will help you better prepare for your second book.

In upcoming articles we’ll get rolling with specific pre-publishing questions that every author should consider before they start the publishing process, and which again cover these three areas:

• Manuscript & Content Preparation: All activities necessary to insure that your manuscript and interior content is not only completed, but optimized for publishing and sales success.
• Marketing Research: Any information about you, your book, or your book’s subject matter that can help you maximize your book’s success.
• Cover Art: Creating a compelling and attractive cover that attracts your buying audience to your book.

I hope that you’ll find these tips helpful, and till next time–keep publishing!

Henry Hutton
PublishandSell.com
hhutton@publishandsell.com
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