How do you, as a new author, start the self-publishing process?  There’s obviously more to it than simply finding a free publishing site and submitting your manuscript. As a matter of fact, there are many decisions and considerations to take into account before you start self-publishing. Over the last few months I’ve been putting together several documents (they’re really more like questionnaires) that cover many of these important topics, and we have found that this thought process–you might call it your publishing homework–definitely helps make the overall publishing experience more predictable and successful.

Needless to say, these are the foundational questions that I ask my authors to answer in the earliest stages of their project, and mostly relate to their book’s premise, their publishing goals and the condition of their working manuscript (i.e., is it really ready to publish?). You should ask yourself these same questions, even if you’re doing all the publishing work yourself. Sure, many of the answers might be no-brainers to you, but with my clients I’ve found that this exercise greatly helps us all assess where we are and what needs to be done to maximize our publishing outcome.  It’s worked for them, so I was thinking I’d pass these along to you as well.

This particular questionnaire deals with pre-publishing only, and actually has more to do with marketing than with publishing. In future articles I’ll walk through the other documents that are essential to successful self-publishing, including manuscript preparation, cover art/illustration management, publishing activities, marketing activities, and proper planning and coordination.

We’ll list just a few of the questions today–which will maybe get some dialog flowing–and finish up tomorrow.

Pre-Publishing Marketing Assessment:

1. What is your personal objective in regards to writing and publishing your book? Is it a labor of love? Something that you’ve wanted to do for some time? A book that had to be written? Please explain in detail.
2. What is your professional objective in publishing your book? Are you looking to achieve credibility, visibility, business or income growth? Please include all professional motivations.
3. How important is it that you find a traditional publisher for this book (or future books)? Not important at all? You’ll take it if it comes? It’s your ultimate goal? Please be specific as to your thinking today–you can always change your mind later!
4. What is the genre of your book? If you had to think of one place where your book would be shelved in a physical bookstore, what subject would it be under? If you’re still not sure, what, if any, books are you aware of that you think are similar to yours? Or, are there any authors that you believe are similar to you in writing style or subject matter?
5. What group of people do you expect would be particularly interested in your book (more than others), and—more importantly—why? Have you identified any specific market segment(s)–readers of Civil War historical fiction, teenagers learning to play soccer, or beginning C++ programmers? Please be as specific as possible.
6. Based on Question 5, how knowledgeable are you about your book’s primary market segment? Is it related to your professional career or part of your social circle? Is it of academic interest to you, or something you enjoy as a hobby? Please be specific.

Tomorrow’s questions will deal primarily with the author’s online experience and exposure–both of which are important to know as we set our “baseline” prior to publishing.

Comments are always appreciated, and till next time–keep publishing!

Henry Hutton (PublishingGuy)
PublishandSell.com
PublishingNewsUpdate.com
hhutton@publishandsell.com
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