I have been asked many times about the publishing process. Here, I wrote the publishing process in detail to help newbie writers. There are two ways to be published. First published traditionally and second self-published (independently). Achieving success either traditionally or independently requires dedication and hard work. I shared my experience here, which will help you along your publishing journey.
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If you are an aspiring author and are writing your first book, then be familiar with the publishing process. Here I explained a few processes usually followed in a standard publishing house. It includes
Editing
Proofreading
Illustrations
Book Formatting
Cover Design
Editing
No one writes well in the first attempt. To create a good manuscript, it needs to be edited many times. First by the author him/herself. Then, edited by a professional editor at the publishing house.
Sometimes authors collaborate with freelance editors. And the editor will be credited for his/her work in detail.
The editing process can be classified as:
Developmental editing (conceptual editing)
Substantive editing (structural editing)
Line editing
Copy editing
Proofreading
Here I am explaining the four editing process
Structural editing
Line editing
Copy editing
Proofreading
1. Substantive editing (structural editing) - The editor organizes the whole manuscript and its entire text presentation from the book title to the end of the book. In the substantive editing process, basically, the editor focuses on the
Content tone and its writing style
Structural arrangement
Language choice
Flow of the Content
Character development (for a fictional piece)
Consistent voice throughout the piece
2. Line editing - the editor will focus on each line including the word selection of writers. It is the examination of the writer’s imagination. If the editor catches a good word which expresses thought better than your one. It will be replaced by your one. The process is not limited to a few words. Sometimes a complete sentence may be replaced and sometimes a complete paragraph.
Line editing will be done many times until it matches the emotional flow of the story. It is about details in the story.
3. Copy editing - Copy editors improve the readability of authored content by removing grammatical and punctuation errors. Copy editors follow all the essential steps to make a manuscript error-free.
In the publishing houses, line editing and copy editing are budget-based processes. And essential to the manuscript of a novice writer.
4. Proofreading - It is the final process of a standard publishing process to apply a publishing-ready tick on a manuscript. The one who does proofreading is called a proofreader.
Proofreaders have a good command of the language. Skilled to correct the grammatical error, spelling mistakes, and misplaced punctuation. They have basic fact checker knowledge. Proofreaders mainly deal with the
Manuscript formatting issues
Grammatical errors
Word choice
Misplaced punctuation
Typos - typographical error
Hiring a proofreader and an editor for every book might be expensive for a new author. So, to become a successful author you should have the knowledge of proofreading and editing. Here I recommend a few free software to quickly proofread your content.
For error checking - Use Grammarly
To check plagiarism - Use a Plagiarism detector
To check and improve readability - the Hemingway editor app
A powerful proofread tool - writer.com
Illustrations-figures
To make the book more entertaining and interesting for the readers, the authors use illustrations.
If you are thinking to express the characters in your story more significantly, I suggest drawing. If you are not good at drawing, then hire an illustrator. And depict the story scene and characters according to your imagination and as per demand in the story.
In an academic book, illustrations are very useful for students and teachers to understand the concepts.
However, in children’s books, illustration and figures are assumed to be essential and remarkably noted to provide a glimpse of an imaginative world. Illustrations make the story process easy to understand and made the content enjoyable. And it is also noted to play a vital role in setting the book sale remarkable.
I recommend publishing your book with illustrations and fulfilling your dream. If you have no idea about it, relax. The editor, illustrator, and publishing expert will guide you in the creation of a perfect book for your readers.
Book Formatting
Book Formatting is a time-consuming process and expensive too. To avoid time consumption, I recommend preparing your book format in the initial stage while writing. And it will improve during the editing process.
Here are a few steps to make your book printable.
During writing process
Pre-prepared a rough format for each page that you are writing or editing.
Leave space for the Title
Leave space for figures or mark that place
Insert table if needed
During writing provide space between paragraphs (roughly)
Avoid getting perfect in the first move. Leave it for the editing process. It will come with time and repetition.
During editing process
Follow all the editing processes mentioned above
Remove all the errors in the written text
Check its readability, and emotional flow. If not satisfied, improve it
Check the table content and its representation
Paste the good quality figures in the selected space.
Maintain the space between the paragraphs, lines and words.
Be ensure to highlight the headings, titles, and important content.
If you want to decorate any specific space, then leave it for interior design
Thus a rough format of your book will be ready during the writing and editing process. As you completed your manuscript. Now make it print-ready by applying the book formatting process.
It Includes
Size of the book
Page Margin size
Font size & style
Paragraphs/prose adjusting
1. Size of the book - The book size varies from book to book novel, poetry, storybooks, children's book or academic book, etc. Here are a few sizes, usually used for the mentioned category.
4.25″ x 6.75″
5″ x 8″
5.5″ x 8.5″
6″ x 9″
To select your book size, pick a relative genre book from your bookshelf. And measure its size by a scale. When selecting a book size aware of the production cost of the book. As size directly affects the production cost of the book and affects its MRP.
2. Page Margin Size - Look at any page of the selected book. And note the space between the edge of the page and the text on that page. This space is called page margin. Page margin includes the header size (top margin), footer size (bottom margin), right margin and left margin. Measure the selected book margin size by scale.
Apply the noted size to the header and footer of your book. You may change it according to the book's needs.
3. Font size & style - Choose a perfect font for your creations i.e. Poems, Shayari, Nazms, Gazals and Stories. As these creations are sensitive and touch the heart with just a glimpse of them.
The font style is also played a vital role in the respective genres of romantic, thriller, sad, and erotic stories etc.
For writing In Hindi cum English you can use font - Nirmala UI ( font size 10/11 or 12)
4. Paragraphing - Starting and Finishing a paragraph is very important. However, It is a part of writing skills and very very important. It totally depends on the writer’s wisdom, imagination and way of depicting the creation.
Paragraph breaks - Remember to break your long and lengthy written text into small paragraphs. It will be easy to mark for keep reading after the breaks. And to restart in their leisure, these breaks show their importance.
Thus following all the steps given above will result in a formatted manuscript saving your precious time and fund.
Cover Design
This is an important part of a book. And it should be done very professionally. Take time to finalize your book cover design.
If you have basic graphic design skills. Do not hesitate. Go for it and save your fund.
Here are a few criteria mentioned required to produce a book cover design.
Design your cover with 300 DPI (Printable)
Use Photoshop, and Coral Draw.
Canva for free cover design samples.
An eye-catching creative cover design will be able to grab the readers' attention but this is your writing skill and story emotions which will make the readers put your book in their cart.