Writing a acim book. It can be the culmination of years of preparation. However, a few mistakes can sabotage all the time invested in your dream. Would not it be great to know in advance what mistakes to avoid? This article covers some of the common mistakes new authors make and explains useful alternatives.
1. Editing the manuscript yourself.
It’s fine to edit your manuscript for obvious errors. However, you alone will never catch all the errors. After you check your work, you should then hire a professional editor. Here are a couple of types of editors you may want to use and a synopsis of services they render:
Copyediting involves identifying and correcting typographical and punctuation errors, misspellings, grammar capitalization, word usage, word breaks, and formatting inconsistencies.
Line editing (also known as story, substantive, or content editing) involves substantial work on a manuscript which may include light rewriting, reorganizing, or suggesting more effective presentations. This level of editing also focuses on minimizing wordiness, confusing statements, vague generalizations, jargon or overuse of slang, mixed metaphors, redundancies, jargon or overuse of slang, gaps, use of passive voice, use of sexist or racist language, consistency of tone and focus, logic, and manuscript organization.
If you are writing a novel, it is imperative that you include line editing in your budget. Expect to pay $600 to $2500 for this service. A skillful editor can rescue a problematic book.
2. Setting a price for your book that is too low to cover your expenses and earn a fair profit.
If you get this task wrong, you will probably lose money on your book. Setting a price for your book is one of the most important tasks you must perform. You must determine how much it will cost to print your book. Once you determine this, you must set the price of your book to be at least five times the cost to print each book. However, depending on where you plan to sell your book, you may need to have a markup of at least eight times.
3. Thinking a vanity press is the same as a traditional publisher or book printer.
Traditional publishers do not charge you to publish your book. Vanity presses will charge you to publish your book. Normally they are merely printing your book. Vanity presses will probably charge you substantially more to print your book than a book manufacturer. As an alternative to choosing most vanity presses, you should publish your own if you desire to earn a reasonable profit.
4. Thinking the book cover design is not an important component of the book.
People do judge a book by its cover. In a bookstore, you only have about 15 seconds to sell a book to a browser. The sales device is your book cover. A browser will look at the front cover and then the back cover. If the graphics and text are not appealing, the browser will replace your book on the shelf.
Many new authors will find the cheapest person to design their book cover. That person may be a relative, friend, or person that is a good artist. However, they may be unaware that a book cover is a marketing tool. A good professional cover designer creates a cover that will help sell your book.
5. Not having a marketing plan ready before you write or print your book.
I normally write a marketing plan before I write a book. As a result, I have a feel for the demand for the subject matter and the level of competition. I decide on the market position I want to pursue. You should think about whether you want to position your book as succinct or comprehensive, easy to understand or complex, affordable or high end — all require different strategies.
