I love how the self-publishing industry has evolved over the last ten years, so that people can take more control over their dreams to be authors.  I just spent time helping my mom publish her first book, all for under $10.00.  The process was straightforward and streamlined.  I think it’s a great channel for many who have been waiting to write and publish a book – even those who have already published.

I am not an expert on publishing, but I am good at research and exploration.  After all the time my mom spent writing over the years but never getting to the publishing step, I pushed her to pull together a book on something.  She did an excellent job.  She came up with her first title, “King Commemorations:  A Collection of Activities,” which will be available in a few weeks.

There are several self-publishing houses like CreateSpace.com and Lulu.com, which allow you to publish for no cost. Books are ordered on demand, so you do not have to put much money upfront.  As your book sells, the book is printed.  The buyer pays for the printing, so you do not have to pull money out of your own pocket upfront.

In addition to printing, the services ship, or distribute, the books as they are ordered. The shipping time is reasonable.  CreateSpace.com, which is an affiliate of Amazon, says shipping normally occurs within five days.

They even assign an ISBN number to your book.  And best of all, you keep all rights to your work.   On the downside, the services do not market for you much and they get a royalty on each book sold.  However, the services like Lulu.com have packages you can purchase, which provide more support for editing, marketing, pricing, retail store distribution, etc.  And in general, the more you invest upfront the less royalty the services claim.

If you are like me, I don’t mind doing the work myself.  Plus, in my case, I have a background in technical writing, so I am very use to writing, editing, layout, proofing and printing.

So, how did we do it?  Let me share the steps. 

Step 1: Write and Edit

• My mother wrote, or pulled together, her “book.”
• She and I edited the document several times for grammar and writing style.
• We worked on the layout.  Then, we edited the document again.
• When you have looked over a document several times, you can begin to make errors.  So, my mom had several of her friends, who write well and pay attention to detail, proof the book.

Step 2:  Prepare for Publishing

• We decided to try CreateSpace.com to publish the first book.  We set up her account and the detailed profile for the book.
• For submission, we had to develop a cover for the book, using a template provided by CreateSpace.com.  We also had to submit the cover and content as pdf files that were print ready.  CreateSpace.com provided detailed submission guidelines.
• Once we checked everything against the submission guidelines, we uploaded the files so CreateSpace.com could review and prepare a proof of the book.
• We were notified within one business day about a few, minor errors, so we corrected and re-submitted.  We were happy that we had successfully submitted in alignment with the guidelines.
• The only money spent was to order the proof.  That was just $9.00, including shipping.  The proof was shipped in one day and arrived within three days. I love their efficiency!!
• The proof was good quality.  It brought a lot of excitement, having your writings finally in print!
• We found a few errors in the printed proof, so we made changes and re-submitted.  Each time you re-submit the book you are required to order another printed book proof.  So, this is where you might spend more money, depending on how often you have to re-submit the book with changes.

Step 3:  Publish

• Once we were satisfied with the proof, we approved the proof online.
• The book is now in queue to be published, which takes a few weeks.  People can purchase from Amazon.com or the online store that CreateSpace.com provided.

Just a few additional points.  This process is totally online except for reviewing the book proof, so the more comfortable and efficient you are with the online environment the easier the process will be for you.  But, it’s still a great opportunity for learning because you have a strong incentive to succeed.

Some of the basic tools you will need are a computer, internet, word processor, graphics program, and pdf creator.  Highly useful skills include writing, editing, drawing and/or taking pictures, and graphic design.  But you can always find people to help you with any aspect of the process.

If you have been waiting to write that book, you now have even more control over getting it published.

I’ll let you know how we do on the marketing.