So the time comes when — with my support and professional guidance — you have completed your final manuscript.

Congratulations! What a journey! What a fulfillment! What a triumph!

what now?

Unless you have been giving yourself to writing this book purely for your own understanding and healing (it happens), you likely want to turn the completed manuscript into an actual book. Print book, ebook, audiobook or all three – these are all ways of sharing with readers/listeners the fulfillment of your heart’s dream.

what are your choices?

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional vs. Hybrid Publishing

Traditional Publishing is when you write a book proposal and submit your manuscript to a literary agent (or publisher who accepts non-agented submissions). This tends to be a longer process - both writing the book proposal with its required components (Hook, Market Analysis, Competitive Titles, Marketing Plan, Author Bio, Synopsis, Sample Chapters, etc.) and finding an interested agent or publisher. A fair amount of waiting may ensue — to find the agent or publisher who says yes, and then for the book to make the journey from acceptance to publication (usually a minimum of a year), so both perseverance and patience are needed on your end.

The benefits of this process include (depending on the publisher and staff): a monetary advance against royalties (i.e., you get a certain $$ at the outset, which — once the book is in print — is deducted from your share of the book’s profits, i.e., “royalties”); potentially wider distribution; an actual marketing department (though all authors are expected to participate in the book’s promotion); and, depending on the publisher, the prestige of being published by Harper Collins, Routledge, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Macmillan, and the like. For some authors, this is the gate of paradise; for others, more trouble and less payback for their efforts than it’s worth.

Hybrid Publishing is when you pay a company composed of book-publishing professionals to publish your book. They may offer everything from soup to nuts to do with the book-production phase (i.e., editing, proofreading, illustration, cover art, book design, typesetting, ISBN, printing, and marketing), or just the basics. Some authors appreciate having publishing professionals handle the 'baby' of their manuscript — cleaning it up, polishing it, and promoting it to the world. Some hybrid companies invite author preferences and decisions, while others less so. There is no advance (you pay them), but all or most of the net profits from sales tend to belong to the author.

And then there is:

Self-Publishing

(& my self-publishing coordination service)

Self-publishing is when you take the matter into your own hands. You have total creative control: the book can be and look like whatever suits your heart and wallet. You either contract out all the book-production phase work or you do it yourself. Whether it’s coming up with cover art (or locating someone who will help with this), choosing typefaces and an interior-book design (or locating a typesetter whose work you like), setting up an author website (if you don’t already have a website to add your book to), or getting the book into print and/or ebook (and audiobook, if you’re so inclined), you get to make all the creative choices yourself. No one will try to convince you that neon-blue book covers are the rage this year, or that you really need to condense your 400-page lovingly edited manuscript down to 250 pages because “no one reads more than around 40,000 words anymore.” Your book, your baby, your pride and joy to show to the world.

SELF-PUBLISHING COORDINATION: If you want creative control but don't want to handle all the work yourself, I can help bring your book into the world as a self-published creation. I can coordinate it all for you, checking in with you when I need details or to give you progress reports, but otherwise leaving you free.

SELF-PUBLISHING MENTORING: If, alternatively, you want to do some of the self-publishing yourself, I can mentor you about the phases involved, introduce you to my book designer/typesetter of choice, and show you the basic ropes of the Print On Demand (POD) online print service I have used for years for my own and clients’ books.

APPROXIMATE TIME FRAME: Once the manuscript is final and ready for production, the length of the self-publishing process* tends to be around 6-8 weeks.

WHO I WORK WITH: Note that I offer this service only to my clients. This is partly because I can guarantee the value of their books (having been a significant part of their development), and partly because I only have a few slots per quarter year for delivering this service and I want to give them to my clients.

If you are already my client and are ready to self-publish, you can let me know.

And if you are not yet my client but are seriously considering it, then you can know that at the end point of your book-writing journey, this service is here for you, should you want it.

Of course, before any manuscript is ready for production, it needs professional editing to ensure that it meets publishing standards. If you're not yet a Book Development client but are considering the full journey from manuscript to published book, you can learn about my Book Development services and my editing services here.