Publication 02: What is Publishing?

Publishing is a rather broad subject that covers the process by which a written item, a novel, a short story, a journal or an article, is transformed from a roughly written item on your computer screen into a presentable piece of literature. An author might choose publication for various reasons. It might be to prepare the manuscript for marketing or to gather together, and preserve material, such as a family history or to have a piece of literature formalized in print to place on their bookcase.

Whatever your reason to decide to publish your manuscript, you must go into the project with the realization that publication is an intricate process.

Whether publication is by a large publishing house or is undertaking as a self-publishing project, here are the prerequisites.

It may be obvious, but the first step is that you must complete the writing. Do not assume that as part of the publishing process, the publisher will take a rough file and smooth it out. Do whatever editing and rewriting is needed to get the manuscript in as good shape as possible. This editing and rewriting process may involve some or all of the following steps:

• Let the manuscript sit for a time, so you can come back to it with what I call “New Eyes.”

• With the fresh look that comes with reading your manuscript with New Eyes, you can see mis-steps which you had overlooked in earlier drafts.

• You should do a detailed spell check and grammar check.

• Having a trusted friend read and critique it. Important - anyone who critiques the work, must be brutally honest.

Now let’s discuss what publication involves.

Publishing is much more than simply printing a manuscript in book form. There are certain basic decisions that must be made before the presses begin cranking out a book.

What are those decisions that must be made before the manuscript can be put to print? They are:

• The physical dimensions of the book.

• The size and type of the font to be used.

• The size of text spacing.

• Location and size of images in the manuscript to be published.

• The ISBN must be obtained. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a 13digit number that uniquely identifies written products to be published. All books must have an ISBN in order to be marketed. The ISBN is included on the Copyright page of all books to be sold.

• Front and back material to be used, must be organized. Just some of the front and back material is:

• Any dedication and/or acknowledgments.

• An “About The Author” page.

• Brief description of the book, for the back cover.

• Author’s image, optional for back cover.

• Table of Contents.

With all of the above decisions made, the manuscript is now ready to be formatted.