Tag: manuscript

Self-Publishing

Self-publishing & Page Count

The most important thing to recognize is the difference between your manuscript page size (which is most likely 8.5 x 11) and your published book trim size (which will most likely be smaller). When you discuss page count with your self-publisher, or per-page pricing, it is based upon the size of the published page, also referred to as trim size.

The most common published book trim sizes are 5.5 x 8.5 and 6 x 9, although on-demand publishing now offers most trim size choices available anywhere in the industry.

If your manuscript is 100 pages long at 8.5×11, you probably have closer to 200 pages of finished text when the book is published. Congratulations, your book just got twice as long.

That’s the good news. The bad news is, some authors are surprised when they see pricing based upon 200 pages instead of 100. Don’t be caught off-guard.

Keep in mind that your production price is directly related to your published page count. The more pages your book has, the more it will cost to print. Therefore, most authors keep their books between 100-300 published pages.

Yes, that probably means your book is already long enough to publish! But being long enough, and being finished are two different things, right?


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Editing Your Self-Published Book

Ask the Doctor: Editing and Self-Publishing

Q: I plan to self publish. My book was written and designed and ready to go to a printer, but somebody warned me that it needed editing.  I sent it to an editor, but he said he can’t edit it when it’s already designed. Why not?

A: A manuscript should always be edited before it is designed into book format, and the reasons are simple. If you plan to have the editor work on the hard-copy version of your manuscript, it has to be in standard manuscript format; that is, twelve-point Courier or Times New Roman type, double-spaced, with margins of at least an inch on all sides. This format is standard in the industry and gives the editor room to work. If the book is already designed, it won’t be in standard manuscript format; it will be in book format.

If you plan to have your editor work on your electronic file, the format won’t matter, but it must be in a word-processing document, not a design program or a PDF. Most editors are not designers and won’t have the design program used to design your book. If it is in a PDF file, most editors cannot change those files electronically. Worst of all, even if the editor has the capability of opening the design program or manipulating a PDF (which some do), editing a book after it is designed will surely interfere with the design. After the file is edited you’ll have to return it to your designer to get it redesigned, and there will certainly be an additional charge for that service.

As you can see, it’s cheaper and easier to follow convention. After you have made all the revisions to your manuscript that you can make, get it edited. After it is edited, reread the manuscript for a final proof before getting the manuscript designed into a book.

 

Bobbie Christmas, book doctor, author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing), and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more “Ask the Book Doctor” questions and answers at www.zebraeditor.com.