E-books and hardcover books are common these days. With so many books out there, the success of a book is important for it to thrive well amidst competition. Beyond writing a good piece of information or book, a book needs some important details for it to be successful. It’s like a meal. Beyond the rich ingredients and excellent recipe, the meal must be well cooked and well served to appeal to the eye and move one to take a bite or more.
Similarly, when you want to publish a book, you need to pay attention to some details to publish a book that will be successful. If you’re working with an agency, you will definitely be hinted at these procedures, yet, it doesn’t hurt to know these tips. And if you are hoping to self-publish a book for the first time, these tips will also be helpful.
Editing
Editing is one of the key ways to publish a good book. The mistake many people make is to think editing is simply about correcting grammatical and typographical errors. While these are things to note when editing, there’s more. Editing your draft involves examining your line of thought or the plot — depending on the type of book you are working on. Read through to ensure your line of reasoning in a chapter doesn’t contradict another. For example, does a character with a particular history in a chapter of the book have a contradictory event in another chapter? Editing will help you note this and make corrections as necessary.
Editing will also help you see where you can improve. This is why it’s important you make edits yourself before getting a professional to work on it. Of course, a professional is important when it comes to editing because you get to make accurate grammatical corrections needed before you can publish.
Tips When Editing
Wait for Some Time
Before you edit, take your time. Do not edit a book immediately after you finish writing. Wait for a week and use your fresh eyes to review the book. When you wait, you can see the material clearly and spot areas that need to be addressed.
Read Aloud
Read the pages aloud to make editing more accurate and less tedious. You will most likely feel less overwhelmed when reading aloud instead of reading with your mind.
Submit to Editors and Critique
When you write a book, it’s easy to see it as perfect and outstanding. However, you can always use the opinion of critiques and editors to improve your book in many ways. Editors and critics are ardent readers of many books. They are conversant with what appeals to readers and how an ideal book should be. Hence, they can use their expertise to determine how well your book will do in the ideal world. Feedback from these professionals will shape how you complete the book and fine-tune it to appeal to the target audience.
When you request the contribution of critiques, always make it an anonymous system. This will help you be more open-minded and take the reviews without bias. Look online for reputable communities where you can get an honest and excellent book review. Some publishing platforms have beta readers that are always available to critique a book; when you use these options to review your book, you are a step closer to publishing a book that will perform successfully.
Choose a Good Title and Good Book Cover
A good book title is important to arrest the attention of would-be readers and move them to make a purchase or even to preview it. The content of a book can be excellent, but if the title is not intriguing, readers may never get to try it. Especially if you’re not a renowned author, a good book title is very important for a successful sale or acceptance. So, when choosing a title, make sure it’s interesting, catchy, and indicates the genre. Do not copy an existing book title. However, you can take a cue from a successful book in your genre and use it to decide your title.
Added to a good title, pick a good book cover. A good book cover doesn’t have to be excessively fancy. A book cover can go a long way in determining whether to read the book or not. So, make sure it looks professional and straightforward, and the imagery should synchronize with the book’s title.
Formatting
Before your book is finally published, you must ensure it must be well formatted. Most readers use online platforms to get access to books. So, do well to get an expert to help format the book so it will be readable. When a book is not properly formatted, it will become difficult to read; the lines will be messed up, and paragraphs will be in disarray too.
Each publishing platform has unique formatting, so, as a publisher, you need to take notes as you publish on different platforms. Even if you are publishing a hardcover book, formatting must be done to make them readable.
As you plan to publish a book, keep these tips in mind to boost your chance of success.
