Pub Team Assemble!

Perhaps you’re familiar with the Avengers franchise rallying cry “Avengers assemble!” (Surely I’m not the only one who’s spent countless hours (and dollars) in movie theaters with teen nephews and nieces over the years?) The phrase often comes to mind with author-entrepreneurs who try to “go it alone” when writing and publishing their books. Writing can be a solitary act, but for business owners especially, getting a team in place is a smart way to go about publishing a book. As you build your book team, look for people who are experts at what they do. To keep the Avengers analogy going for a bit longer: If you wanted to find the strongest Avenger, you’d look to Hulk. If you wanted the fastest, Quicksilver. Similarly, look for the people who can complete the task(s) you need. Here are just a few service providers you should consider:

• Book Coach

• Developmental Editor

• Copy Editor

• Proofreader

• Formatter (Interior Designer)

• Cover Designer

• Publicist/Marketing Support

Book Coach/Developmental Editor

If you need help during the writing process, whether organizational or editorial, look into hiring a book coach or developmental editor. This person can help with the big picture of your project: the structure, the contents, and more.

Copy Editor(s)

While you may need a developmental editor, you certainly need a copy editor if your goal is a professionally published book. This may or may not be the same person as the developmental editor. Copy editing is done after the manuscript is written, not during the writing process.

(Check out this post for more detail on the types of editors and what they do.)

Proofreader

Professional proofreading is the absolute bare minimum as far as editing goes. It’s just silly to skip this step, frankly. The expense is not prohibitive, and it can be the difference between your book being set aside for appearing unprofessional and being taken seriously. Hire someone who proofreads for a living — not your aunt or neighbor who is a retired middle-school grammar teacher or librarian (though surely she could take a look before you send it to a proofreader), and not your friend who did well in English classes.

Formatter (Interior Designer)

Templates are available if you don’t want to hire a custom designer. Alternatively, Adobe InDesign makes the process possible for even the design-challenged. A word of caution: Don’t DIY the interior design if your book has lots of images, graphics, and other non-text elements. Leave it to a professional. It will be cheaper in the long run than having an issue and having to pay someone a rush fee to clean up the mess you made with wonky margins, photos and captions being separated, and more because you aren’t familiar with a design program. (I may or may not have seen clients do this a time or two. And by “may have,” I mean “have.”)

Book design is different from website or graphic design, so be sure to hire someone who works specifically on books.

Cover Designer

Your cover is your first opportunity to make an impression with your book audience! If you’ve ever seen a bad DIY cover, you know exactly what I’m referring to. Your cover matters almost more than the content of your book for real-life sales, because readers will skip right over it if the cover isn’t appealing. Cost depends on whether you have the cover custom-designed or use a template (from a designer or not).

Some designers offer both cover and interior design.

Marketing/Publicity

Depending on how marketing savvy you are (or care to be), you can hire a book publicity firm or publicist to handle press and marketing. Whether you use an outside publicist or firm firm, or handle marketing yourself (or a combination of the two), you’ll want to have ideas for book marketing and promotion to bring to the table as you craft a launch and marketing strategy. 

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Internally, you might hire a VA, if you don’t have one already, to handle tasks like registering copyright and obtaining an ISBN number and the barcode, sending out advance copies and securing testimonials, securing any needed permissions, and setting up/maintaining a website for the book (or at least a page on your business site), among other tasks.

It may seem like you need to hire a lot of people to help you self-publish, but you may not need all of the service providers noted here. Ask for references or past projects before you hire someone for your book team. Most importantly, remember that, at the end of the day, this is your book, your career, and your reputation.

“Choose your team carefully. So much of your success is due to the people who you surround yourself with.”

— Tom Ford

Any questions? Let me know in the comments.