This is a book review of How to Self-Publish Your Book: A Complete Guide to Writing, Editing, Marketing & Selling Your Own Book by Dr. Jan Yager.

I don't normally review nonfiction, but How to Self-Publish Your Book by Dr. Jan Yager inspired me to give it a go. As an editor, I don't write and I don't have a book to publish. However, it's good to be informed about the whole process - what comes before and after editing. The full package attracted me to read it in the first place.

Knowledge of the challenges my clients face when writing, editing, marketing, and selling their books can only make me a better service provider. Since most of my clients are independent authors on a tight budget, the tag line promising "How to produce a commercial-looking book and avoid all the common pitfalls" seemed relevant. 

How to Self-Publish Your Book discusses both fiction and nonfiction, but admittedly I skimmed the nonfiction parts. Where inspired, I've expanded upon ideas in the book so any mistakes or ideas you disagree with should be noted in the comments of this post rather than directed at Dr. Jan Yager.

Naturally we'll start with step one, writing your book. I love the recommendation to begin with goal setting. So many elements depend upon it. For example, if you know why you're writing and for whom, you'll get the tone right and you'll get the content right. How can you revise effectively if you don't know who your ideal reader is? And as the author mentions, revising is important. 

I think about it like this - each draft and each pair of eyes that reads your book raises the quality one level. If I write this blog post and read it once before hitting publish, you can bet there will be errors and my quality rating might be considered Level 1. So yes, use that first draft to just get it down on paper or on a hard drive that gets backed up somewhere. 

Then self-edit until it's not embarrassing to show beta readers within your trust circle. But be careful revising based on beta reader feedback. Make sure your beta readers enjoy your genre and are within your target audience. Even then, consider if you agree with the suggested changes and if you're getting consensus from more than one reader. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to please everyone. By now, maybe you're at Level 20. You'll still drive yourself crazy self-editing until you can't take it anymore. That's when How to Self-Publish Your Book refers you to the chapter called "Getting Your Manuscript Ready for Publication."

The book emphasizes revisions to the first line as being the most critical, and then the rest of the first chapter. The opening does need to be strong with a fantastic first line and an intriguing introduction to the main character(s). Don't forget to give the basics of the setting and lay the foundation for the upcoming conflict. The advice to make your characters relatable and people you want to spend time with is spot on. However, the section of How to Self-Publish Your Book that offers tips for improving your writing suggests fairly obvious options of taking courses or working for a publisher and reading more.

Let's say your writing is excellent, or you have revised as much as you can and you're sick of it. The next trick is to figure out when it is good enough. For some, the goal is just "get published." If you're not seeking a prestigious award or literary prize, maybe you're ready to move on. Not surprisingly, I'd still recommend working with an editor as does Dr. Jan Yager, "At least aim high enough to meet publishing standards so you're putting out a quality product." 

I advise authors to work with critique partners and beta readers before hiring a professional editor. This saves the author some money and the editor from distractions. Do you really want to pay for time spent fixing obvious errors? As an editor, I'd much rather focus on the complex issues. Make me earn my hourly wage!

How to Self-Publish Your Book provides lots of brief but useful tidbits about the bones of the manuscript albeit less relevant to me so I skipped talk of front matter (acknowledgements and copyright page) and back matter (author's note and references). Although, I must admit that I'm super proud to buy the novels I've edited and see a thank you or credit for my small part in the author's work. 

In the "Getting Your Manuscript Ready for Publication" section, there was good information about how editing is important - no surprise that I agree. You'd think this is an elementary concept but I'm constantly amazed by how little people know about the different types of editing. 

So, let's return to our previous example of increasing the quality of your manuscript with each pass. Hire a professional developmental editor to help identify and offer solutions to problems with the big picture elements such as structure, plot, pace, character development, and point of view. Developmental editing occurs early on in the process and may bring your work up to a Level 50. Then it's up to you to revise based on suggestions from the editor. Let's say you agree and know how to apply global revisions bringing your novel up to Level 70. 

Next you should work with a professional copyeditor to correct spelling, grammar, usage, capitalization, and punctuation. It's perfect by now, right? Nope. It's still up to you to accept or reject the suggested changes from the copyeditor. I'd guess you're at Level 90 by this point. Despite all the eyes, all the software, all the professionals, it is still possible for errors to slip through. After formatting, you'll want a professional proofreader to take a last look, checking for typographical errors. We may be as close to Level 100 as we're going to get. 

The author includes a brief section on working with freelancers and I appreciated the tips for how to avoid scammers. Also, see our previous post How to Choose an Editor for Your Book.

Familiar with the need for reviews, I liked the additional advice for getting endorsements (blurbs or advance praise) for your book. As for publishing a book, I had a lot to learn. Cover design is not my area of expertise but now I know two things: 

• Cover designers (and editors) are worth the investment in working with a professional because without them, success suffers
• Placement and size, style and color, what critical elements to include on the front cover, spine and back cover all matter

Other useful topics that the book addresses:

• Interior Design - using a typesetter and how to format your book
• Creating an E-Book - pros and cons as well as overviews of self-publishing services
• Printing Your Self-Published Book - short run vs. print on demand as well as overviews of print-on-demand services
• Converting Your Book into an Audiobook - this was another area I knew little about so it was interesting to read about the considerations like if you should narrate your own book. (It even includes questions to help determine the right choice for you.)

Finally, How to Self-Publish Your Book by Dr. Jan Yager includes a section about Marketing and Selling Your Book. Some points of interest were:

• Understanding the Marketplace - not readers but where books are sold, check it out for the ideas beyond what you first think of
• Setting the Stage for Your Release - as a certified project manager, I love the book project timeline included in this chapter!
• There's a decent section on getting reviews, some of the same tips can be found here (see previous post about getting reviews)
• Getting Publicity - contains helpful information about creating a pitch and a press kit and developing a social media platform

So, there you have it, probably the most exhaustive nonfiction book review ever. I hope that gave you a solid idea of all the treasures you might find within the covers of How to Self-Publish Your Book. 

Kimberly Hunt is a freelance developmental editor with Revision Division, specializing in fiction for self-publishing authors. She’s happy to answer questions about writing and editing but beware as she can go on at length about her passions: reading, running, and volunteering. 

What is developmental editing? It's the first step in the editing process, before looking at grammar or spelling. It's the big picture feedback about structure, plot, pacing, and character development. I provide solutions to the problems I identify.

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