William Allan - How to Self Publish Inexpensive Books and Ebooks

WILLIAM ALLAN

Copyright 2016 by William Allan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without permission except in the case of brief quotations included in critical articles and reviews.

For more information, please contact the author.

First Edition

Cover image: Vladimir Melnikov | www.thinkstockphotos.ca

Cover design by Yvonne Parks www.pearcreative.ca

Author photo by Abby Ulmer.

ISBN: 978-0-9949712-2-7.

ISBN: 978-1-4956-1988-5 (ePub).

ISBN: 978-1-4956-1989-2 (Kindle).

Book Industry Standards and Communications (BISAC) Codes.

BUS 070060 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Media & Communications

LAN 022000 LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Editing & Proofreading

LAN 008000 LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Journalism

LAN 027000 LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Publishing

REF 015000 REFERENCE / Personal & Practical Guides

Additional copies of this book can be purchased at: www.howtoselfpublish.ca

Copies of William Allans first book, which is the subject of this book, are available at: www.fourmurdersinasmalltown.com

Copies of the same book in ebook format are available at: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/Four-Murders-in-a-Small-Town

Many authors spend months or even years writing their first book only to be intimidated by the publishing and marketing of their new creation.

I worked for more than 28 years at The Leader-Post newspaper in the Prairie city of Regina, Saskatchewan, population 223,000, as a reporter then copy editor doing page makeup.

But I quickly learned after writing my first book that the printing of books was a lot more complicated than the printing of newspapers.

Four Murders in a Small Town, my first book, was only 36 pages. But the journey to get that book published as a paperback and then an ebook taught me so much about the modern self-publishing industry. I thought Id write this book in hopes of making it easier for some future first authors.

In this book I cite 27 U.S. and 13 Canadian printers and 30 ebook publishers in both countries, although many overlap and produce both. (See for the reason why I included 35 more printing companies.)

I was searching for the best price to produce books. I, like many first-time authors, have lots of words but little money. Im retired living on a fixed income.

I sought out printers who would do professional cover design and text formatting since Im not the most tech-savvy guy when it comes to doing it yourself.

By citing so many publishers, this book includes printers of every genre of book, including childrens, religious, indigenous, fiction and nonfiction, novels, poetry, sports, travel, biographies, mysteries, environment, current affairs, children who are authors, humour, wellness, self help, graphic novels, cookbooks, drama, French, culture, historical, film and more, as well as translation services.

Its a complete book for every first-time author.

In fact, some of these printers would publish your book at no expense to the author if the content meets their submission lists.

And Americans using Canadian publishers would pay considerably less due to the value of the Canadian dollar.

I recommend where I went for my print book and ebook. But with all the printer and ebook publisher details offered in this book, I allow my readers to make up their own minds where to go to find the best fit for their situation.

For those of you who have written a novel and want some assistance in finding economical printers, I havent forgotten you. I will deal with your specific situation and those costs in .

I should mention how I gathered the list of publishing companies for this book.

I didnt approach these printers and say Im writing a book on self publishing and do you want to be included.

No. I approached this as a first-time author would. I got as much information as I could from company websites and, if necessary, I emailed and/or called them. I told them I wanted to publish a book and an ebook. If I come to you, I asked, what will I get and how much will it cost?

If a printers website didnt offer any pricing information, I tell you.

I also tell you when any printer mentioned in this book does not have a toll-free telephone number.

While the cost of calling long distance is not excessive, I believe printers should both encourage and make it easy for authors to contact them.

Email is fine, but I have found you can spend days emailing a printer back and forth when a short phone conversation solves the problem in minutes.

This may sound unfair to some small printers, especially in Canada.

But if I am citing the big boys when they dont have a toll-free number, I think I have to state this fact for everybody.

Some big printers dont have a phone number at all, relying instead on email or messages on their websites for authors to contact them.

I know its in their business plans, but I think that is disconcerting. They just refuse to spend the money to hire and train some people to answer phones.

You wonder what their real commitment is to authors when they refuse to speak to them.

Be sure to see my Awards in .

My journey is outlined in the following pages.

First the basics.

How to organize the pre-story pages of your book.

After the title page comes the copyright page.

It should be organized as follows:

Copyright 2016 by (your name)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without permission except in the case of brief quotations included in critical articles and reviews. For more information, please contact the author.

Printed and Bound in Canada (or the United States of America) at (your publishers company name).

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Necessary for selling your book in retail stores. If not supplied by your printer ask how you can obtain one. An ISBN number is needed for each format of a book, softcover, hardcover and ebook editions. ISBN numbers are free in Canada but Bowker charges $250 for 10 ISBNs in the United States. So you will pay for ISBN numbers if you get your book printed in the U.S., unless you purchase an expensive package in which case it will be included.

First Edition First Printing.

Cover illustration by (credit for cover illustrator, if used).

Cover image (credit for cover image or images if used, get permission to use each image).

Page layout by (name of employee at your printer).

Cover design by (name of employee at your printer).

Author photo by (name of authors photographer).

Helps libraries and bookstores access correct cataloguing data. Your U.S. publisher can supply this or give you information on it.

CIP is for books that will likely be stocked by libraries. They use it for cataloging purposes. It is available for books published in both Canada and the United States. Self-published books are not eligible in the U.S. In Canada, the book must have an expected distribution of at least 100 copies within the first six months. Ask your Canadian or American printer if your book is eligible for CIP. Publishers generally apply rather than authors. CIP is for books prior to publication. Published books are not eligible.