Twenty-Five Steps to Publishing Your Book.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash​

Are you considering writing a book? Do you have a book idea, but aren’t sure where to start? Have you been putting off writing that book because you’re anxious about publishing?

Whether you are considering self-publishing or going through a publisher, there are lots of overlapping steps. I’m hoping this list will bring you closer to holding your book in your hand. 

Things to note:

• There is no timeline for completing these steps. You can work at your own pace.
• I’ve included steps that are optional, but worked for me.
• These steps are based on slow-release writing (publishing no more than one book a year). It took me 2 years to complete them all. 
• These steps might be different for rapid-release writing (publishing multiple books a year), but I assume these prolific writers are already well-versed in the publishing process. 
• This list focuses specifically on fiction writing, but might be helpful for non-fiction writers as well.

1. Idea
No book can start without an idea. At this point you should have some notes on the setting of your book, the personalities of your characters and what they look like, the general plot timeline, and how the story ends. Organize your thoughts by writing the scenes and their order in point form. Draft some conversations and scenes so you don’t forget your thoughts.

If you are still not clear about your idea: research, read other books (fiction and nonfiction), watch movies, join a local book club, talk with other authors, bounce ideas off of your friends and family, sit in a park and watch people pass by, and anything else that could bring inspiration.  

Here is an older blog that I have written about my own creative process

2. First Draft  
This is where the idea first takes shape. It is a step that can be very satisfying for a writer. 
Based on your outline from earlier, do a brain dump. For this step, don’t worry about spelling, grammar or sentence structure. The goal is to immerse yourself in the story and type. A skilled typist can do more than 1000 words a day. Write as much as you can or want. Describe the settings, characters, Point of View (POV), interactions between characters, dialogs etc. 
Once complete you will have your first draft of the manuscript (MS).

3. Character Style Sheet
This exercise might seem useless at first since a lot of this is already in the book or in your head, but this will help you avoid inconsistencies in the book. I have read many books where a character had brown eyes, but at the end of the book they turned blue for no reason. This document will be for you and your editor’s eyes only. It is meant to be informative, but does not need to be pretty or grammatically correct.

Write down everything you know about the characters, their background stories, childhood, upbringing, how they look, their behaviour, their mannerisms, etc. Even if these details don’t end up in the book. This will help you to keep the characters believable.
Write down everything you know about the locations in the story and what takes place in them. Give these locations background stories. Who built them? Who owned them previously? How do people use this space? Find pictures of similar places and paste them into the document.
Write down any stylistic choices you are using, such as dialects. How are they different?
Does your story contain any items that are crucial to the plot? How do they look, how are they used and what are they used for?
Return to your style sheet and update it throughout the editing process anytime you think of something worth noting or whenever anything changes. 

A character style sheet is required for any books that are series, because it is easy to forget details from one book to the next. I suggest doing this for all books, because you never know when you might get the idea to write another book in the same universe.

You can read more about the character style sheets on my previous blog: Characters

4. Chapter by Chapter, Scene by Scene
So you’ve written the first draft of your MS. It was intense, but you did it; your book is now in your hands. Is it good and ready for publishing? Of course not. 
Now it’s time to slow down and edit the story. Chapter by chapter, scene by scene, focus on content and not on writing itself. It may be necessary to go over the scenes multiple times in order to complete them. 
Here are some things you’ll want to keep an eye on. 

1. Do I have the correct POV? Is that POV the most effective one?
2. Do the dialogs support the personalities of the characters? Do I understand and convey their motivations clearly?
3. Is the order of events correct, or should things be moved around?
4. Research: You might still need to research things. In one of my books a character uses a bō, and I had to pause my editing to get a clear understanding of how one uses such a weapon so that I could properly describe it in the story.
5. Space: Are my characters moving through the scene as I intended? (For example, a character cannot sit twice in a row, start running while they are sitting, reach for an apple with their hands behind their back, open the window when they are standing far away from it.) 
6. Time: Anchor the scenes in time. Is it morning or evening? How much time has passed since the previous scene or chapter and is it relevant?
7. Time: How much time passes during the scene? Do the events in the scene support the passage of time? (Example of an issue: a character pours boiling water over their tea in a mug, opens a window, returns to the tea and the tea is cold. Either opening that window took a long time, or the room temperature is below freezing.)  
8. Sounds: What does your POV character hear? Water hissing in the kettle as it warms? Birds singing in the forest? Kids laughing as they splash in the pool?
9. Visuals: What does your POV character see/notice? A passing bus blowing a cloud of black smoke? Streetlights reflected on wet pavement? A woman’s hair styled in a bun?  
10. Smell: What does your POV character smell? The smell of freshly cut grass? The aroma of freshly baked bread filling the room? An odor of dampness and mildew on the ground?
11. Touch: What does your POV character feel when touching something? Is it smooth, rough, hot or cold?
12. Emotions: These can be expressed through actions and facial expressions. Additionally, you can include the thoughts and reflections of your POV character. These expressions could be confusing to some, but there are lots of resources available out there on how to convey a character’s emotional state.  
13. Show, don’t tell. You can find lots of resources on this as well that will help you decide where you might want to show rather than tell. For example, instead of: “He was angry.” we could say: “He hit the table with his fist.”

5. Two-page summary  
You’ll want to begin by writing a longer summary and then trimming that summary down to just two pages. The summary should read like a story, with proper sentence structure rather than point form or disjointed sentences. The summary should be two pages, single-spaced, Times New Roman size 12, with default margins. No cheating.

There are two reasons to have a two-page summary of your manuscript:

1. Unnecessary characters and scenes. While writing the summary and then trimming it, you will notice that some details need to be omitted. If you have to omit a whole scene or a character from the summary without losing the idea of the book then consider whether or not these scenes or characters are necessary.
2. You will need this summary at a later stage - Cover design. ​

6. Full manuscript read-through
Read the whole MS from beginning to end. How well does it flow from scene to scene? How well does it flow from chapter to chapter? Look for things that you might have missed before. You can now look at grammar, sentence structure and of course spelling.
Change the font type and read it again. You will be surprised how differently it reads with a simple font change. Convert it into an ebook and read it again on your e-reader or phone. Print it if you can and read it again. 

7. Trusted reader (Optional)
At this point, the MS should already be quite decent. It should read smoothly to you and you should be happy with what you’ve written. This is when anxiety often kicks in. Is it good enough? The MS may still have problems, but you can’t easily pinpoint them yourself. This is when you may benefit from a trusted reader. 
I suggest finding someone close to you, who you have a good relationship with, and who you trust to provide unbiased and structural feedback for your book. You are specifically looking for someone who would not hesitate to point out issues and mistakes in your book and against whom you wouldn’t hold any negative feedback. Discuss their feedback with them in order to better understand it. 
Someone who will only give you positive feedback won’t be helpful here. Another writer, or someone knowledgeable about writing would be a plus, but unnecessary.
If you are confident in your story or you don’t have any trusted readers, you can skip this step and go to the next one.

8. Editing #1
This will be a general edit of your MS based on feedback from your trusted reader. The changes can be minor or more substantial. Once the changes have been made, I recommend reading your book again from top to bottom to see how these changes fit into the overall story. 

9. Title
If you don’t yet have a title for your book, you should start to think about it. Use your trusted reader to bounce ideas off of.

10. English Edit (Optional)
English is my second language and I often don’t trust my writing enough for it to be seen by a lot of people. I asked a friend with qualifications to check the manuscript for me.

This is optional if you are confident enough in your writing to send your manuscript to beta readers.

11. Beta reading
In this step, you can get an idea of how the book will be perceived by others. Use as many beta readers as you want. Remember that you are looking for constructive feedback on how interesting the book is. Are the characters likable? Do they feel real? Is the pacing engaging and the ending satisfactory?

Note that some professional beta readers might ask you to pay them for this work of reading and providing you feedback. Many readers, however, will do it for free and I always reward them by mentioning them in the acknowledgments section of the book and giving them a signed copy.
If you are still not sure what title to give your book, you can poll your beta readers on your ideas. 

As the beta readers are reading, do your own reading and research to find books that are comparable to yours in content, theme, or style. This will be useful for future marketing and for cover design ideas.

You can read more about Beta Reading in my previous blog post:
https://www.ewaanderson.com/blog/beta-reading

12. Finding a Publisher (Optional)
This step is for those who would like to publish traditionally. This is where you approach publishers who accept manuscripts and will ideally help you finance the rest of the publishing process. 
Once your book is accepted you will perform the rest of the outlined steps with your publisher, so there is still value in reading further. It can be helpful to know what else lies ahead. 
If you are not sure whether you want to self-publish or find your own publisher, you can find more information on the differences between them in previous blog posts:
https://www.ewaanderson.com/blog/traditional-or-self-publishing-part-i-money
https://www.ewaanderson.com/blog/traditional-or-self-publishing-part-ii-time
https://www.ewaanderson.com/blog/traditional-or-self-publishing-part-iii-effort

13. Cover design
This step assumes that you now have a title that you are completely happy with, and that your book has a clear theme that you don’t plan to change. If you are still unsure, you can skip this step for now and revisit it when ready.

There are three ways of getting a book cover.

1. Make it yourself. Unless you are an artist or have some designing skills I wouldn’t recommend this. Using your vacation picture might seem like a good idea, but without the necessary skills, it won’t look professional. This is, however, the cheapest option for getting a book cover for ebook and print and some writers choose to go this route.
2. Ready-made ebook covers. There are sites that offer cheap, ready-made covers that are often rendered images that follow current trends. Depending on the genre, theme, and plot of your book, you may not be able to find anything that fits. There are also pros and cons to having a book cover that looks almost identical to the book beside it.
3. Hire a book designer. If you are looking for a truly professional and unique look that will stand out in the stores, there is no shortcut. You will have to hire someone who has designed book covers before. They usually work with illustrators to create truly unique designs. 

Look for designers with whom you feel a connection and with whom you feel you’ll work well. Experience designing books in your genre is a plus. Schedule a call with the designer to discuss the book and the project that lies ahead. This is essentially an interview process.
The designer will ask you to prepare a two-page book summary in order to understand what the book is about so that they can offer you ideas of what designs might work best.

Once the cover designer has offered up some prototypes you like, you can show them to your beta readers for feedback.

More information about book covers can be found in my previous blog post:
https://www.ewaanderson.com/blog/cover-design-should-you-be-a-sheep-or-go-your-own-way

14. Finding an Editor 

Now it’s time to talk to a professional editor. When looking for an editor, keep in mind that this will be the most important relationship you will have with a professional during the book publishing process. Choose your editor carefully as it will have a profound impact on your story.
A friend of a friend might be a fine choice, and probably cheaper, but they likely will not be able to offer you the depth of editing that a professional, certified editor would. The process for finding an editor may differ depending where you live, however in Canada we have a special association called Editors Canada, which can be found at www.editors.ca. On this site you can find a long list of professional editors based on their skills and experience. 

What to look for in an editor?

• Approachability - You will be in frequent back-and-forth communication with your editor so it is important that you won’t feel intimidated approaching them with questions or concerns.
• Experience in your genre or non-fiction subject.
• Preserving your voice - Everyone has a different way of writing and sometimes we may read a book and think we would have written it differently. A good editor will not attempt to re-write your book, but make note of your style and edit the book in a way that preserves it. 
• Investment in your success - Knowledge transfers, encouragement and forward thinking are part of the editor's work. A successful writer will not only continue to write, but also return to the editor that helped make it happen.

15. Manuscript Evaluation (Optional)
Although beta readers can give excellent feedback, there is often no substitute for feedback from an editor. After reading your MS the editor will make detailed notes on what works in the book and what doesn’t. They will also offer suggestions on how to improve the MS, the characters, the story and so on, for better impact. Although I’ve marked manuscript evaluation as optional for people with experience writing books, it is a great way to get a more in-depth understanding of how your editor works. The editor might also offer to discuss the MS over the phone. Make note of how comfortable this discussion feels. If you feel the editor is not a great fit, go and find a different one. There is no reason you absolutely have to continue with this editor for future editing of the MS.

​

​MORE TO COME!
Sign up for the newsletter!