how I write

How I Write #7: The Publishing

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

Well back to discussing how I write, and we’re to the end – the publishing part. Simple, right? Not really.

Publishing could almost be multiple posts but I don’t want to bore people in the wrong way. So before I cover the parts, lets cut to the point here – publishing your book after the writing, after the editing, is something not everyone can do on your own. You’re going to need help somewhere unless you’ve got the right experience.

Even after plenty of practice, I don’t have all the skillsets.

The Cover

About half my covers are done by other people. This is because, beyond my basic business books, the style I’m capable of (Genially Boring Professional) doesn’t work. In fact, I’m probably going to do enhanced editions of some books I have done covers for at some point. Because yeah, I could do better, and I’m sure you can think of which ones.

So first, I ask if I can do a cover on my own, in my style.

Let’s say the answer is yes. This is almost inevitably the case for my smaller business books and ebooks. In this case, I’ve got some basic approaches to covers I’ve used over the years that are pretty successful. In fact I grab the latest cover and mostly repurpose it for my next book.

In some cases I’ll want art. I try to avoid public domain and any art where the ownership is at all a problem, out of ethics and a desire not to have issues. For new art I got to www.canstockphoto.com which has great deals.  I’ve seen other self-publishers use it, which both speaks to its stock, and warns you to make sure you search Amazon for any similar covers.

Once it’s done I take the cover and run it by some friends and writer’s groups and the like, see what people think, modify it, and done. Again this is often ebooks.

Now if the cover needs to be custom art . . .

In this case I tap the artists I know. Usually that means Richelle Rueda as of late, and she, like any, is a person I fan-sourced – meeting people via fandom connections. Meeting someone that way lets you see them in a more artistic, playful, personal element and you get a better feel for who they are and what they do.  And yes, consider that a reference for Richelle.

I always pay artists.  Exposure is bullshit payment in many cases, so hand them cash or trade in kind unless they offer.  Art takes a long time.

I actually have the skills to format the cover, do the back, etc.  You can probably develop those skills, but don’t be afraid to outsource that as well.  Like, say, to the artist you just paid . . .

Formatting The Book

Formatting the book for publishing is something I do on my own – because it saves time, because it’s a good skill to have.  I learned formatting the hard way – by doing it and having to waste money on failed prints and times on failed e-books.  After a few tries I’m not only better, but it’s one more thing I can do myself

Formatting for me has two paths.

First is general formatting. I go through and make sure that the titles are properly done, that the bullet points are in place, and that the page breaks are right. This is stuff that’s relevant to doing the book right no matter what the format. Its surprising how many mistakes can get made – once I had inconsistent titling capitalization on a 300 page book – and I didn’t find that until the printed drafts.  I often roll this formatting into read-throughts.

Now it gets interesting. When I’m very (very) sure the book is in good shape I split it into print and ebook (if there’s both)

First is a document formatted for print. This can be pretty challenging as I have to format it so pages break, pages face the proper sides, paragraphs split (or don’t split), and so on. It’s amazing how having to make a document physical affects how you perceive it. Also if you don’t get this right you spend a lot of time reprinting the damn book.

Secondly is a document formatted for e-publishing. I use Jutoh, which is good for all formats – but recently I’ve gone Kindle exclusive. Kindle kinda won the e-pub war and I surrendered, but I still use Jutoh because it’s a damn good tool.

Formatting an electronic document is way different because you face:

  • Formatting that may change on device.
  • Conversion issues (often bullet points) to e-book format.
  • Flow issues.
  • Getting your chosen tool to generate the damn Table of Contents.

I split the books, and then edit one at a time – but I keep them both available because, while formatting, I often find errors. I then correct it in both documents and often the original documents, because I’m anal retentive as hell.

It used to be worse when I did Kindle, ePub, and PDF as I’d have to keep one doc for physical, one doc that became Kindle and ePub, and one for PDF. It was bad enough I think I repressed it.

So the formatting phase becomes pretty extensive as I basically split the books, then format the physical (and add changes to the other doc), then format the electronic document – and sometimes feed changes back to the previous. It turns into a nasty little oroborous of problems at times.

Finally, I give the physical doc a good look through. Then it’s on to pre-publishing this stuff . . .

Prepublishing This Stuff

I go through CreateSpace for physical books now, and Create Space, much like Lulu, lets you set up a book and publish it – without making it available. You can send yourself a copy for approval. Which, I assure you, you’ll want.

While I wait on that to get delivered, I generate the electronic copy of the book. This is where it gets complex again. See people read ebooks on various devices, so I usually generate it then check it on:

  • My computer.
  • My tablet.
  • My phone.
  • Anyone randomly in the house.

You have to consider use cases for your ebook to make sure it works for your audience – and putting it on various devices often reveals problems. Bad formatting, poor flow, an extra space, all become apparent. It’s a good test to make the document readable (and you may find additional errors).

Then at some point the book arrives, and I go through that. With a pen. I mark every page with an error, folding the page down, and underlining what’s wrong. I usually go through the entire book – then fix it in the publishing document, and at ties the e-book document. Sometimes there’s even issues with the cover you have to fix.

Then it’s running both over again, ordering another copy of the print book, and regenerating the eBooks. I’ve had to do the print book over four times at some point (note, that is due to rushing formatting so half that was my own damn fault).

Once it’s good enough (meaning I can make a pass through both without seeing an error or at least one I care about by that time), it’s a go. I upload the eBooks and I give confirmation the physical book is OK.

I’m published.

By the way, by now the feeling isn’t so much triumph as relief.

Looking Back

Publishing is often my least favorite part of doing a book. OK it is my least favorite part. This is why I try to get good formatting done early (I use templates for my books), finish covers, and check carefully. Once you get into this publishing cycle of actually getting the book out it can feel like a hideous grind.

It is a hideous grind, who am I kidding.

At this point I’d take a break, but there’s usually marketing to be done. I’m not going to write on that for awhile as I kind of am not great at that. Perhaps when I get further i’ll talk about it

But there you go, how I write. I hope it helps.

. . . I kinda feel exhausted at this point.

  • Steve

How I Write #6: The Editing

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

All right, so where are we in this extended discussion of how I write my books?  We just covered how I edit my wordspew and it’s time to talk editing.

After revising and revising and revising, my book is eventually “good enough” to be edited. By good enough I usually mean a mix of “this is good” and “oh god I’m sick of this, I’m gonna stop now.”  The latter is usually more prominent than I’d like, but anyway I’m at least at a stopping point.

When I refer to as editing, there’s sort of two kinds I lump under “Editing” because they’re really intertwined.

  • Pre-Readers – People who read the book for content.
  • Editors – The person or person that goes through the book and makes sure it’s got proper grammar, spelling, etc.  They also comment on content.

Before I go into how I do this, there are times I don’t do any editing beyond my own writing. At least in the past. Let’s take a look at that, if only for confessional purposes.

Let me repeat – this is when I don’t have others edit.  I still edit the hell out of my own work, even if poorly.

When You Don’t Use Other People To Edit

So first of all, I don’t think you should avoid having your work edited. If at all possible, someone should at least pre-read it. However there’s a few cases I can see someone not editing, which I’ve done or at least think I did:

  • The work is small, say a 99 cent ebook.
  • No one’s available to edit/pre-read and you want to get something out.
  • You’ve edited it really, really well.
  • The document seems tolerable.
  • You’ve got the kind of document (and knowledge) where the editing is easy.  A small work that’s an organized guide that follows an easily checkable pattern, and one you’ve run spellcheck/grammar check on multiple times is a good instance.

I’ve done two published works this way (and hope to revise them with editors and pre-readers when I can). It can work.

But I don’t recommend it. But hey, I gave you an out, and you can always say “but Steve said.”

Now anyway, on with editing.

Pre-Reading

I didn’t always use pre-readers – originally I only did when a book had a lot of interviews and I used them as pre-readers. In time I found that pre-readers were invaluable for insights.

See, a pre-reader isn’t an editor in the traditional/specific sense and that’s good. A pre-reader is a reader. They are not there to edit a book for language and punctuation, even when they do because they can’t resist. They’re they’re for content and flow.

They’ll catch things an editor won’t because an editor, no matter how much they read, is still editing. You really do need both.  Plus it takes a little pressure off your editor –  “Can you edit my terrible abuses on language and tell me if this meticulous battle scene makes sense?”

Secondly, a good pre-reader thinking as a reader can give you feedback on your book to help it become a better book.  They can tell you how it can be more consistent, better organized, and so on.  In turn it won’t just be a better book – that will make the book a hell of a lot easier on an editor. A book that reads easy, even with flaws, allows an editor to go to town as opposed to being stopped by confusing twists or ill-explained concepts on top of Oxford comma arguments?

How do I handle pre-readers?

  • I pretty much put out a call among people. I’ve started keeping a list of people to send things too now.
  • I give them 1-3 months depending on the size of the work.
  • I integrte feedback as it comes in more or less. For small works I may wait – for larger works i put in the feedback as soon as I get it.

Thats about it. Find, send, wait, integrate.

After the pre-reader feedback I usually do another pass through the book. then it’s off to the editor

The Editor

First of all when you get something edited to publish professionally, make sure they’re professional.

That may not mean they’re a professional editor. It means they have professional-quality skills relevant to what you’re doing. It could be from writing their own novels, it could be editing fanfic for ten years, it could be an experienced technical writer. Just get someone who can edit for what you’re doing.

I like to fansource, finding editors through fandom and geeky connections. They “get” me, I often get a break on price, they get their name on a book they like, I act as a reference, everyone wins.

I usually give an editor 1-3 months depending on the complexity of the work and their schedule. It also gives me a nice break, and sometimes while waiting I do extra formatting or setup for publishing.  Or write another book.

When I get the edited document back, I don’t use that document to make the final book – I read through it, page by page, integrating comments and changes into a new copy master document. That forces me to read and pay attention, and makes sure I don’t end up with a book laden with things I forgot to address, remove, or change.

This part usually takes at least a month. My goal, when it’s done, is to have it done.

The Final Read

So once that editing run is done, I do one more spellcheck and grammar check, and read through the book (yes, again). If I find any errors, I fix them – and run that check again.

At this point, having done so much editing, I use that previous trick of reading parts out of order just to keep myself fresh.

My approach is to read it through.  If anything changes in the small I fix it and re-read that chapter.  If there’s any large change, I re-read the book from the start, or at least skim.  I’m done when I do a pass through and didn’t change anything.

Then it’s one more spelling/grammar check.  Then it’s done

Onward To Publishing

So with the book edited – pre-read and edited properly – and with my final read-through’s its done. Ready to go.

It’s time to publish.

 

– Steve

How I Write #5: The Re-Writing

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

And let’s get back to How I Write with me, Steve.  Who Writes.  This.  And books.  But also this post.  Er.  Anyway, you get the idea.

So to recap I’ve covered how I write up to the point of actually writing.  It was basically:

  • I get ideas (and keep track of them)
  • I pick ideas to write (based on my plans)
  • I outline a book (at times to the paragraph level)
  • I write (by pretty much spewing writing into said outline until something booklike emerges)

By the time this is done I have a well-outlined book that is written by a mixture of gut, heart, imagination, and desperation.  The outline provided guidance so the book “works” – in that it reaches a goal – but the results are often less than stellar.

In short, my first draft is usually very first and much draft.  It’s often done with surprising speed, but it’s really not that great.  That means my next step is re-writing.

I hesitate to call this editing since my re-writing is not that subtle an exercise.  Sure, I often have content thats in better shape than it sounds when I call it “word vomit”  – but at best it’s not polished, and at worst parts of the content only worked in my head.  So it’s time to go through and re-write it because sometimes it changes massively.

Which isn’t as bad as it sounds.  Usually.

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