Should Self-Publishing Authors Hire Editors, Producers and Cover Designers? Team Publishing vs. DIY

Self-publishing is something of a misnomer, given the various ways that authors can publish books outside of a traditional publishing relationship. In particular, we might consider two modes of indie publishing, do-it-yourself and team publishing. DIY is for authors who go it entirely alone. Authors who seek to make their projects team efforts may engage others to help them with various aspects of publication, whether those teams are groups of freelancers and friends or companies that have formed for the purpose.

Are there benefits to indie authors to outsourcing different aspects of their projects, especially those that emulate the services provided by traditional publishers, or are authors better off saving their money?

The 2014 Digital Book World and Writer’s Digest Author survey asked self-published authors whether and what type of services they hired to help them with their projects as well as how much they spent overall on bringing their latest self-published book to print. The survey sample considered in this blog consists of a voluntary sample of 2,197 self-published and hybrid authors who responded to our questions about their most recent self-publishing experience. Since the survey is voluntary, it may not represent the population of self-published authors. However, the extensive survey interviews provide insights into what services our sample of indie authors favors and how particular services relate to earnings.

Just under half of the self-published authors surveyed had hired someone or contracted with a company to help them self-publish their last book. Among those who hired services, the median expenditure was in the range of $500- $999, and the median number of services used was 3. The most popular service outsourced by authors was cover art.





The survey questions don’t tell us the quality of the services authors received or provided themselves. In my own experiences seeking contractors for different aspects of publishing my serial thriller, I found a range of prices. For example, I found cover artist bids that ranged from $35 up to $1800 and formatting bids from $75 to $700.

What is the difference between the low end and the high end of the spending range, and how much impact does it have on sales? On a limited budget, which, if any, services make the most sense to employ?

Using the information provided by the 1,927 authors who reported their earnings from their most recent self-published book, we find that authors with higher incomes are more likely to have utilized a team publishing than a DIY approach, to have utilized more services, and to have spent a considerably greater amount of money in bringing their books to market. Authors earning higher income were also more likely to report hiring services that were most likely to be provided by traditional publishers, namely professional cover art, editing (independent of or in addition to proofreading), and marketing and promotion.

Of these, the greatest differences between those that had no income and those that earned $10,000 or more from their latest book related to cover art and editing. Among authors making no income from their latest book, 22% contracted cover art, compared to 52% of those making more than $5,000 and to 63.6% for those earning $25,000. Similarly, under one fifth of authors earning no income from their latest self-published book hired an editor to help with content development and/or copy editing (e.g. line edits) compared to 38.5% of those earning more than $5,000 and to 50% of those earning $25,000 or more. Authors with higher earnings on their last self-published book were also more likely to have contracted for marketing and promotion, although with less impressive differences between groups in the percentage utilizing these services.



These cross-sectional results do not demonstrate causality, only correlation. They show that authors across the earnings range adopted a team approach, such that hiring a cover artist or editor is no guarantee of earnings success. There are likely myriad other factors that determine sales and earnings–for example, genre, number of other books published, etc.–in addition to the quality of the services employed. Moreover, the results do not provide us with information on how much authors invested in each type of service or which ones might yield the greatest payoff. It may also be that authors with prior sales success were more likely to invest more in producing subsequent indie books.
What the survey results do demonstrate is that authors with higher income were more likely to adopt a team approach than were authors with lower or no income from their last self-published books. To me, the results suggest the potential advantage of working with a team to produce a professional package.

Review: The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing by Marilyn Ross and Sue Collier

In the early days of modern self-publishing, there were two books most self-publishers lived by: The Self-Publishing Manual by Dan Poynter, and The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing by Marilyn and Tom Ross.

While Poynter has continued to update his book, now in its 15th edition, The Complete Guide was sorely in need of an overhaul.

Now, since Sue Collier has joined Marilyn Ross as the new owner of Self-Publishing Resources, the company Marilyn and Tom founded, Sue brings the modern sensibilities of a blogger and active social media user to the company.

Sue has taken on the herculean task to bring the massive Complete Guide into the twenty-first century. And she’s done about as well as could be expected.

The Whole Nine Yards of Self-Publishing

The approach of The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing is encyclopedic. It attempts to cover just about every base you might cross as a self-publisher.
The book is divided into seven parts:

1. PART I: Today’s Publishing Scene—Deals with the history of self-publishing, different ways to get into print, the difference between subsidy, vanity and self-publishing, goal-setting, and an overview of the ebook market.
2. PART II: Start-Up Considerations to Get You Off on the Right Foot—This part discusses finding subjects to write about, the nuts and bolts of researching and writing books, different sorts of books you can publish, editing, setting up your publishing company, generating capital, operating procedures, bookkeeping, tax implications, choosing publication dates, getting ISBNs and bar codes, and the other minutia of publishing.
3. PART III: Creating a Quality Product That Attracts Buyers—The authors delve into book design and production.
4. PART IV: Killer PR—The Great Equalizer—The Rosses were always known for national campaigns, and that emphasis continues here, with a strong section on PR, marketing plans, reviews, getting editorial coverage, generating radio and TV interviews, running book signings and the like.

1. PART V: Selling Books the Usual Ways—The authors explain how to get into the retail book distribution channel in order to sell to bookstores, about wholesalers and distributors, and the ins and outs of advertising and direct mail, subsidiary rights and book spin-offs.
2. PART VI: Nontraditional Venues for Generating More Sales—Here you’ll find a new section on social media marketing, premiums and incentives, and other “maverick” sales opportunities. Also discussions of developing a sideline as a speaker, creating seminars and working trade shows and book fairs.
3. PART VII: Propelling Your Business Through the Stratosphere—Looks at different ways to expand, either through selling your book to a traditional publisher, or by transforming into a small press.

The book concludes with a brief timetable, the outline of a five-month marketing plan, and lots of resource lists. There’s a bibliography, a glossary and an index, which you will find useful.

What’s the Bottom Line on The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing?

I’m really glad Sue Collier has updated this book, which has been fantastically useful to generations of self-publishers. With the addition of a lot of web-oriented material, the book should have another useful lifespan. It’s also been completely redesigned and has a much more modern appearance.

One thing I liked were the “Websites, Wisdom & Whimsy” sections at the end of each chapter. These are set apart through some fanciful typography, and have amusing quotes, tips and resources. They even included one of my all-time favorite William Safire quotes: (Safire wrote a column on language for the New York Times for many years.)

William Safire was asked if sloppy communication was caused by ignorance or apathy. “I don’t know and I don’t care,” he quipped.

The scope of this book is very similar to Poynter’s but it’s written quite differently. It continues to show its parentage as the original product of Tom and Marilyn Ross who worked together to establish a highly successful company in the publishing business.
 
This is also one of its shortcomings. Despite being overhauled, there’s no way this book can escape the era in which it was written. The entire mindset of the book is oriented to traditional self-publishing using offset printers, wholesalers, distributors and sales through the whole chain of distribution.

Today creating anything like a national campaign for a self-published book is very difficult task, and one that almost all self-publishers would fail at. Tough but true. On the other hand, the explosion in self-publishing brought about by print on demand technology and now, by ebooks, is given little attention as a viable commercial model.

Yet in my experience this is the path being taken by an increasing number of self-publishers, in response to technological changes, risk-aversion brought on by the economic collapse, and the ability to put a book into print for almost no money. When The Complete Guide was originally issued, self-publishing relied on your ability to sell at least 2,000 offset books just to pay for your development costs. This is no longer true.

On the whole however, this is a valuable book for people entering self-publishing. It gives a thorough overview of how the different pieces of the puzzle fit together, and has plenty of illustrations, forms, resource links to point you in the right direction. It’s practical throughout and will be endlessly useful as a reference as you go through the process of becoming a self-publisher.

Oh, Um, There’s This One More Thing . . .

Tom and Marilyn Ross always expemplified the proud and outspoken spirit of self-publishers, and they championed other self-publishers and helped to make them a success. So it’s a little ironic that The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing is no longer self-published. This new edition is being published by Writers Digest. Which is interesting. In November Writers Digest will also publish the formerly-self-published Indie Author by indie publishing advocate April L. Hamilton, who has written about her decision to traditionally publish her book.

Both of these books are high-quality, must-read acquisitions for modern self-publishers, and I hope they both sell a lot of books. The self-publishing world would be better for it

How Much Attention Should You Pay to Book Design?

Last spring I had the good fortune to be interviewed by Jane Friedman for her wonderful and very helpful blog for writers. (If you’re unfamiliar with Jane’s blog, I highly recommend it.)
Jane, who is “a firm believer in the power of design,” wanted to talk about the challenges facing indie authors who may come to publishing with little or no expertise in this area.

• Should authors hire designers?
• What kinds of mistakes do do-it-yourself authors make with their books?
• Should print and eBooks have the same covers?

These are the kinds of questions Jane had, and I was happy to oblige. Here’s the complete interview, with Jane’s questions in bold.

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I’m a firm believer in the power of design. I think it affects purchasing not just in obvious ways, but also on a subconscious level. So it often frustrates me when independent authors do their own design work to keep costs low. But I also understand the need to limit financial risk. Let’s say we have to make a compromise. What do you think an author might be able to accomplish reasonably well on her own (that has least potential to adversely affect sales), and what’s the No. 1 thing an author should hire a designer for (because of its potential to increase sales)?

Great question, Jane. Lots of authors want to “own” the process of creating their books, want to have a say in the overall look and feel of the book. After all, what good is having these great bookmaking tools if we don’t use them?

For people who write fiction, memoir, or narrative nonfiction, this question is easier to answer. Creating book interiors for these books is not as demanding, and the result won’t rely quite as much on the typographic sophistication of the designer.

Outside the typographic part of the design, it’s critically important for authors to construct their books properly. There are conventions that are hundreds of years old in book design, and expectations readers bring to books that must be recognized and respected.

So outside what font she uses for the text of her novel, your author will want to make sure all the other details of bookmaking, like the treatment of other page elements like running heads, page numbers, display pages like chapter openings, and so on, are treated properly.

Clearly, the one area where your author should look for professional help is in cover design. This is a specialized type of graphic design that demands good type treatment, the proper font usage, and an understanding of how browsers interact with the words and pictorial content on most book covers.

Because your cover is so important in positioning your book and attracting interest, it really pays to hire a pro.

What are the most common mistakes you see authors make when they design their own book interiors?


Here are some of the mistakes I see most often in self-published books:

• Not using full justification for their text, so that both the right and left margin square up and create a rectangle on the page
• Not hyphenating the text, resulting in gaps and spaces on the page
• Putting the odd-numbered pages on the left, when they should always be on the right
• Leaving running heads on display pages like part or chapter openers
• Margins that are either too small to allow the reader to easily hold the book, or that don’t take the printing and binding of the book into account
• Publishing a book with no copyright page

How can an author find a good interior designer who’s right for their book? How do you properly evaluate one?

Oddly enough, it can be a lot easier to find cover designers than it is to find interior designers. Part of the reason is that the cover designer only has to know how to create an effective cover. The interior designer needs to know all the rules of bookmaking, including how to present all the different kinds of information found within a book.

This is even more true for heavily formatted nonfiction books, because of the typographic and design skills needed to properly organize the hierarchy of information.

One of the best ways to find designers is by referrals from other authors. If you know someone who has published a book like yours, ask them who designed it. Local publishing groups can also be a great place to find designers and talk to authors who have worked with them.

Trade publications like the IBPA Independent are also good sources since it’s one of the few places book designers advertise their services.

We’re also seeing a growing category of websites that are sprouting up to help authors put together a “publishing team” by pairing them with service providers like book designers, but I think it’s a little too early to tell how these services are going to pan out.

And if you’re the author of one of those heavily formatted books we were talking about a minute ago, make sure the designers you’re querying have produced books like yours before. Ask to see samples or a portfolio of similar books.

When hiring a designer, how much should an author expect to spend for a typical trade print paperback novel (cover and interior)?

For novels and other lightly formatted books, you can expect to pay between $200 and $1,500 for interior design. At the low end you’re likely to get a very simplified type of design. At the higher end, expect to receive several custom designs prepared expressly for your book. You’ll also want the designer to take responsibility for producing the reproduction files for your printer, and make sure there’s an allowance for “author’s alterations,” because I’ve never seen a book yet that went all the way from manuscript to press without at least some changes being made.

Make sure you have a signed agreement with the designer, and that your agreement states explicitly that you will own the copyright to all the work they produce, and that you’ll be able to get the original application files the designer created when the project is complete.

For cover designs, expect to pay between $200 and $3,500. This is a very large range, but it’s real. For many authors, just getting a pro to do their cover will help their book stand out. But there are also self-publishers with bigger ambitions, who want to mount a national campaign, attract real media attention, and perhaps establish a franchise. For these authors, investing in a top-quality cover designer can yield real benefits, but this has to be approached as a business decision, and demands that you go into publishing with a realistic marketing plan.

Should an author ever use design contest sites (e.g., 99designs.com)?

As you know, I run an e-book cover design competition on my blog every month, and I’ve been getting submissions from authors who have gone that route. Some of these covers are quite good, others not so much.

I don’t see a reason not to use these sites, but make sure you understand exactly what you’re getting before you sign up. And keep in mind that you should demand the same contract and materials requirements we talked about just above, because they still apply.

Do you think there should be a different cover design for print vs. electronic editions? What special considerations come into play for e-book covers?

Aha, one of my favorite topics! I started the ebook cover design competition to see what designers were doing with this new form, and to try to encourage them to look at the ebook cover as a separate opportunity to use it to their advantage.

From what I’ve seen, designers haven’t done much with this challenge. The requirements for ebooks are similar—but not the same—as the requirements for print books. All too often, what we see, particularly from larger publishers, is the print book cover reduced in size and used for the ebook.

This makes no sense. Print book covers use texture, finish, testimonials, subtle color palettes and other devices that simply don’t translate to the tiny graphic images you see on e-retailers’ sites.

And why should an ebook cover look like a print book cover anyway? The print book cover actually covers a book. An ebook cover could be more like digital music album covers, blog sidebar ads, or any other type of online product “packaging” or advertising.

What I’m really hoping to see is more designers exploring different ways to represent ebooks, and not slavishly follow the print book model. As long as the branding is recognizably the same—assuming you are producing both versions—then why not?

If an author wanted to educate themselves on what constitutes good book design, aside from reading your blog, what resources would you recommend?

Two other bloggers who write about interior design are Dave Bricker and David Bergsland at The Skilled Workman.

There are classic books on book design for people who really want to dive into this subject. Probably the most appropriate one for self-publishers is Pete Masterson’s Book Design & Production.
Also, pay attention to the books you read. Book design is design with type, so the more you know about typography the better your designs are likely to be.

There are lots of authors who are creating books in Microsoft Word. Although I tried for a long time to convince authors that Word was not intended for books and wouldn’t produce a truly “professional-looking” book, I’ve recently changed course.

To help writers who want to do their own book interiors, I’m now offering templates that authors can buy that will solve a lot of the problems we’ve been talking about in this article. The template is a pre-formatted container. You pour your text into the file, apply the styles that come with the template, and you’re done.

What this means is that you can be sure you avoid a lot of the mistakes that new self-publishers make. Your book will be sized properly, have the right fonts, correct page numbers and section breaks, and will be industry standard.

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

Writer’s block can be a real buzz kill. Nothing is more frustrating than staring at a blank piece of paper, knowing you are extremely creative and have millions of ideas inside, and yet are unable to come up with anything worth writing. The last thing you want to do is spend the precious time you’ve carved out of your day to write (time you barely have to spare in the first place) sitting there feeling frustrated. We’re here to stop that from ever happening again with an amazing set of books, resources and even card games that are designed specifically to put an end to writer’s block, help you flex your creative muscles and get your ideas flowing so rapidly that you’ll never waste time staring at a blank computer again.

Fred White helps writers of every genre deconstruct the mystery of generating ideas, and gives you tools to jump-start your creativity
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How to Overcome Writer’s Block with a Creative Boost

If you are writing a novel for the first time, it’s perfectly normal to get stuck from time to time. The excitement of writing mixed with the fear of “will this be any good” can play games with your mind and stall the creative process. That’s why it’s OK to seek writer’s block help. You’ve Got a Book in You is a great resource to help push your way through the toughest parts of writing, especially when the ideas aren’t as free-flowing as you would like. In this book you’ll be challenged with fun exercises known as “writing blasts” and be handed best-practices advice on brainstorming ideas. Plus, you’ll see how breaking your book into small pieces may be the perfect antidote you need to getting over writer’s block.

Writer’s Block Help: Generating Ideas

Just like a cup of coffee can give you a jolt of energy, a little guidance can jumpstart your writing and help you take it places you never dreamed possible. Sometimes all it takes is a few tips for tackling writers block to get you back to doing what you love most: writing. In Where Do You Get Your Ideas?, Fred White breaks the idea creation process into six essential stages: idea recognition, idea incubation, outlining, research, drafting and revision. You’ll learn how to keep an organized writer’s notebook so you can cure writer’s block at any time, how to keep your eyes on high alert everywhere for ideas–books, news articles, the mall, etc.–and how to map out those ideas to write a great story that confirms your success at overcoming writer’s block. In addition to the tips and advice in this book, you’ll also gain access to printable worksheets for free-associating ideas, creating lists, clustering and connecting details and more.

Getting Over Writer’s Block in 10 Minutes

You don’t need writer’s block software to unhinge the gate blocking your ideas. All you need is a pen and paper (or a computer) and a little advice from Take 10 For Writers. Take 10 For Writers shares 100 creative writing exercises, each of which has 10 different variables to make every story unique. You can do each one in 10 minutes or fewer, so you can squeeze in some writing at lunch or just before bed. It’s a writer’s block cure guaranteed to get you back in your writing grove.

Generate ideas, stimulate your writing and cure writer’s block in only 10 minutes a day
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More Cures for Writer’s Block

It’s hard to look yourself in the mirror and admit, “I have writer’s block,” but once you can accept it you can start to move past it. Help for writer’s block comes in many different forms. You can spark your muse by trying your hand at some thought-inspiring writing prompts, like the ones featured in Writer’s Book of Matches. This book provides three different types of writing prompts–situational, dialogue and assignment–to give you a varied approach in curing your writer’s block. The goal is to help you create a daily writing habit that will give you the ability to overcome writer’s block permanently. If you prefer visual prompts, you’ll want to check out A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words, a book loaded with images to lead your down creative paths. What’s really great about a picture prompt is that you can use the same photo to write several different stories, taking it in multiple directions. Some writers find this to be not only an excellent writing challenge, but a great way to test different story ideas and compare to see which ones work best and which ones don’t quite cut it.

Group Activities to Get You Past the “I Have Writer’s Block Blues”

Another way to beat writer’s block and get your creative wheels turning is by playing games that force you to be imaginative.The Storymatic Classic is a fun game designed specifically for idea generation. Just combine a few cards and see where the story takes you. This game is not only a perfect complement to writers looking for a cure for writer’s block, but also an excellent way to spend time with loved ones and friends. The game is also very kid-friendly, so you can spend some quality family time while also secretly generating ideas for your next story. It also makes for an excellent gift for other writers in your life.