If you knew that you had to invest your money into stocks, presuming this could be a relatively daunting task, you probably would perform some level of due diligence to make sure your hard-earned dollars were resting safely.

Would you take a look at the penny stocks or the quickie investments where the financial advisor informs of you of the rapid growth? Perhaps your eyes trend upwards with the sharp uptick on the chart and your heart skips a beat when you hear of the lack of guarantees and the potential for an equally sharpResearch your investment plummet in which you could stand to lose all that you invested?  Perhaps you would turn to the longer termed growth funds where your money would mature. The words are softer, the pace is slower, but the feeling is perhaps kinder than the roller coaster offered by the rapid growth. Perhaps you would seek the counsel of an advisor who is a subject matter expert in the area that you are looking into?

Any investment requires research. As author’s,  particularly those of us who are considering self-publishing, editors are our best counsel.

As an author so many options exist to getting your content published. Self publishing in and of itself is easier than signing up for that free checking account offered by the local bank. With so many options what is an author to do.

While no recipe for success exists for being published, be sure to follow some of the basics that help to manufacture a solid foundation:

  1. Have your work reviewed by a professional editor. As authors we are too familiar with our own work to scrutinize the content of our own work. Granted revising the work before submitting it to the editor is recommended. The work should be in a condition that the author believes to be final before sending it to the editing desk.
  2. Have an open mind when the work comes back from the editing desk. Be prepared to make changes in areas.
  3. Engage a Graphic designer for your cover art. Granted if you are creating an ebook, your artwork may only appear the size of a thumbnail, but you want it to represent your content and be eye-catching all at the same time.
  4. If you are self-publishing, purchase an ISBN number specifically for your ebook. (If you use product like Createspace – Amazon will only assign it an ASIN which is Make a Listnot industry standard.) Using tools like Createspace or PubIt! will get you an eBook quickly, but if you are looking longer termed may be more difficult to market in readers sites or with other distribution sites. An ISBN is recognized everywhere with every distribution means and it is required for other distribution sites like Apple and borders.com who do not provide the quick self-publishing tools.
  5. Have a professional company convert your ebook into the industry standard formats. You can market your own book on your site offering the 9 formats that are available for varying eReaders. Today the standard is quickly becoming ePub, but there are older formats that you may want to market to.
  6. Get ready to market. The job is not over once the final product has been uploaded to the distribution sites. Nothing will happen until you put your best foot forward and tell the world what an awesome job you did.

In the upcoming week, I’ll be blogging about each of these points. Discussing tips and tricks from the industry’s SMEs… how they have helped me… how they can help you.