It Takes a Village to Publish a Book (And Build a Publishing Company)

I’ll be honest, prior to working for Lucid Books, I had no idea what it took to publish a book… I don't imagine many people do, either.

I’ve now had the opportunity to help promote a few dozen books and I’m amazed at what I’ve learned. Here are a few things I’ve learned that I wish I had known then.

It takes personnel. And unless you’re a unicorn, you’ll likely have to hire multiple different people to do multiple different tasks if you’re self-publishing.

You’ll need an editor to clean up your writing, a skilled proofreader to catch the little mistakes that easily go unnoticed, a designer to design your front and back cover, an interior designer to lay the book out, a printing company, a distributor to distribute books sold, a marketing representative to help craft a marketing strategy and social media support, an ebook converter to convert the digital file into ebook format–and you’ll need to maintain your sanity and stay organized.

You’ll also need time. The search alone for the above people could take months. And after that, coordinating with all of them takes countless phone calls, emails, in-person meetings, and online meetings to get the editing, proofreading, cover design, interior design, ISBN registration, online distribution, ebook formatting, and copyright servicing done.

Phew, that’s a lot!

That’s why you need a trusted team to help you along the way, and this is what Lucid Books is all about.

There are three major areas of publishing a book: writing, publishing, and promotion.

#1. Writing

For some authors, writing comes natural and is a breeze. But for the majority, actually writing the book is the hardest part of the process.

Here’s what happens in the writing stage:

The first step is to figure out what to write about. Test your ideas, determine a target audience, and create an outline. Then do your research. Researching the topic is a key component of the writing stage and it often gets overlooked. The last thing you want to do is write a book that’s already been written, so don't skip this step.

After writing your book, have it reviewed. Ask friends to read it and solicit feedback. Then have it proofread and edited–this is important! As hard as it is to receive critique, it will help you to become a better writer, in the long run, so be open-minded.

#2 Publishing

Publishing a book requires a lot of time, personnel, and support. The amount of work required to publish a book normally catches first-time authors off-guard, especially all of the tiny details.

Here’s what needs to happen to publish your book:

1. Create a front cover
2. Create a back cover
3. Lay out the interior of your book
4. Register the ISBN
5. Register for online distribution–requires Seller Central account on Amazon
6. Send files to a printer
7. Format into an ebook
8. Register for ebook distribution (Kindle, Nook, iBook, Vyrso)
9. Send copyrights
10. Fulfill all orders

Looking at all of these details can be enough to make a person’s heart skip a beat and to cause them to break out in a cold sweat.

#3 Marketing

It’s one thing to write a book, and it’s another to have it published. But we assume after spending months–even years–writing and then actually having it published, you likely want to sell it as well.

Marketing is another area often underestimated by authors. There’s this unspoken feeling that if you write it, people will buy and read your book, which isn't the case at all.

Marketing your book may take as much time, if not more, as you spent writing your book.

Book marketing will be different between authors and genres, but here’s what generally goes into marketing a book:

1. Create a marketing strategy
2. Design a website and/or book landing page
3. Pull 10-20 quotes from your book to share on quote images
4. Create a social media calendar
5. Create/build an email list and platform
6. Create a blog calendar (if blogging)
7. Send books to book reviewers (Amazon, bloggers, etc.)
8. Take out paid advertisements
9. Arrange speaking engagements
10. Write guest posts and articles
11. Coordinate interviews
12. Attend conferences
13. Network with similar writers/audiences
14. Assemble a launch team
15. Start giving your books away
16. And more…

As you can see, there’s more to publishing a book than simply writing it and somehow selling 100,000 copies. And there are more people involved than the author’s name on the cover.

It Also Takes a Village to Build a Publishing Company

It not only takes a village to write a book, it also takes an army of people to help build a publishing company.

At Lucid Books, our marketing strategy is relational. We want to partner with authors whose messages we can support and truly get behind. Authors who are interested in obtaining support writing, publishing, and promoting their book. 

And the best way to do this is to work with people we already know. To this end, we’ve created the affiliate partnership.

Our Affiliate Partnership Program is a way for authors to help their writing friends become authors by telling them about Lucid Books. As a bonus for helping us spread the word, you’ll make $150 for every published author you refer.

We will provide you with everything you need: a unique link to share, social media posts, blog post topic suggestions, email marketing tactics, and web graphics.

All you have to do is take a few minutes to sign up and start spreading the word.

Click here to become an affiliate partner.