₦airaland Forum

Introduction

During the course of the year my team and I were able to successfully complete several book projects for customers and friends, it is usually fun whenever we have to do book work. I personally love the feeling of ghost writing, editing and proof reading, they make me see life from people's view and that gives me some sort of education or enlightenment. Moreso it usually avails me with an opportunity to learn for free, and that my friend is a wonderful feeling. Lolzzz

What is more exciting for us as a team is the process of advertising the books and putting them on sales shelf, and the high point is seeing those beautiful smiles on the faces of authors when they collect their pay cheque from book sales. Publishing is a great business.

My name is Lawrence Egbo (08169508039), I run a print media, Infotech and self publishing house called Invoplus Nigeria Ltd (www.invoplus.com.ng). I am the author of proses like; Tears of Blood, Black Jangolovah, Bayo and the kids series and others. In this training, I will be guilding you through the steps of publishing a book.

Wait... I am begining to think, I should charge money for this training, "at all at all, 1500 naira per person". Well maybe I shouldn't. Heheheeehe.


What is publishing?

So before I explain what publishing means, I would like to talk about what it is not.

Often times people mistake printing for publishing and vise-visa, but the fact still remains that these two are different.

Printing involves producing or outputting an image, sign, text or colours using ink, thread and other print materials on a medium like paper, flex (banner), clothes, souvenirs, SAV (stickers) etc.

While Publishing on the other hand goes beyond printing, it includes inter-phasing between the author (book writer), his works and the public. Publishing is everything about the process of making a book from putting pen on paper to sales and distribution of the books.

What are the types of publishing?

There are several types of publishing, but for the sake of understanding we will focus on the two major types which are; Self Publishing and Traditional publishing.

Traditional publishing:

In traditional publishing, authors submit their manuscripts to publishing companies to secure deals, the manuscripts goes through an inhouse editor who reads to see if the book reaches market standards. If the book scales through, then the publishing house buys the book right from the author and take on the responsibility of proof reading, book cover design, marketing and distribution etc.

The author does nothing more after working with the inhouse editor to complete the book within a specific period of time, he only focuses on receiving payment from sales of his book (royalty). The downside is that the publishing house shares profit made from the book sales with the author and can also change or rearrange the book as they please at anytime. Although it is not an easy task to secure book deals with a traditional publisher, thousands of manuscripts are rejected regularly by them.

Self Publishing:

Self publishing on the other hand involves achieving the entire process of book making and sales by yourself as an author. In this case all the profit made from sales goes to the author.

There are two ways to self publish, the first is to publish in ebook format and sell online, the second is through physical books and sales at bookshops, schools and libraries.

Ebooks.
Online platforms like Amazon, Okada books, Jumia and the rest further gives greenhorn and experienced authors the choice of self publishing through sales of books in e-format on their platforms, some also gives authors free ISBN numbers thus helping then bypass the expenses of printing at a press and ISBN registration at the National Library of Nigeria.

Some of these platforms further offer marketing, proof reading, cover design and book arrangement services at very affordable prices. The beauty about self publishing in ebook is the accessibility it gives your book to countries far and wide, it erases the issue of shipping fees that applies to physical books.

Physical books.
If you want to be taken seriously as an author in Nigeria, make sure you also produce physical books. After all; no one will ever refuse having multiple streams of income. I usually advise my clients to go for both physical books and ebooks so as to take advantage of the opportunities they both offer.

In the case of physical books, the author has to hire the services of;
1. Graphic artist,
2. Proof reader and editor
3. Printer
4. Collators
5. Packagers
6. Delivery

Graphic Artist:
the graphic artist helps create cover designs to illustrate what the book is all about, don't be tempted to do this by yourself, rather focus on getting the best out of your writing.

Proof readers and editors.
Some proof readers charge per word, the job of a proof reader includes making sure that the words and grammar in the book are correct. They also help arrange the book into printable format; ensuring the perfect spacing, numbering, justification and font sizes.

Printer.
The printer uses final drafts usually in soft copy format from the editors to make plates. A plate can be described as a "metallic paper". The soft copy content from computers is usually transfered into a plate using a CTP machine or the likes, the plate is what the printing machine reads to produce prints on paper.

Collators
The collators are another set of workmen, they arrange pages of the book after they have been printed, they stitch them to form books and get them ready for triming. After the triming process, the books are now packaged and made ready for delivery.


Getting started with self publishing.

Would you like to publish a book? Here are proven steps that can guide you through. But first you might want to understand cost implications from various angles.


1. Power and duration:
Usually if you want to achieve a 100 page book, you would have to write 1000 words per day for 30 days. I usually don't like target writing like this though, I believe writing is an expression of freedom and every great book is a product of quality time. Anyways with that duration (30days) in mind, you can calculate total spending on fueling per day if you usually don't have regular power supply.

2. Research
You may also choose to carry out research online, so include cost of data per day or per week.


3. Publisher's service charge
Consider a publishing house to work with. If you are looking at self publishing, there are hundreds of options available online, but for the sake of achieving quality content and packaging that meets both local and international standards, I would recommend Invoplus.com.ng, not because I am a part of the team but because it is a family that values your productivity. For your hundred page book, a publishing house will help you achieve the following:

A. Copy edit: #15,000
B. Proof reading: #50,000
C. Cover design: #20,000
D. Foreword (not all offers this but we do): #5,000
E. Print: #450 per book minimum of 1,000 copies.
F. ISBN registration (yes we do): 10,000
G. Packaging (not all offers this but we do): #5,000
H. Launch and sales planning. #10,000
I. Marketing (not all offers this but we do) #35,000
J. Delivery: #10,000 depending on destination
Total: #600,000


Download full training in ebook format for free. Click here: http://invoplus.com.ng/page29.html
Or call me on: 08169508039