Tutorial for Writers, Authors, and Publishers
This tutorial for writers, authors, and publishers will help you fulfill your dreams of being an author and publishing your book.
You can do this, and we can help.
Irwin Award (Southern California) Best Non-Fiction 2009
Don’t Get Arrested in South Carolina
Do you think you are an author and have a story to tell? Evidently, everyone has a story, many stories, but most are afraid to learn how to begin the process and become an author/publisher and control their content.
My stories are non-fiction: law, corruption. Additionally, my dog, Erik, is the subject of one book. The stories were stuck in my head; however, I never knew how to write a book. I challenged a prosecutor, telling him I was going to write a book. As a result, I became an author.
When I was writing my first book, I knew nothing about being an author. For instance, book publishing, formatting, editing, registering, getting a copyright, creating a cover, or posting a photograph were foreign to me.
Many “vanity press” publishing companies take your manuscript and charge you lots of money to edit the book. In addition, these publishers do a number of “registration-type things” of which you had never heard. Therefore, the “vanity publisher” wants to keep the publishing steps a mystery so you will pay them. Otherwise, you would perform the tasks yourself and not hire them.
For instance, here are some tips for writing and publishing:
- Determine your book’s page size and use it when writing.
- Download the Scrivener program to help coordinate chapters.
- Transfer Word documents into the appropriate chapter in Scrivener. (You will always be able to transfer the draft from Scrivener back to Word, edit, and update a Scrivener chapter.)
- Use the same page size to create your book cover.
- Your Word product is all that is needed to publish an eBook
- Create your own publishing company; get an EIN and a bank account.
- Buy your ISBN and barcode from Bowker. No need to pay someone to do this for you.
- Copyrighting your book is easy.
- Create your own e-book for free.
In addition to the above tips, there are many instructional websites and YouTube videos to learn about Scrivener, Caliber, e-books, and other writing and publishing issues.
Amazon will publish your ebook from your Word manuscript; there is no need to put the book into a PDF unless you are printing a hard copy. You can also send your book as a PDF.
Other eBook formats can be created for free at Calibre. You will be able to convert your manuscript to Epub or Mobi (for Amazon).
If you want a hard-cover book, I suggest using POD (print-on-demand) at IngramSpark. The cost of a print book setup is about $50.00.
For now, get the story out of your head and into your fingers.
This instructional web page is being changed from time to time. Therefore, I will hit the main issue and put more detailed information in as I proceed
The Events
Make a list to outline of the events you want to detail. Leave spaces between the events you listed. You will remember more as you write, but you have to begin writing the events.
Always write your narrative of each event in Microsoft Word or the applicable Apple program. You will eventually convert your narrative to a PDF, but do not edit much in Adobe. It is too cumbersome, and you can always reconvert your Word product.
The Order of Your Events
Having a book narrative that is strictly chronological can seem a bit boring. Most events and outcomes are the result of many different factors. You will refer to past events in your story.
You might want to begin your story at the end, relating current conditions and referring to past events that led to the current status. You might want to begin in the middle of the story, always referring back.
Regardless of the format and chronological order of the narratives/chapters, you should create a timeline and chronology, and draft a list of events. By adding and subtracting from this chronology from time to time, you will have to write your thoughts so you do not forget an event. Add events as you write, as you are sitting quietly. Separate each event in your draft and edit each one separately. Weave events into your story as you begin writing.
Font, Size, Space
The easiest typeface to use in your narrative is Times New Roman 10, with a space of 1.5. You can always increase the font size, but a 10-point font will fit 250-300 words on the page. One reason I would use 1.5-line spacing is that you might want to print your draft to send to someone, and the spacing will allow the person to insert comments.
Writing Dog Stories
We tell dog stories and repeat them to anyone who will listen. Erik was “that dog” for me, and this is the Erik dog story book.
I have had a number of dogs. All had different characters, intelligence, attitudes, and senses of humor. Yes, dogs have a sense of humor, but your dog will have a limit of patience.
Yeah, My Dog Did That, Too, is a compilation of stories. All dog owners have stories and photos of their dogs, and we look forward to publishing their stories.
Begin writing memories from puppy to adult dog. You have photos and probably videos of your dog, and you too can create a dog story book.
We can help you from discussing the narrative to creating chapters, inserting photos, formatting and actually publishing your book.