Once you’ve gathered the content for your book, you’ll need to go through a number of stages before it’s finally published.

The major publishers should do all of this for (or perhaps more accurately, with you), but if you’re considering self-publishing this gives an idea of what you’re letting yourself in for.

• Story editing (for fiction books) – to make sure the story flows, the characters seem real and more
• Fact checking (for non-fiction books, though fiction can often benefit from this too)
• Cover design and layout
• Copy editing of the content – to check the spelling, grammar and style are consistent throughout
• Acquisition of a unique International Standard Book Number or ISBN
• Layout – putting the content on the page
• Final formatting for print
• Submission for printing
• Proof-reading of the printer’s e-proof
• First copy print
• Final checking of the first copy
• Printing of the completed book
• Submission of the Legal Deposit copy or copies
• Promoting your book (which deserves a separate checklist)

Further options

• E-book formatting
• Submission of e-book
  
  
• Audio book creation (which deserves a separate checklist)
• Submission of audio book

We can help with any or all of the stages from 4 onwards and often with the first four as well. If we can’t, we can point you in the direction of someone else with the required expertise in your field.