Your first book is fast coming to completion (or maybe already completed). You want to see it published. You want to get it out there. But you have decided not to travel the Traditional Publishing Path, sending out dozens (hundreds?) of query letters to agents, hoping someone will actually read it and decide they just might have time to look at another manuscript. And of course, if they do, they then need to decide to adopt it (lucky you). And then they must go through the same process with editors, hoping one of their contacts will be sufficiently interested to at least look at your manuscript. Chances of adoption by a major publisher? Better than a lottery ticket, perhaps, but not by much.

The Indie Press Path is another option. A step up from Vanity Press who require authors to submit up-front fees or to contract to buy a certain number of books, these are very small publishing houses with a handful of editors. These may not require an agent, eliminating the first hurdle in the "getting published" process described above. They may provide editorial assistance and cover design. They make their money from the publisher’s commission, but the royalty return to the author is usually better than offered by the majors. Many will have a marketing staff who try to influence you to take advantage of their many marketing outlets (book shows, fairs, etc.) for a fee. Undoubtedly, many of them hope to someday represent a NYT best seller and reap handsome rewards.

I published my book Mastering Spanish Irregular Verbs in 2009 through i-Universe, Inc., one of the many Indie Press companies out there.

A third option is Self Publishing. When the manuscript for my first novel Saturn Conundrum was coming together in fall of 2022 (Really? Just a year ago?), my experience with i-Universe convinced me I could do just as well by self-publishing. So I set about pursuing this option, and in three months, start-to-finish, I had my first book order (26 copies) sitting on my desk. I also kept a detailed account of the process and my costs, and that is the topic of the remainder of this article and next month’s Tips and Tidbits.

Step 1. Obtain an ISBN number for your book. In the U.S., there is only one outlet for ISBN numbers, and that is Bowker. You can obtain ISBN years before publishing, so do it NOW. Cost is $129 for 1 ISBN, but since every format (ebook, paperback, hardcover) needs its own ISBN, you are better off to buy 10, offered at $295.
CAUTION: Order directly from www.Bowker.com, which takes you to www.myidentifiers.com.  There are several Internet websites phishing for your business. A google search turns them up and they look legitimate. But they exist only to troll you into their net and take your money, either by charging you a useless ‘service fee’ or by swindling you out of your money outright.

Step 2. Your book is complete. Or is it? Yes, I know you’ve edited and edited. But trust me, your book is full of typos and consistency errors (e.g., the victim’s name mysteriously changes from Jean to Jane halfway through the book.) Read through your manuscript, slowly, deliberately, one last time. Do only the minor edits (changing ‘to’ to ‘too’), noting all major edits on a notepad. The point here is to read through the book in one or two sittings. Absorb the flavor. Enjoy the story. Revel in the fact that this is your very own creation. Just take good notes for later editing. Once through the read, make the major edits. If there are a lot of them, read the manuscript again!

Step 3. Obtain a copyright for your work. This will cost $45. The same precaution as mentioned in Step 1 applies here:
CAUTION: Order directly from www.copyright.gov, which provides a simple form to fill out.  There are several Internet websites phishing for your business. A google search turns them up and they look legitimate. But they exist only to troll you into their net and take your money, either by charging you a useless ‘service fee’ or by swindling you out of your money outright.

After you have filled out the government’s form, you will be asked to submit your work as a pdf file. You can use Microsoft Word’s File Export As... option to convert a Word document to pdf format. Other programs offer this same option. Note: The copyright office isn’t concerned that you might make minor changes to your manuscript after you’ve sent them the first copy. However, if you add a chapter, for example, it will only be protected under copyright if you apply again for a revised manuscript copyright.

This covers Steps 1 through 3. You now have a very clean manuscript, ten ISBN numbers, and a copyright for a total outlay of $340.