You’ve written your book, you’ve gathered up all of your photos, you’ve researched book publishers, and now you’re ready to put it all together and send it to the printer you’ve selected. Not quite sure how to proceed? Here are some common book publishing terms explained.

Folio. A folio is one sheet of paper folded in half. A single folio has four pages—each side of the original folded sheet of paper is considered a page. Folios are also sometimes referred to as pages.

Signature. A signature is a collection of folios sewn together. Assembling multiple signatures and binding them together creates a book. Signatures are also referred to as sections.

Plastic Coil Binding. Sometimes called spiral binding, plastic coil binding uses a single, continuous piece of wire or plastic that spins through holes punched along one side of your book’s pages (like a school notebook). An alternative is Wiro (Wire-o or double loop) binding, which utilizes loops or “teeth” of wire. This type of binding allows your book to lie open flat on a table, so you’ll frequently see plastic coil or Wire-O binding on cookbooks, craft books, calendars, coloring books, or instructional manuals.

Case Binding or Edition Binding. This is the most common type of bookbinding for hardcover books. The pages of your book are sewn together in sections, or signatures, and then the cover is attached.

Perfect Bound or Perfect Binding. Standard paperbacks and mass market paperbacks are examples of perfect bound books. In this process, the pages of your book are assembled and then the cover is attached using a flexible adhesive.

Saddle-stitching. Typically seen in booklets, comic books, and some magazines, saddle stitched books are folded in half and then stapled together. Because the spine of the book is formed by the fold, saddle stitched books do not lie flat.

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In Part 1 we covered putting aside anxieties about how to publish a book until after you’ve actually written one, writing about what obsesses you, and silencing your inner critic. In this section we’ll cover the actual writing process.

Meet your characters. So, who are these people you’re going to write about? Since you will be putting words in their mouths and dictating their actions, you need to know who your characters are. Write detailed biographies for them — their birthdays, astrological signs, hometowns, histories, relationship to the other characters, hair color, eye color, political views, the music they listen to, the schools they attended, how they dress. You may not incorporate all of this information, but the key to having your characters behave believably is knowing who they are.

Make a map. After you’ve “met” your characters, sketch out the storyline of your book. You wouldn’t set off on a cross-country drive without some idea of where you were going, and you shouldn’t start writing your book without a plan either. Most of the novels sitting uncompleted in drawers are there not because their authors weren’t talented, but because their authors got lost. Don’t be one of them. You can do this in outline form, or visually. For example, one successful novelist who writes historical fiction creates an extremely detailed timeline for each of her books and hangs it across a long wall. She then layers it with sheets of vellum, each dedicated to different details: the weather on certain dates, meals served, clothing styles. However you choose to organize yourself, it is imperative that you have a “map” that will guide you through the creation of your book.

Do your research. Whether your book takes place in the 1890s or the 1990s, you need a clear understanding of the politics, technology, and social scene of the time (if your book is set in the future — have at it!). There is richness in this kind of detail, and it adds authenticity and believability to your story. Also, it will prevent you from making silly mistakes, like having a character e-mailing in 1985.

Get writing. You’ve done your research, you’ve made your map, and you’ve got notebooks filled with character analysis. Now what? Now you write. Start anywhere. Because of your map, you know exactly what happens, so start with the scene that inspires you the most. Set aside time every day to work, preferably the same time every day (this is a good discipline and lets “the muse” know where to find you). If music helps your creative process, make a playlist that speaks to you. Many people find it helpful to join a writing group. The most important thing is to stay focused and keep writing.

When you’re ready to think about publishing. Finally, one glorious day, your book will be done. The business of how to publish a book can be a little intimidating, but you can find excellent advice about book publishers and book publishing online and in writers’ guides. Self publishing is a fantastic option for many authors. And after you’ve published your first book? On to your second!

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They say everyone has a story to tell. For some of us, prying that story out seems impossible. Here are some tips for getting started on that book you’ve always wanted to write.

Start at the beginning. So many aspiring writers get completely flummoxed by the business of how to publish a book before they even begin to write one. Don’t fall into this trap. There are many guides to book publishers and book publishing available, and self publishing is an excellent option for many writers. But to focus on selling your book before you even sit down at the computer is to put the cart miles ahead of the horse. You have to write it before you sell it.

Write about what obsesses you. Writing a book is a commitment. You’ll be spending a lot of time — sometimes years — with your characters and ideas. You don’t necessarily have to “write what you know” (that’s what research is for) but you do need to have a passionate interest in your subject. If you’re fascinated by the Civil War, let that knowledge spark your imagination. If you’re an expert knitter, spin your story out from there. The best books bring the reader into a specific, richly detailed world, one that introduces them to characters, concepts, and secrets they might otherwise never encounter. Let what drives you inform your creativity.

Hush your inner critic. Maybe someone told you weren’t very creative. Maybe you don’t spell well, or don’t always know where to put the comma in a sentence. Maybe you’re afraid people will be mad at you if you write your story. Maybe you think people will laugh at you. The fact is, when you commit to writing your book you are committing to yourself, and that can be scary. It may have been years since you stopped to listen to your own thoughts. Maybe you never have before. The truth of the matter is, there are hundreds of reasons not to write. Don’t believe any of them. Instead, believe that you have a story to tell, and a voice to tell it in, and the right to tell it. Write that on an index card and carry it with you, print it on poster board and hang it where you can see it. And when that voice in your head mocks you that you’re not really going to try and write a book, tell it to hush and keep writing.

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I’ve never been very sentimental. In fact, I’m the person my friends would always call when they had a big organization project to tackle. They’d bargain and cower, as I’d dispassionately comb through their stuff, ruthlessly tossing things out. I never understood the need to keep things: matchbooks and menus, ticket stubs, old t-shirts; it was all so much clutter to me. And then I had my daughter, and suddenly I was unable to part with anything. One baby sock (the other lost in the wash)? A precious keepsake! The hat she wore home from the hospital? To be placed in a fireproof box! Every piece of paper she scribbled upon with her sweet hands? To be carefully curated!

I also, for the first time, began writing in a journal. I started the night she was born, writing her a letter from my hospital bed as she slept in her bassinette beside me. I kept writing, through her sweet babyhood, nursery school, her elementary school days, the angsty teenage years. And then, almost before I knew it, she was preparing to graduate from high school and move away from home to attend college in another state. I wanted to do something special to celebrate this time in her life. Of course, her dad and I would take her shopping for her dorm room and help her move in, and she’d be home for Holidays and summers. But I knew a chapter of our lives was ending, and I wanted to commemorate it.

The answer came one night as I was writing in my journal. Just as her childhood was ending, so would my chronicle of it. I wrote her a final letter, telling her everything I wished for her, and included some practical advice about college, some silly things, some heartfelt. I was going to just wrap up all the notebooks with ribbon and give them to her, but then I found a company that would create a beautifully bound book. I had always thought book publishing was some exclusive, mysterious process, but it turns out self publishing is easy. The results were magnificent, I was even able to have a beautiful cover and include black & white and color photos. It looked so professional! I admit, we both cried when I presented it to her. She’ll always be my little girl, and now she’ll always have my memories of those years, no matter how far she travels in her life.

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When you have a book published through traditional book publishers, professional editors are hired to tweak your book and take it from a rough draft to a polished one. When self publishing, that process is left to you.

So how do you go from first draft to a polished second draft? Following are more tips for creating a finished manuscript.

* Find a Good Critique Group

A set of unfamiliar eyes can do wonders for a second draft. Find a critique group filled with writers who understand the fundamentals of critiquing and can give some good, positive feedback. This feedback is especially helpful when it comes from published writers.

* Save the Major Polish for the End of the Draft

While it can be natural to concern yourself with grammatical mistakes, don’t worry about those in the first run of your second draft. There will be time, after you’ve finished, to have your work edited for grammar. At that point you can spend time going through and making changes that need to be corrected.

* Create a Timeline

With a first draft, you’ve gotten your story down. With a second draft, you have the chance to put your story in a timeline to make sure the story flows. Creating a timeline can help you make sure that your story has no obvious glitches or time lapses that don’t make sense.

Self publishing is ideal for many writers. However, much of what a traditional publisher handles has to be taken care of by you, as a self published writer. Reading books on the publishing process as well as editing will give you the tools you need to create a successful book. And, if taking on all the editing yourself is too big of a job, there are always editors-for-hire that can help you find the holes and grammar mistakes in your book that need to be fixed.

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Before you have your book published, you will need to make sure your novel is a finished product. Part of finding self publishing success means taking a novel and rewriting it so that it is an exceptional piece of work.

If you’ve read any tips on how to publish a book, you know that rewriting is key to being a professional author. However, many writers know a few things about book publishing but know little about writing a successful second draft.

Following are some tips to keep in mind when writing your second draft.

* Put Your First Draft Aside

Time can give a writer a better view of a novel. Time, even a day or a week, can give you a clearer perspective on what you’ve written and what changes need to be made. Giving yourself some time between writing will help when you edit. You will see what things need to be changed whereas you’ll overlook many mistakes if you don’t set your work aside for a while.

* Finding Fault

While you might be a great writer, your manuscript, no doubt, has mistakes that need to be corrected. Editing your work with the goal of finding fault will help you find holes in your work as well as weak areas that need to be rewritten.

These are just two tips for writing a second draft for your manuscript. These two suggestions will help take your self publishing work from blah to polished and help you produce a novel that is worth publishing.

In part two of this article, more tips for writing your second draft will be discussed such as having a critique group edit your first draft, saving the major polish for the end of the draft, and creating a timeline.

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As an author, you may have written a fantastic story, dreamed up a unique plot, and spent countless hours writing and editing your story. You may be great at establishing realistic setting, you might even have an idea for a sequel! But before you mail your manuscript to book publishers, pay close attention to your dialogue.

For many writers, producing convincing dialogue is a challenge, but there are ways to improve and combat bad dialogue – and make your novel shine. Here are a few tips from fellow writers to keep in mind as you edit your dialogue:

A great writer once told me that the best way to check the meter, rhythm and realness of your dialogue is to act out each scene. You may feel like an idiot standing in your office jumping between multiple characters in your book, but if you pay attention as you do this exercise, you will be able to catch awkward phrases, words and over-exposition. When you act out the scene, you’ll be able to catch the mistakes in dialogue, and most likely easily fix them.

Another rule of thumb that authors use to make dialogue realistic is to keep it simple. Edit away extraneous details that don’t serve to develop the character or plot. Be careful with tags, also. In general, stick to the “he said/she said” phraseology – another way to simplify your prose. A good tag can also be ruined with a bad adverb. For example, don’t tell us a character said something “angrily” if this can be established through the dialogue.

Effective dialogue must also be broken up with action. Too many lines of dialogue is difficult to read, so give your reader a break and help them to truly picture the scene by showing us, judiciously, what your characters are doing as they speak.

There are many ways to create effective dialogue in your writing, but perhaps the best way is to read. Pay attention to how authors create dialogue and make a note of what you think works or does not work. You may want to delve into self publishing, or you may want to submit to traditional book publishers – but before you do, make sure your dialogue is as good as it gets.

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When you publish a book—whether it be through traditional book publishers or self publishing—you need to have a timeline for revisions. Revisions are simply a part of the book writing process. No writer scribbles out a complete, polished novel in one attempt. All writers must do at least some revisions.

If you’ve completed a manuscript, you’ve done a big chunk of the work on a novel. You’ve managed to get a story—from start to finish—down on paper and are ready to take to the next step. That next step is revisions where writers craft a good story into a great one.

If you’re dealing with book publishers, you are probably given set deadlines for revisions. If you’re self publishing, however, those timelines need to come from you. But if you’re like most writers, setting and sticking to timelines can be tough if you don’t have a plan.

When you’re self publishing, you can very easily set and meet timelines if you develop the mindset that what you’re doing is a job. Just like you would if you have book publishers breathing down your neck, you can revise your novel in a timely manner so you can then get to the task of self publishing.

When revising, the first step is to create a timeline for your novel. This can be done with simple note cards or you can invest in programs like Microsoft OneNotes. Develop your timeline by thinking through your novel and writing down everything that happens in the order is should appear in the book. By writing each scene down on note cards, you will give yourself a visual of your story and make scene changes that may cause the story to have a smoother flow.

As with any writing venture, don’t let the fact that you’re self publishing give you an excuse not to do the necessary revisions on your book. Setting a timeline either before you begin writing or once you’ve finished will help you create a finished product that has a complete, interesting story.

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In our last post, we discussed the realities of the publishing a book on your own as opposed to going the route of more traditional book publishing. You need to be aware of the facts if you do decide to self publish. Not only will your book need to be well written and edited, but you’ll also need to educate yourself on the ins and outs of marketing. There’s a chance you won’t make back your initial investment, sure, but at the same time, as self publishing becomes more popular, more and more authors are experiencing success.

You also need to do your research when choosing a publisher. You should not have to share profits with the company, you should simply pay them for the end product. Some companies offer editorial services and design services, but charges for these services should be separate from the actual cost of printing. Anyone who wants more from you than the cost of formatting and printing your book should be investigated further.

So now that you’ve found the perfect publisher, how do you know if your manuscript is right for the self publishing market? Here are some important questions to ask yourself before you make the final decision:

* Are you prepared to do the work to market your book? Then self publishing may be for you.

* Are you already established in a market? Do you have a specialty in which you are already known? For example, have you written parenting advice columns in area newspapers or magazines? Maybe you’ve developed a following and have written a book of parenting tips. In a situation like this, self publishing may be a good option.

* Is publishing this book important to you? Have you spent years researching your family’s genealogy and want a printed copy to hand out to the entire clan? Then it may be worth your money to have your research published on your own.

These are just a few questions to ponder when it comes to choosing self publishing. Keep in mind that as self publishing becomes more popular, your options expand, and if you do your research, you can end up with a beautiful book that can potentially be a success.

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If you are an author who has sought publication in the past, you have probably heard a thing or two about self publishing. Maybe you’ve heard that all self publishers are out to scam you. You’ve heard horror stories of poor, unsuspecting writers who pay to have their manuscripts published, and then sign a contract to split any profits with the publisher – who took no risk, made some money, and enjoys profits if there are any. It’s true, there are vanity presses in the book publishing world who are out to rook the author who just wants to get published. The good news is, if you know what you are doing, usually those crooks will be pretty obvious – and avoidable.

More good news – self publishing is getting big, more popular, and there are many extremely reputable publishers out there who can make your dreams of getting published come true. But before you decide to approach a publisher, you need to have all the facts of self publishing – you need to be informed.

First, understand that self publishing is different than taking the route of traditional book publishing. You will not only be responsible for paying for the printing, but you will ultimately make all the decisions regarding the marketing of the book. You’ll have to choose a cover design, you’ll have to make sure that the book is well edited, and you’ll have to do some aggressive marketing if you want the book to sell.

You also need to be aware that books that have been self published rarely make it to the best seller list – and many never make back the initial investment of the author. Of course, this is also true of books that are published by traditional book publishers.

You can take heart, however, when you realize that there have been many self published books in the recent past that have taken the book publishing world by storm. These were books that were marketed by their authors, and, often by word of mouth, sold well. Many of these popular books eventually catch the eye of publishing houses, and are acquired.

In our next post, we’ll discuss more about how to publish a book through a self publisher and how to know when and if the time is right.

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