Have you used an outside editor or design/layout specialist?

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Permalink Reply by Dennis AuBuchon on August 4, 2008 at 6:39pm

Laurel,

I did not use an editor to polish my work, I did it myself. It was a good experience and I learned much about the detailed process involved. I am working on my next book and I am also doing the editing myself. The design of my current book Integrity: Do You Have It? 2nd edition was created by my publisher Infinity Publishing.
I am extremely happy with the quality of my book and the cover art. I have had many complements on it. I am also happy with the services I have received from my publisher. When I needed information or assistance with providing information to a potential major buyer of book they responded quickly with the information requested. The money I spent I spent was well worth it. Regardless of which publisher or type of publisher you use the success of your book depends on your marketing abilities to get the word out. You must promote the differences in your book from others like it to get people interested. There are different options and cost available from my publisher so the more options you want the more it will cost to get published.


Hope this helps

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Rummelhart on August 5, 2008 at 7:45pm

Hi Laurel:

I am happy to answer your questions. I did hire an outside editor to polish my book, and it is very important to do so, because they will spot things that you will not, and a good editor knows the customs in the business. After the editor, I also hired a proofreader when the final version of the book was ready for publication. I got good reviews on Amazon.com and elsewhere and people were willing to promote my book because it looked and read like it was professionally produced, and it was! It is very important to hire a good editor, proofreader, and cover artist. Some of the POD places will sell you a package. I decided to spend a lot of money on editors, etc. because I wanted a quality product. My editor is Jo-Ann Langtree, my cover artist is George Foster and I used Lightning Source as my POD printer because they got me into Barnes and Noble.com, and Amazon.com and also because they got me into Ingram as a distributor. I did spend a ton of money, about $800 on the editor, $2500 on the book cover. Lightning Source was not a lot of money. Since the book cover is part of your marketing, it is important to spend here. I sold 32 books at a yoga convention (my book is about yoga) because I had a poster made of the cover and people literally walked across the room to look at my book because of the poster. These were my first sales. Check out my book and get a coupon for a free Iyengar Yoga class honored at 45 yoga studios nationwide at www.funnypath.com.

Best wishes,

Deborah Rummelhart

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Permalink Reply by Laurel Bowen on August 6, 2008 at 8:26am

Deborah, tell a little about choosing your title, "Where Are My Ankles?". In addition to the outstanding cover art, your book also has an "I've got to read this" title. Did you get guidance on your title?
I'd love to hear from others. Do you think the money you spent on an editor was a good investment?
Dennis, even English majors use an outside editor to help them polish their work? Did you use any outside sources to give you a critique? How were your sales on your first book? I could not find it in a google search (your title comes up with tons of other references).

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Rummelhart on August 6, 2008 at 7:19pm

Hi Laurel:

Where Are My Ankles? How Iyengar Yoga Rescued Me From Stress Fear and A Very Bad Back" was not the original title of the book. The original title was "The Gifts of Yoga", which I created from an author point of view. I got rejected by about 20 literary agents who would glance at the title, think "Oh, another yoga book" and reject my book without even reading a summary of it or excerpts. I put on my marketing hat and realized I had to change the title. I thought, "What do I really want to communicate about this book?" The answer was, "I want to communicate that this book is unique and funny, is about a specific type of yoga called Iyengar Yoga, and will really help people with stress and other problems. Where Are My Ankles? is actually a funny line from an incident I describe in the book. A yoga teacher had me go into a handstand and then told me to put my ankles together. I was so disoriented that I asked her "Where Are My Ankles?"

Thanks for your kind words about the title and book cover. I have to tell you that both are aimed at a specific audience: working women between 25 and 60. Over 75% of yoga students are women, and when I tested the title and book cover, men usually did not like them and women loved them. It split very consistently and completely along gender lines. Even my (male) yoga teacher does not like the cover. I cannot recommend George Foster enough; his cover is brilliant. Also, I recommend that you have the book's interior professionally typeset by an interior designer. They can set up the book so it meets your printer's requirements whether you use a POD printer or a traditional offset printer. My typesetter is Sue Knopf, and she did a really great job, and even came up with a little yoga illustration that is included at the beginning of each chapter.

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