The Publishing Process

Introduction | Critical Assesment | Editing | Copy editing | Typesetting |
Text and Cover Design | ISBN Registration | Printing |
Bibliographic / Copyright Registration | Publicity | Marketing |
Sales / Customer Invoicing | Distribution / Warehousing

Introduction

So you've written your book, or perhaps you have a book concept that you think is unique. The only problem is, how do you get that idea and turn it into an actual volume on a bookshop shelf?

You enjoy the writing, you know your subject but you don't have the time or the inclination to learn the publishing business to ensure that you get the results that you want.

At Matador we've been helping people get their books into print for over 10 years, and it can be cheaper than you think, with prices starting from only £400. We also offer a personal service -- we allocate a named contact at Matador to each of our authors, so there's no being passed from department to department.

So, turn to Matador, and we'll turn your manuscript into a book...


Editing

Editing is a different process from Copy Editing (see below). An Editor works with an author to improve a book (usually but not exclusively in fiction), a process that usually happens before a book goes into print.


Critical Assessment

You know your subject well, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you've written a good book. Authors are notoriously unable to step back from their work to get a balanced view of their own writing. We therefore recommend that authors use this service to get an independent critical assessment of not only the book's content, but also the style of writing. Remember that a book can contain every scrap of information about a particular subject, but if it's written in an inaccessible way, no-one will read it.

It takes skill and experience to read and critically assess a new manuscript, and it is a time consuming process. To ensure that critical assessments are entirely unbiased and of a suitably high quality, we do not carry them out ourselves. As an author you thus have the assurance that we are not going to tell you how fantastic your manuscript is just so that you will publish it with us. We recommend that authors wanting a good quality critical assessment should contact The Writers' Workshop. The Writers' Workshop uses experienced authors and editors to evaluate and comment upon manuscripts, and we have no hesitation in recommending them to prospective self publishing authors. We have negotiated a special discount on the usual rates from The Writers' Workshop for authors referred by Matador. For details, please view the attached Writers' Workshop offer and then contact us to find out how to obtain a discount.


Copy Editing

You've written the best book you can, checked your facts and double checked your spelling. Yet there will be lots of mistakes! Particularly when you've lived with a project for a long time, you can become 'blind' to such mistakes, not spotting them until they're in print. The wrong caption, the wrong picture, inconsistent spelling, poor grammar, lack of punctuation... The copy editing process involves an independent party checking through your manuscript to look for such things and correct them. This ensures that your manuscript is of the highest quality (and you also get to approve any changes made before publication).


Typesetting

First impressions count and you want your book to look good, inside and out. Matador can typeset your book to give that fantastic first impression. The typesetting process involves taking a manuscript and converting it into the way it will look in the book. We will use your text (from disk) and apply a typographical design to the book, placing photographs and graphics, choosing colours, page size, type size, etc. This will give the book a certain 'feel' and style, that will be carried through to the cover design. Once this process has been completed, you will be sent typeset proofs to check (proof read).


Text and Cover Design

Take a look at any two books on your shelf and you'll notice how the appearance of their text is different. How do you decide what font to use, what weight, how large should the pages be (and what's the most economical size), what will make the page pleasing to the eye...? Textual design is an art form which should not be overlooked. The best book can be ruined by poor typographical design, and if it's not easy to read, by and large people won't read it. We'll design your book and ensure that you're happy with that design before typesetting begins.

Cover design is arguably even more important, as it's often the cover that sells a book. How often have you seen 'home produced' books with terrible covers on the local bookshop shelf? We can design your book's jacket from scratch, using either your own artwork or supplying professional quality photographs or illustrations. We also ensure that your book cover includes a bar code - a necessity for stocking in bookshops.


ISBN Registration

There is no legal requirement to give your book an ISBN number. However, without an ISBN number, a book cannot be ordered through any bookshop (physical or online) as the books ordering systems all work using the unique ISBN number, not a book's title. The ISBN number is unique to every book, and it enables a book shop to identify the book's publisher, and thus be able to order it. Without an ISBN number on your book, you are effectively limiting yourself just to private sales. We can supply ISBN numbers under our Matador imprint for books published in the UK, or we can source ISBN numbers for you if you wish to publish under your own imprint.


Printing

The process of printing can be a minefield that Matador can lead you safely through. Printers vary in equipment, the systems that they use and the price that they'll quote for the same job. How do you know exactly which quote will work out to be the best?

The printing industry has its own conventions and standards and if you don't know what these are you may not get the final product that you hoped for. There are also different printing processes -- lithographic or digital? What are the differences? Which would be appropriate for your book? How do I know a good printer from a poor one? How many copies should be printed? What will reprints cost?

At Matador we regularly use a wide range of printers nationwide, each with their own strengths, so we can take over that lengthy hunt for the right printer at the right price for your book.


Bibliographic and Copyright Registration

How do booksellers know your book is available? They use various bibliographic databases run by companies such as Whitaker's and Book Data. These companies supply data to the high street and online bookstores, so you need to register with the databases so that your book appears on the stores' computer... invaluable when a customer wants to order it!

In addition, on publication you are required by law to send one copy of your book to the five Copyright Libraries in the UK, via the Copyright Receipt Office. We arrange registration for authors as a matter of course, and ensure the Deposit Libaries get their copies on your behalf. We make no charge for these services.


Publicity

Publicity and Marketing are two different - though related - activities. Both aim to achieve the best possible exposure of your book to the market. Publicity is the process of making the world aware that your book has been published, and this is where your in depth knowledge of your subject area can be invaluable. Publicity involves placing stories in your local paper, in specialist magazines, on the Internet in newsgroups, on the radio or TV. Data Sheets are also produced on all our books and sent to relevant bookshops, book chains and wholesalers.

It can be difficult to gauge the effectiveness of publicity activities as there is no way of measuring the effect they have on sales. But without publicity, your sales will certainly be diminished.

We can help you identify suitable places to publicise your book, and to prepare publicity materials such as press releases.


Marketing

Marketing and publicity is that part of publishing a book that many authors overlook; perhaps they are daunted by the prospect of "selling" their book, or perhaps they simply don't know how. The books trade undoubtedly has complex distribution and sales systems which can appear to be impenetrable from the outside. Yet if you're serious about getting your book onto the shelves and selling more than a few copies, it's this part of the process that should demand your attention, even before the book has been printed.

Marketing is so important that we have devoted a completely separate section of this web site to it. We give details of the services that we offer to authors, and there's news of Matador self published titles in the media. For authors who do sign up with Matador, we also offer a password-protected section that gives information on marketing, self promotion, prizes, where to find information on bookshops, and much more.

In brief, for books that we feel have a good chance of being taken up by such outlets, we will market your book to the major book chains, ensure your book is listed in The Bookseller magazine (read by all bookshops), notify local and national press and radio, the specialist press and interested professional associations. Your book will also become available online via Amazon.co.uk and The Internet Bookshop (Troubador is an Amazon and WH Smith associate company). In addition, your book will become available through any bookshop in the UK via Teleordering.

What we (or anyone else) cannot do is guarantee sales of your book, we may be selling your book, but by the same measure, someone also has to buy! We will be as realistic about the chances of your book reaching a wider market before we agree to undertake the marketing of your book.

To find out more about Marketing, click here.


Sales and Customer Invoicing

We can act as your sales agent, taking orders and fulfilling them on your behalf. We then send you a payment every few months (minus a 15% commission to cover our costs).


Distribution and Warehousing

We can store bulk copies (>500 copies) of your book for a nominal monthly charge of £20 for a two year period following publication. Smaller quantities are stored free of charge for a period of two years. Alternatively, your books can be delivered in bulk direct to you. Most authors opt to take delivery of a percentage of their books, leaving the rest with us to sell on their behalf. We use a third party specialist storage and distribution company, Tipiden Ltd of Leicester, for storage and bulk distribution.


Contact Us!

Contact us for an informal discussion about your book's publication - advice is always freely given, and there's no obligation at all.

Tel: 0116 255 9311
Fax: 0116 255 9323