So, you are confident about your writing skills and are ready to self publish a book. Self publishing is an attractive proposition for any author in the present times. But there are various things that the new authors are unaware of while looking to self publish their books. Below are some of the questions that you will come across when self publishing a book and the answers will help you immensely in getting success as a self publishing author.

Do you need an ISBN number?

The answer to this question depends on how you are looking to sell books. If you are looking to sell through the retail stores (or online stores such as Amazon) then the answer is always an “YES”. Though the ISBN number may not be required if you want to sell through a small or independent retailer or you have a consignment arrangement. In all the other cases it is important to possess such a number. You have to apply for the ISBN number once the cover design is finalized. An area should be left vacant where the barcode and the number will be inserted in the future.

How can you obtain ISBN number?

You have to send direct request to the ISBN Agency mentioning the details of the book. The prices of the ISBN processing depend on the time. There are different options for the self publishers such as regular Processing, Priority Processing, and Express Processing. ISBNs are generally sold in blocks of 10, 100 and 1000. So it is important to estimate the number of publications you will be having in the next five years. It is always advisable for the authors to apply for the number well in advance as it generally takes some time before the ISBN number is obtained.

Should you get Copyright for your Book?

The published book will be the result of your hard work, so you won’t want anyone else to publish it. Thus, you should always look to protect your book with copyright. Many authors look to get the copyright without the help of any copyright attorney, but speaking frankly the papers are quite tough to handle alone. So help can be taken.

How many books should you print?

If it is your first publication, it is always advisable to print in small quantities. You will be able to sell the smaller quantity quicker. Though the books are proofread by professionals, but often it is seen there are some typos in them. It allows the author to make the necessary corrections and not 1000s of books are sold with the same embarrassing mistakes.

How important is book cover design?

It is of prime essence. Even the best literary agents will tell you, it is difficult to market a phenomenal book with poor cover design. So the cover should be sharp and commercially apt. While designing the cover of the short run book make sure that the target audience is kept into consideration. The cover should showcase what they want to see.

After you have read through the above given answers it is important to contact a reputed printing service provider in locality such as PrintPapa. The printing agency should have a wealth of knowledge in dealing with various types of promotional materials printing projects too. PrintPapa not only prints short run books they also specialize in the printing of business cards, booklets, calendars, NCR Forms, Rack Cards, etc.