So when author Rachel Higginson asked me to do a guest post on her Writer Wednesday feature, I absolutely had to accept!! So I chose to write about that annoying problem that seems to plague every author.

And here it is! I answer the question: Writer’s Block – Is There A Cure?

And I received this in response: How important are editors? And should you pay for one on your first book?

You know what? That is a BRILLIANT question. And one I’d absolutely love to answer. Why, you say? Because I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I actually have true experience in this very question.

Let me give you a bit of background.

Before I published my first book, I was a complete noob (a.k.a. newbie, for those who are unfamiliar with gaming lingo hehe) to the whole ebook world. I rarely read ebooks, and even more than that, never read ones by self-published, independent authors.

I was a traditional-physical-book-kind-of-girl all the way.

Not because I was against ebooks or Indie authors/books.

It was simply the fact….I didn’t know they existed.

I only knew of traditionally published ebooks, which pretty much cost the same amount as a paperback. So of course, I was in no way interested in spending $8.99 on an ebook when I could just do my fav thing: walk in to Barnes & Noble and take a big whiff of the lovely paper and ink and buy the physical copy.

Why would anyone ever pay the same amount of money for an ebook? That’s what I’d think to myself, anyway.

But then! Thanks to a recommendation, I discovered books written by self-published, independent authors! And they were FREEE!! Or really reasonably priced!! Almost too cheap, in my opinion! 99¢? $2.99? Heck yes! I’d so support this community if it meant getting more books at this price.

So, that’s how I discovered the true world of ebooks and self-publishing, and I immediately knew that I wanted to self-publish my book. I wasn’t even going to query traditional publishers because why have someone else do what you can do yourself?

Now, before you go thinking self-publishing is easy, let me stop you right there. It isn’t easy. It takes a LOT of work. But if you can commit to it, then it’ll pay off in the end.

Okay, I’ve totally gotten off track here. The point of all that is, I was a noob to self-publishing. I had my finished manuscript sitting in front of me with no idea what to do with it.

Where did I begin? What was the first step? Who do I contact?

No one knew about this book, first of all. The only people who knew were: my sister (because she helped me write it), her husband, and my husband. We also had NO pocket money to spend on the book, because let’s face it. It’s freaking expensive to hire other people to do everything you need done to publish a good-looking, professional book.

So, being that I was completely green to the whole thing, I thought: I can do everything myself!

I can save money and do my own cover, do my own editing, do my own formatting, etc.

Piece of cake!

WRONG!

That was the BIGGEST mistake I have ever made in my writing career.

So, to answer that initial question: How important are editors? And should you pay for one on your first book?

The answers are: EXTREMELY IMPORTANT and ABSOLUTELY YES.

Here is why:

The self-publishing world is BOOMING. Everyone and their brother are publishing novels now, which of course means it is also immediately getting scrutinized by the big guys a.k.a Traditional Publishing supporters. And by that I mean READERS. Plain and simple readers are getting on their high horses and judging self-published books with a huge magnifying glass, just looking for any mistakes possible.

Due to this, self-published novels are getting a bad rep, because some self-published authors don’t get their manuscripts professionally copyedited before publishing. It’s true. At least, that’s how it was at first. And that reason is because it can be incredibly expensive. Everything is expensive. Professional cover art can cost $400-$600, and professional copyediting can cost another $400-$600, depending on the size of your novel. It can even get upwards of $1,000, depending on who you hire and what they have to do to your manuscript.

And let’s face it. I don’t have that kind of money to spend on anything, let alone a book I don’t even know will sell. (My thoughts before I published my first book)

So, it’s completely understandable why self-published authors chose to skip editing and focus their money on their cover – because that’s what everyone judges books by first. It’s what draws readers in to their books.

BUT!!!!!!

Times are changing, and now you can get a great looking cover AND professional copyediting at a very reasonable price. There’s no longer an excuse for self-published authors NOT to get their books copyedited.

My answer is always -

“I format my own ebooks. You can too!”

Now, let’s pause for a second. If you’re looking for a fancy, decorated ebook with pretty designs and things….then you should definitely hire a professional. I recommend Anastasia Pergakis (http://anastasiacreatives.com/) and Candace Selph (https://www.facebook.com/candaceselph).

BUT…

Publishing your own book can be very expensive. Cover art and professional copyediting should be THEE most important aspects of your books – with that said, you may not have much out-of-pocket money left over to spend on fancy insides.

So, if what’s important to you is saving money while still having a simple, professional-looking ebook, then this post is for you. I’ve created a 5 minute and 44 second video showing how YOU can format your completed manuscript yourself. That’s right – it’s so easy and simple, anyone can do it. I promise.

At least give it a try, and if you have questions, I’d be happy to answer them!

This is a quick and easy tutorial on how to format your manuscript for publishing on Amazon and Smashwords. This video was made using Microsoft Word on a MacBook Pro. Settings/terms may differ, but will be similar to Windows terms. If terms/settings are not exact, be sure to use what sounds similar on your Windows PC.

Steps:

1. Click on “Show Invisibles.” Go through your ENTIRE manuscript and delete ALL extra spaces before and after words or sentences.

2. Remove ANY “tab” indents. You must use “Paragraph” settings, “Special” indentation at “First Line” in order to have paragraph indents in your book. If you fail to remove any manual indents made using the “tab” button on your keyboard, your book will be rejected by Smashwords.

3. Insert a page break at the end of your Book Title, Copyright information, Dedication, Prologue, each Chapter, Epilogue, Acknowledgements, About the Author, etc.

4. Format your chapter names how you want them to look. Make sure they’re centered (you may have to highlight the chapter name, go to “Paragraph” settings and remove the “First Line” indentation). Then, once highlighted, right click on “Heading 1″ under the style bar at the top and select “Update to Match Selection” so that it saves the formatting style. Go to each of your chapter names, highlight it, and then click on that same “heading 1″ option so that all your chapter names match. This MUST be repeated for each chapter.

5. Build your Table of Contents (ToC) by typing out each one of your chapter names, including Prologue, Epilogue, About the Author, etc. Highlight each one, right click on it, then choose “Hyperlink.” Select the “Locate” button and click on the corresponding name in the list. Match each chapter name with the ones in the list.

6. Type “Table of Contents” at the top, highlight it, then select “Insert” at the top, select “Bookmark,” type “ToC” and save.

7. Your book is now ready to be saved and uploaded onto Amazon. Save a second version as .doc for Smashwords publishing.