When preparing a manuscript for publishing, several components need to be included. In this chapter, I’ll explore those required components.
Book Title
You will need to identify a book title that is the appropriate fit for your manuscript. Think of something that is a catchphrase from the book or summarizes the theme of the book. Don’t get too cute. People haven’t read the book yet, so they aren’t going to get adorable or quirky titles that you think are funny.
Book Cover
When designing a book cover, you should scan through books in your genre. Are other authors using faces? Bodies? Couples? Clothed or unclothed models? Symbols? Vector images? Dark backgrounds? Light backgrounds?
Once you’ve identified a feel that fits with your genre, then consider how you could use that concept with your book cover. If you are comfortable with designing your own book covers, then there are YouTube videos and programs that can easily be used to make your own covers and save you money.
If you are uncomfortable with designing your own covers, there are people on Fiverr that can do a decent job with designing covers. Or there are numerous sites available that sell pre-made covers. However, those take forever to go through and may not fit your book perfectly. I prefer to find a stock image that matches my book and have a Fiverr designer to make my covers. The most important thing is that for erotic short stories, I would not spend a large sum of money for a top book cover designer. It isn’t necessary.
Images
When selecting the picture for your book cover, it is recommended that you spend a little extra money and get a stock photo plan. There are a wider variety of images to choose from and the images are better quality. Not to mention, you will have less likelihood of ten other people in your genre using the same image. With free photos, you will find numerous people having used the same models for their covers.
Title Page
On the title page, you will need to type the title of your book, author name, and year of publication.
Publisher’s Page
If you are your own publisher, you can put down the same information as the title page and yourself as the publisher. Additionally, you can make your own publishing company name if you would like to have a more professional look for your book.
Copyright Page
All professional quality books should include a copyright page. This page directs the reader not to copy, duplicate, or use your property as their own. There are examples of copyright pages online, or you can have an attorney draft one for you.
Table of Contents
If you are using a Microsoft Word document, you can use headings for your chapters to develop hyperlinks. These hyperlinks will allow your reader to click on the different chapters or sections to switch to that location in your book.
This can be helpful if the reader wants to go back to a specific area in your book and re-read the information. More importantly is if they’re going to your author page for your contact information or the review page to leave you a book review. The table of content’s function is under the references tab of a word program.
Excerpt
Next, you will want to include a page with your book excerpt. The book excerpt should be approximately two to three paragraphs of your story where the action or intensity is beginning to heat up between your characters.
This passage should entice the reader to want more. If you publish on Amazon, a reader can download a “free” sample of your book or click on the “look inside” feature. When a reader gets this free portion of your book, the excerpt should be a part of that sample. By including a tantalizing excerpt, you can pique the reader’s interest and get a sale.
Story
Now’s the place for the good stuff. Your manuscript should go here. Each chapter should have at least the “number” of the chapter and “chapter” listed at the top of the page. After these words are typed, then you need to “click” on the “heading 1” tab on the home page, if using Microsoft Word. This allows the chapter to be a hyperlink and can be automatically added to the table of contents once the book is complete.
About the Author
After the conclusion of the book, you should add a section about the author. This doesn’t need to be extravagant. A small blurb about you and how to contact you is sufficed.
Book Review
The last thing that must be included in your book is a request for a book review. As Indie authors, we need book reviews like drug addicts needs their fix. Without social proof that a book is good, there won’t be any sales. Moreover, please review the books of your favorite Indie authors. They’ll love you for it.
Event those negative reviews can be helpful. They can assist you in improving your future writings, give advice on how to update the current work and re-publish, or provide insight to another author hoping to avoid the same pitfalls. Most importantly, it let’s future readers know what to expect and how to spend their money and time wisely. Because we know both money and time are the most essential commodities.
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Alexia Chase
https://alexiachaseromance.com
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