Are you getting ready to submit your manuscript to be published? If you are publishing your first book, it can be very easy to make mistakes in editing and formatting your manuscript, and also in designing the book cover. It is better to fix these mistakes now than to do it after it has been published. Here are five mistakes you should avoid before you publish your manuscript.
Mistake #1: Not Reading Publishing Guidelines
I made this mistake when I submitted my first book to be published on Kindle Direct Publishing. I was so excited about publishing my first book that I did not take the time to read the guidelines about adding and formatting images, formatting chapters, and chapter titles, or creating a table of contents. I was too eager to see my book published that I ignored the publishing guidelines.
As a result, my book did not come out the way I expected. When I published my manuscript as an eBook, none of the images were showing, the chapters did not start on a new page, and I did not format the chapter titles correctly. When I published my manuscript as a paperback, the images were blurry, I did not indent the paragraphs, and I did not use the justify alignment to distribute the text evenly between the margins. My published paperback looked messy and unprofessional.
To avoid this mistake, make sure that you read through the publishing guidelines, whether you are submitting your manuscript for publication on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Draft2Digital, or Smashwords. Always follow the guidelines carefully to ensure that your manuscript is formatted correctly so that it is compatible with all mobile devices when published as an eBook, that the images are clear, and to ensure that your manuscript is polished and looks professional.
Mistake #2: Not Updating the Table of Contents
When I published my manuscript as a paperback, I made the mistake of not updating the table of contents when I made changes to some of the chapters. If I added more content, added a new image, or if I removed a couple of paragraphs, the page each chapter started on would change. And I tended to forget to update the changes to the table of contents.
To avoid making this mistake, I now update the table of contents every time I edit my chapters. This is something that you should do too when editing your manuscript. If you have already inserted the Table of Contents in your manuscript, follow these instructions on how to update:
- Click on the Table of Contents. The ‘Update Table…’ tab should appear.
- Click on the ‘Update Table…’ tab.
- In the ‘Update Table of Contents’ dialog box, select ‘Update entire table’ and click OK. This will update both the page numbers and the chapter titles in your table of contents.
Mistake #3: Lack of Editing
At the beginning of my writing journey, I did not take the time to edit my manuscript when I completed it. Usually, I edited my book at the same time I was writing it. When I finished it, I felt sure that I had already corrected the spelling and grammatical mistakes. I did not want to read through my book again. I just wanted to get it published as quickly as possible.
I loved being able to call myself an author and I was so excited to show my family my first published book. Also, I have to admit that I was a bit lazy and did not want to go through my book again looking for writing mistakes.
Unfortunately, when I published my book and received a copy, all the spelling and grammatical mistakes I made seemed to jump from the pages. I saw a lot of mistakes I made in the text and the chapter titles. I felt so ashamed at how my book came out.
What was worse was that a few people had purchased my book and left some really bad reviews about the writing mistakes I made. I felt so bad for not editing my book that I vowed never to make the same mistake again.
Now whenever I am working on my manuscript, I concentrate on writing the content first. When I have completed my first draft, I go through it to make sure that there are no writing mistakes. When you are writing your manuscript, make sure that you do the same.
If you are able to hire a professional editor, you can do that to ensure that there are no spelling or grammatical mistakes. If it is too expensive to hire an editor, you can ask a trusted family member or friend to read through your manuscript and mark the areas where there are writing mistakes.
If you prefer to edit your manuscript yourself, then I suggest that you put aside your first draft for a couple of days and take a break from writing. Then go back to your manuscript and start editing it. This will help you to find writing mistakes by looking at your manuscript with fresh eyes. The key is having the patience to edit your manuscript before publishing it.
Mistake #4: Lack of Formatting
Before you submit your manuscript for publishing, you need to ensure that you correctly format the chapter titles, images, pages, and text. This is why it is important to read the publishing guidelines so that you may know how to correctly format your manuscript to meet the requirements of the publishing platform you have chosen.
If you do not format your manuscript, it may not be displayed correctly on mobile devices when it is published as an eBook, and it may not be printed properly when it is published as a paperback.
To avoid this mistake, check the publishing guidelines on how to format your manuscript to be published as an eBook and as a paperback. Check the guidelines on how to indent paragraphs and set line spacing, format chapter titles, create a table of contents, add front matter and back matter, insert and format images for an eBook, and set trim size and margins for a paperback.
Mistake #5: Poorly Designed Book Cover
We have all heard the saying, “Never judge a book by its cover,” but in the case of buying books, people tend to judge whether a book is worth reading by looking at its cover. So having a poorly designed book cover can have a negative impact on your sales. Nobody wants to buy a book that looks like it was designed by an amateur.
If you have strong graphic design skills, then you could design a book cover. However, if you do not have experience in designing book covers, it would be better to hire a professional designer. You can find affordable book cover designers on websites such as Fiverr.com, Upwork.com, and Reedsy.com. You can also purchase book cover templates from Adazing.com.
You have worked countless hours to bring your manuscript to life. Therefore, it is important to consider these mistakes so that you can avoid them when you submit your manuscript to be published. It is better not to rush the entire publishing process before your book is ready to be shared with the world.
