Tag Archives: backmatter

Business of Publication

I mentioned last week that my book is out with beta readers. While that is happening, I’m working on the administrative steps related to the business of publication. A handful of months ago, when I was looking into beta readers, a friend passed on a publication checklist. It includes a comprehensive list of steps with many links to help learn about the requirements or where to go for the best information. My friend received the checklist from author Lee Hadan. While I’m not going to share all of the steps in the list here, I will share a few with some supplemental research on the items added. 

First up: writing that is not part of the story. 

  • Book description.
  • Frontmatter/Backmatter.
  • About the author.
  • CTAs (including copyright).

I worked on my “blurb” earlier for getting beta readers and have done some additional work on it since then. This link has the information on book descriptions I found the most helpful for my fantasy novel. There are other sources in the checklist, but I did not feel they related specifically enough to my genre. 

Frontmatter and Backmatter include everything before and after your story, including “about the author” and copyright pages, but I decided to call them out separately. I found this link helpful for the overarching structure and as a rough guide for me to select from for inclusion. It explains the purpose of each section and when they would be used for reference text versus fiction or such. I looked at the link provided for the “about the author” section in addition to reading through a lot of those pieces in books I own. 

For copyright (CTAs), I heavily leveraged the link included in the checklist. It includes example copyright information and states that self-publishing authors can use them as templates. 

Next up: business purchases.

  • ISBNs
  • License/DBA

ISBNs are standard and you need one for each version/type of book you publish (audiobook, paperback, etc.). Bowker Identifier Services is where you purchase and register ISBNs in the USA, and they have package deals. As for a business license or DBA/Trade Name, I highly recommend researching your state and local municipalities. Many states have a sales tax that you will need to pay as the publisher, and this is based on the sale price, not on your royalties. I’m still following up with my city, but I have my state information now. 

Now I’m working on Amazon-related information like search keywords, but I will save that information and those links for next week. To sign off today, I will say, “Happy Birthday, Little Cat!” Her birthday is actually at the end of July, but I missed it last week with how busy things have been lately. 

I’m a year old now!

I hope this information is helpful to some, and thanks again to Lee Hadan for being willing to share her checklist with aspiring authors!

Hidden Memory Status Update

A brief status update today on my path to publication!

I wrote previously on my findings on alpha readers, and Hidden Memory (book 1) has been out with my expanded alpha reader list for more of this initial feedback. My work of late has been on filling out some of the gaps in book 2 of the series. I finished my run at it this week and will be moving back to addressing the new feedback on Hidden Memory.

Before I jump into this round of editing, I am researching some of the administrative/business work. Some of this was speaking with an accountant about how the taxes would work and if I would need a new LLC for selling my books and doing state taxes. While I am still debating on the LLC part, I will need to do business under my name and pay B&O taxes. Based on the thresholds, I think I will only have to file those taxes annually. Unless all of you spread the word so thoroughly Hidden Memory hits the top of the charts right out of the gate. Crazier things have happened.

The publication checklist I received through some friends gives me a lot to think about for action items to complete soon. I have been focusing on frontmatter and backmatter. This work has been reading example acknowledgments and about the author sections in preparation for writing mine with the names on my acknowledgment list. This location also has good information on copyright pages that I have found useful for the frontmatter.

Feedback from a couple of alpha readers indicates a map would be helpful, so I am looking into a simplified version of the Inkarnate map I maintain for my use during writing to include at the front of the book. It will need a note about a cartographically challenged author and distances being more accurate as written than drawn. At least it will be directionally accurate. I also enjoy maps in books I read. The final map will need experimentation on how it translates into the e-book, but I have some time to verify.

One decision I am debating is the second format to target for publication. Do I look at turning the e-book into a physical book or an audiobook? Both have their merits, and over time I will likely get to both, but I think I only want to tackle one at a time. If you have any preferences or thoughts on this question, I would love to know what those are and your reasoning.