Credibility & respect
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If you are writing and publishing a family history, and your toughest potential critic will be your loving mother, you can get away with almost anything.

On the other hand, if you want to sell books and get reviews like "real" publishers, your book should be as good as their books.



It's not difficult.



Despite the amazing recent growth in the number of self-published book titles, and in the number of companies that want to get into the "self-publishing" business, self-published authors are often treated as second class citizens. They are the "Rodney Dangerfields" of the book business, with little or no respect from the guardians of traditional publishing.



That sad status can limit book sales.



Make your book look as good as the books published by companies that have been in the business for a hundred years. Hire a professional designer to "do" your cover. Make sure your interior pages have large margins all around (but not so large that the book looks "padded"). Include the proper front matter and back matter. Pick a readable font in a large-enough size. Don't use a sans serif type face for the body of the book (but it's OK for chapter titles and headers.) Make sure photos and illustrations are sharp and clear. Don't use both indentations and skipped lines to indicate new paragraphs. Don't use more than three fonts. Don't load the book with free "clip art" that has been seen a million times before. Don't have more than one blank page in the front of the book (It's better to have no blanks). Don't use the same blurbs on the back cover and on the first inside page. Don't think that sheets of paper held together with staples are a book.

The author should read, reread and reread some more, but should not be the only proofreader and editor. Hire at least one professional editor. Make sure an editor carefully checks the cover -- errors can be anywhere, even in a website address or author's name.

Have a title that makes sense to its intended audience, or (better yet) to the whole world. Don't depend on a subtitle to explain the main title.

Make sure your book's price is neither much lower or much higher than other books of its type. The price should end in zero cents or 95 cents, except for e-books which generally have prices ending in 99 cents.

Have a company name that sounds like a real company, not something juvenile like "Bobbie's Books." You don't have to hire a lawyer and incorporate. You can probably register your business name with a local government office for less that $25.

Don't pick a name that sounds like an existing company, like Random Books or Toyota Publishing.

Don't pick a company name that uses your last name. Stephanie Bacciagalupe the author should not be published by Bacciagalupe Publications. You need to imply that your company has more than one person working there.

Have a professionally designed logo to go with your company name. Use it on the spine and back and title page of your books, on websites, business cards and letterheads.

Have a businesslike email address, such as CharlesMadison@WebsterPublishing.com, not BeatlesFan397@aol.com. If you do not yet have an internet "domain" for your company, it's OK to use a gmail address, like WebsterPub@gmail.com.

Get a profesional-looking website, with a businesslike web address like WebsterPublishing.com. Avoid free website providers that will give you an address like http//FreeWebSites.us/blahblah/8954/Webster/06460

Have a businesslike mailing address. "Rural Route 702, Happy Trails, Kentucky" just doesn't make it. If necessary, get a post office box.

Have a separate phone number and voicemail greeting for your business, and don't let a three-year-old answer the business line.

Some reviewers and publications that review books specifically say that they won't review self-pubbed books. You have to fool them into thinking that you operate a small "indie" press that they have never heard of, rather than that you are self-publishing.If you are asked if your book is self-published, you can evade the question and say something like, "I am one of the owners of the company that publishes my books."

Don't announce that your books are printed on demand. Many people assume that POD books are self-published and reject the books without reading them. This may change in the future.