By Barbara Mitchell   »   "I hate writing. I love having written". That quote from Dorothy Parker sure summed this labour of love for me. One thing's for sure, writing my book was not an easy undertaking. The writer's block; discipline of writing at dedicated times; writing in the dark because my best ideas always seemed to come just before falling asleep or in the early morning hours are all, thankfully, behind me now.

Finally my manuscript was finished. I knew because I didn't even consider rewriting or editing - not one chapter, verse or dialogue. I was done! It's hard to explain the sense of pride of committing one's vision to paper and watching it grow into a finished book. However, there was no time to stand on laurels. What was I supposed to do next? How do I get my writing from manuscript to a published book?

The first thing I did was copyright my work. I could put the copyright symbol on my manuscript and the law automatically protects this creative work. However registering officially with the US Copyright Office gives me the advantage of having a public record of copyright claim in the event of an infringement suit. It also protects my work for my heirs some seventy years after I die. The fee as of this writing was $45 - money I considered well spent.

Next, I hired a professional editor. Even if I were an English major or my best friend taught it, there are writing styles that go beyond typos, mistakes in grammar or redundancy. Professionally published books have an established contextual style for format, punctuation, citations, quotations, etc. and only a professional editor could help me with this. In order to keep an eye on costs I hired an editorial service that charged by the word. It was much easier to prove the costs per word versus an editorial service that charged by the hour.

Now I was ready to select a publisher. I learned that in order to submit my manuscript to traditional publishers, I needed to consult the Writer's Market publication. It is the source for where, when, how and who to sell what one has written. After some research, I decided not to go with a traditional publisher for several reasons: 

1. I'd probably have to hire a literary agent as most publishers wouldn't even look at my work without one. 
2. Most traditional publishers work on an 18 month production cycle which means I wouldn't see my work in book form for at least a year or more. 
3. The rejection letters that comes before some one editor decides my work is worth publishing - need I say more? 
4. Publishers' royalties run between 5-15% after sales, manufacturing costs, etc. Now, of course, if my book becomes a best seller that 15% would look pretty good. However I wanted to keep more than 5 to 15% profit from the sale of my book.

This led me to research self publishing options. What I found was:

(1) Local Printer 

• Offset Process would be too costly. I have a friend who attempted to publish a children's book this way. She found that she would have had to price each book over $100 just to break even!

(2) Print on Demand (POD) 

• Pays a royalty to writer of 1-1.5%
• I'd pay ($$$) upfront and again when each book sold 
• I'd receive one or two copies of my book for the ($$$) 
• Ownership rights are held by POD for a specified period 
• Examples: Lulu, Xlibris, iUniverse

This is the way to go if I just wanted to see my work in print or wanted to leave a legacy for my family. In addition I learned that it would be a mistake to skip the editorial service before using a POD - the manuscript submitted is not edited, spell checked or checked for typos. In other words what I submit is what I get back in book form.

(3) Book Packager 

• Independent contractor prints all phases of book
• Prints amount of books I wanted at a reasonable cost. 
• Professional bookstore quality
• Ownership rights remain with me 
• All proceeds from sales belong to me
• Examples: BooksJustBooks.com, blurb.com

The book packager option was the one I chose. This process is very hands on - which I like. I was involved in every aspect, from the choice of type font to the layout and finally the cover art - which I selected from my own sources. The final product reflected my vision for my book.

Self-publishing satisfied my desire to see my work in print in a timely manner. The new technology using laser printing and the ability to use word publishing software all offered a fast turnaround. In just a couple of months I had professional quality books delivered to my door. I was completely satisfied and impressed with the final product.

Early in the process I applied for an ISBN (International Standard Book Number). This number identifies the book title and me as the publisher for marketing purposes. An ISBN is absolutely necessary to sell to bookstores, place with distributors, wholesalers and libraries nationally and internationally.

I went one step farther and applied for an LCCN (Library of Congress Catalog Number) to register and catalog my title in the centralized Library's Catalog Collection in Washington DC. (The equivalent for Canada is the Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication, or CIP).

And there you have it, the step-by-step process of how I published, When You Need a Timeout. You can read an excerpt from the book on my website.

• Barbara Mitchell is a Doctor of Clinical Hypnotherapy. Certified Stress Management Consultant and Certified Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). She is the author of, When You Need a Timeout, a book about how to create the ultimate stress-free getaway one relaxing day at a time. Dr. Barbara Mitchell and her husband who is a Reiki Master, have a private consultant practice in Piscataway, New Jersey. She is a member of ABH, IMDHA, IACT, ABNLP and TLTA. You can read an excerpt from her book  and visit her blog, Stress Free Moments for tips and techniques for managing stress every day.