Before you publish
There is a stage between finished and published that most advice skips. The writing is done, the edit is done, and what is left is a list of unglamorous checks that decide whether the book a reader downloads matches the one you wrote.
These guides are that list, broken into the passes worth running separately: the manuscript itself, the files it becomes, the material other people need from you, and the details on the retailer's page.
The third of those is the one most often left to the last evening. Four different people want four different documents from a finished novel: a style sheet for your editor, a canon reference for your next book, a pronunciation sheet for your narrator, and a glossary for your readers that gives nothing away.
133 articles, page 1 of 4
Checking a Book You Published Years Ago
The book, and the file, have both moved.
What to Check Before a Translation Launch
A book in a language you cannot check.
How to Run a Final Read-Through
One read, done properly.
Reading Your Book on a Different Device
The same words, somewhere unfamiliar.
Printing Your Manuscript to Proofread
Paper still works, and here is why.
Changing the Font to Catch Errors
Free, instant, and effective.
Proofreading Backwards
Removing the sense, to see the letters.
How Many Proofreading Passes
Not more passes. Different ones.
What a Legal Read Checks
What a lawyer reads a novel for.
Checking Your Review Request Page
Asking for reviews, within the rules.
What to Check Before Going Exclusive
A term, a commitment, and what it costs.
What to Check Before Going Wide
Listed everywhere is not the same as wide.
What to Check Before a Price Promotion
A promotion tests everything at once.
What to Check Before a Preorder
A promise with a date attached.
Preorder File Deadlines
The date before the date.
What to Check Before a Paperback Launch
Permanent per copy, unlike an ebook.
What to Check Before an Audiobook Launch
Correcting audio costs a session.
Checking Your Copyright Notice
One page, every copy, never read.
Checking Your Disclaimer Text
The standard wording, and when it is not.
Content Warnings and Where to Put Them
Warning readers without telling them.
Checking Acknowledgements for Omissions
The page where a mistake costs a friendship.
Checking Your Author Bio
The paragraph that is everywhere and out of date.
Checking Your Back Matter Links
The links nobody tests after launch.
Checking Your Newsletter Signup Link
The link that is worth money.
Checking Your Also-By Page
The page that is wrong in every older book.
Checking Drop Caps and Ornaments
The first thing a conversion breaks.
Checking Tables in an Ebook
Tables and reflow do not agree.
Checking Verse and Poetry Layout
Where a line break has to survive.
Checking a Glossary in the Final File
Built early, printed late.
Checking a Character List in the Final File
The cast list, against the finished cast.
Checking an Index in a Print Book
An index is only right for one pagination.
Checking Endnotes in the Final File
The round trip nobody tests.
Checking a Map at Print Resolution
Sharp on screen, blurred on paper.
Preflight for a Special Edition
A higher price, a higher standard.
Checking a Cover File Before Upload
The file that becomes every copy.
Checking Your Blurb Against the Book
The blurb describes a book you changed.
Checking Your Sample on Each Retailer
Four shops, four different samples.
Checking Your Ebook on Multiple Devices
The test nothing else substitutes for.
Testing an Ebook on a Kindle
The device most of your readers use.
Testing an Ebook on Apple Books
The platform that shows you your own faults.
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Before you publish, on your own manuscript.
One pass, and the documents your editor, narrator and readers each need. See the handoff pack →