Your book has been written, rewritten, beta read, edited and reedited to within an inch of its life.  Now it is time to design and layout the interior. One of the first decisions you will be asked to make is the height and width of the book. This is called the trim size. So you go to your bookshelf and pull down your favorite four books and notice that they are all 6x9. There! Decision made! But not so fast.

More and more, Amazon and Amazon companies are encouraging or requiring authors and publishers to use them exclusively. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) offers free ISBNs, KDP Select allows for extra marketing options, and ACX will allow budget-restricted publishers/authors a chance to get an audiobook created and produced for free in exchange for 50% of the profits. All of these options give authors opportunities that they would otherwise have to work harder for, but in exchange, they require that you agree to work with them exclusively. Let’s take a look at them one by one:

The secret to success in book publishing has always been knowing the market. Diving deeply into current reading habits is just the start, and knowing how and why folks buy is the next step after learning what they read. Understanding your audience is key to building your author platform. Some great data came from a December 2016 Gallup Poll that can help inform our next steps when creating sales and book marketing plans.

Man, I love the idea of my book on the shelves of Wal-Mart and Costco. I love the vision I have of seeing eight copies of my book standing, cover face out, on the top shelf of the reference section in Barnes & Noble. What I don’t love thinking about is this: my book does not belong in any of these stores. I wish it were not so. I wish B&N, Wal-Mart, and Costco would sell my book and that it was the perfect fit for the customers who shop at these places, but it's not. The type of readers who want a book about the publishing industry (which is what I write about) are more likely to shop online and at conventions.