Miranda's blog about the book Follow My Dreams

How to publish?
I have been working on this aspect since March 2013 when I had finished my first draft and approached an old established self publisher, some people would call it vanity publishing but this publisher is an old established publisher of biographies and memoirs and their deal seems very reasonable compared to most. I was quoted about £8,500 for them to produce 500 copies (30 I would keep) and then 65% royalty on net sales and a buy back of so much per book.

I have been resisting paying this large amount while I look at other options, talk to friends who have been through this process and learned some of the ropes; bought a copy of Writer's and Artist's Yearbook - a must - and updated it this year only to find the articles are the same but some of the publishers listed are new, and following websites with helpful advice from established writers.

I have also been talking to one of the largest printers in the country and to a proof reader and type-setter to gauge the cost of doing it all myself.

Last but most important I have been hoping to attract a publisher to bear the cost and I am waiting for an answer from one such who are currently reading my manuscript having shown interest. Wish me luck.

Since March I have redrafted the manuscript many times, paid for a critique and then revised my book accordingly as I agreed with all the comments and suggestions, particularly to take out the detailed technical descriptions and numbered points and make it more readable prose.

I have also converted the manuscript into Royale size (6" wide by 9" high approx. which the new version Office 365 enabled me to do , to see how many pages I would end up with and it worked out at about 450 counting one page two sides in 12pt Calibri font so dyslectics can read it too.