Having just started the process of getting my book professionally edited and getting a great cover designed, I wanted to share my best tips and advice for anyone else seeking to self-publish in Australia. There is plenty of advice available online (The Creative Penn is a great place to start), but here’s a quick run-down of things I’ve learnt first-hand in the last few months:
Book Editors
How to find them
The Freelance Editors Network: https://www.fen.net.au/
READ every single editor’s info section on here. Make a short-list of editors who work in your genre, have decent experience and sound promising. From your shortlist, click through to each of those editor’s personal websites. Browse through their testimonials and check out what other authors they have worked with. Make sure they do the right kind of edit for you (i.e. a copy edit and a structural edit are very different – and not all good copy editors are cut out to be structural editors!)
Once you’ve reviewed each website you should have narrowed your list down to around 2-3 editors that you think would be good for your book. Send each editor a query email including your novel’s genre, word count, the type of edit you want and the timeframe you want it done in. Ask for their availability and a quote – also ask for a quote on doing a sample edit.
Something to note/highlight is that GOOD editors are booked out months in advance. Factor this in when you send your query letters – your preferred editor might not be available for the next six months. Remember that if you’re getting a great editor then they should also be working for the big publishing houses as well – and you can bet those companies book their editors in very early!
Cover Designers
How to find them
The Australian Book Designers Association: https://abda.com.au/
Just as with the editors, click through the profiles of every single cover designer on this site and make a shortlist of ones that look promising (also make sure they say they are open to working on independent/ self-published books). Once you have your shortlist, click through to each designer’s website and check out other covers they have designed. One thing to note here is that a lot of the designers on this site don’t seem to have their own websites. This could be because they do more work for publishing houses than independent authors – which is a good thing for you. Check out anything available you can find on them – some showcase their work on Pinterest, others on Instagram. If you find a designer that has designed a recent cover for a book you love (i.e. a book you have sitting on your bookshelf at home) then that’s a promising start.
Another great place to locate cover designers (and editors) is to check the books you have on your bookshelves already and love. Most books include a cover design credit in the copyright information page at the start of the book, and most authors will thank their editors in the acknowledgement section at the back of the novel.
Timelines COUNT!
Just like with editors, good book cover designers are booked out months in advance. There are a number of great cover designers in the USA and UK who specialise in the self-publishing marketplace, however after I tried contacting two that looked good I discovered they were solidly booked for the next 6 months! That was way too long for me to wait for a cover – it would mean delaying publishing my book for close to 9 months. Luckily I managed to find an absolutely amazing designer via the Australian Book Designers Association, someone who has designed covers for authors I love, and who had good availability right away. My advice, however, would definitely be to book far in advance – I will certainly be planning further ahead for my future books.
Lastly I should note that there is so much information out there on finding cover designers and editors, and these two websites are not the only place to go. However, if you want to avoid hours of trawling the internet looking for information (something I have already done!) then put that time into studying the profiles of these Aussie editors and designers instead.
Photo by tanialee gonzalez on Unsplash