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Editing
and proofreading
One of the most practical and cost-effective ways to improve your
manuscript is to have a professional editor help you with your manuscript.
Basic editing includes punctuation, grammar, usage, style and clarity.
Content editing is based on the subject matter, or content, of the
writing and typically includes rewriting, copy reorganization, focus
on the intended audience, and fact checking when needed. Fees, charged
by the hour, page or entire manuscript, are based on the style of
editing needed.
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Help
with organizing and positioning your book for the desired audience
This is an objective, honest look at who will buy your book and
why. A well-written book can flop if it doesn't meet the needs of
a specific group of people. While it's best to shape your book around
the audience from the very start, we can offer simple suggestions
to help reach your market even if your book is finished. (For more
information, see the section on "Marketing
Your Book.") We'll also help you determine a fair price
for your book in the marketplace.
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Writing,
rewriting and ghostwriting
If needed, we have professional writers that can help you with your
book. Oftentimes, reorganizing material, deleting unimportant facts,
or adding logical transitions is enough to strengthen a book substantially.
We can also help you outline or shape a book idea, as well as write
the book for you from given material. Your name, of course, will
still appear on the front cover as the author.
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Copyright,
ISBN, bar codes and permissions
These are the items needed to make sure your book can be marketed
and sold to the widest audience possible. Typically, we cover the
time and costs to obtain these items under our standard publishing
agreement. The copyright is generally placed in the author's name.
Since permission fees can be both expensive and time consuming to
obtain, we can help you decide what information is most important
to include in your manuscript.
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Disk
and manuscript preparation
You'll save time and money in the publishing process if you write
your manuscript using a good word processing program such as Word
or Word Perfect. We can help you with converting your files, if
necessary, or scan your typed manuscript so that we can work with
it electronically. We then check the manuscript for consistency
and prepare the "front" matter, those pages in the front
of the book that may seem dark and mysterious like the half title
page, credits and copyright page, preface, acknowledgements and
so on. In short, this is where the copy and organization of the
book is finalized, ready for typesetting.
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Typesetting
This is the process of getting the words and pictures on the page
in a way that is visually pleasing, cost-effective, and ready for
the printer to mass produce your book. We'll offer suggestions for
the most readable typefaces and how best the material can be set
on the page for the desired audience. We can also convert your work
to a PDF format, an electronic file that can be used by the majority
of printers today.
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Cover
design
You can't judge a book by its cover, but a good cover certainly
helps in selling your book. The cover is your billboard, so to speak,
of what's inside. In a split second it can either engage or turn
off a prospective buyer. Our four-color covers include the key elements
needed not only to engage readers, but to influence them to buy
your book.
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Printing
and binding
We work with full-time printers who are on the cutting edge of technology.
This saves you time and money and provides affordable options when
printing your book. While most authors print 500 or more books on
the first printing, we can print as few as 100 copies. Our most
popular cover is perfect bound, or soft cover. We can also do case
bound, or hardcover, books. We'll help you decide how many books
to print after discussing your audience and marketing plans. As
a rule of thumb, you'll want to print as many books as you think
you can sell in one year's time.
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Marketing
and pricing recommendations
Marketing begins when you come up with an idea for your book. Who
will buy your book, and why? We can help market your book through
the traditional avenues of book distribution, in addition to innovative
ideas on and off the internet. For more information, see the section
on "Marketing Your Book."
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Publishing
E-books
Publishing your book as an electronic book, or e-book, is a cost-effective
way to get your book into the hands of readers. It can also be used
effectively to test-market your book, to see if there is enough
demand for the more expensive printed, hard-copy version. Although
e-books are still in their infancy, the market itself seems to be
growing, especially with the ever-growing numbers of Palm and Pocket
PC users. Best of all, since e-books are downloaded from a web site,
you don't have to worry about inventory or shipping headaches.
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Consulting
Our passion at DeForest Press is to help writers tell their stories.
Let us know if there are areas not listed above where we can help
you get your book into print. If we can't help you personally, we'll
make every effort to find a professional who can.
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