BOOK PUBLISHING 101:
From words on paper into a printed book

As a writer, you may have an idea of how books are typically published: you submit your manuscript, and the publisher gives it back to you as a published book a few months later. Usually, you have little to zero control over the look and feel of the final output. This is the traditional publishing method.

Here at Xlibris though, the publishing process is a little different. You take the lead, and with your help and guidance, Xlibris professionals will create your book with machine-like efficiency but with your personal touches incorporated!

This is called supported self-publishing, and we outline the steps of the process below.

Initial check-in and content evaluation

Once you submit all the material we need to put your book together, we will review it to make sure that it's ready for production. Some of the things we will be looking out for in your manuscript include offensive words, hateful themes, and legal issues such as plagiarism, copyright infringement, and libel, among others.

Editorial and illustration services fulfilment

Professional encoders, editors, and illustrators will work with you to help you polish your work and create images or graphics to complement your writing. These services may already be included in your publishing package; if they aren’t, you have the option to purchase them separately.

Layout design and format

Your design team will work on your book cover and interior based on your specific design requests. We will then email you your cover and interior proofs for review. Your design team will work on revisions, if any, should you send in any corrections.

Final quality assessment (FQA)

Once you approve the final layout design and format for your book, we will send the files back to the Content Evaluator to make sure that everything conforms to Xlibris’s content guidelines after going through all the revision stages.

Initial print run

After you have sent your approval, we will proceed to print your author copy together with the book copies that come with your publishing package, as well as process book orders you may have for additional copies at a discounted rate.

Online availability

Once everything is good to go, we will make your book available for sale on online bookshops and digital devices.