If I had just 20 minutes to research self-publishing

 Estimated reading time: 20 minutes

 If I was researching self-publishing my book and only had 20 minutes, this is the one blog post I would read!

Often Australian authors who want to self-publish drown in the huge volume of information and misinformation found on the internet. This blog post contains what I would recommend every aspiring self-published author to read first. What essential pieces of information do you need to know to maximise your potential for success?

Introduction

When you come on board with Australia’s Green Hill the success of your self-publishing project is assured. This is not because of the author’s personal drive or management of the process, the brilliance of your Green Hill account manager or the expertise of our editors and book designers. The production process depends on our project management methodology. This methodology is proven – books don’t just happen, they proceed down a well-trodden path that makes sure the book is published professionally, within budget and on time.

The fifth book Green Hill ever published presented a real problem. The author worked in government while writing his first book. He said he expected to attend multiple coffee meetings to advise on how he wanted the book published focusing on his timelines and what tasks he felt appropriate. Most significantly, he wanted to be able to make many changes to his written manuscript over several rounds – and every change to the manuscript required the book to be re-typeset. The cover design was a problem because he didn’t want to provide a detailed briefing to the designer, rather a ‘loose brief’ and he would know what he liked ‘when I see it’. Although he’d never published a book before he had a mental concept of how it was to all happen.

The author explained ‘The way we work in government is that it takes a lot of time and many revisions to get things just right.’

Needless to say this project descended into chaos. It was lengthy, costly and the end result was what we considered quite poor. It was certainly not good book design.

If this author was buying a car would he say to Toyota ‘Look, I have a firm idea how I want you to get this car done. I know you’ve got a system, but with my car I’d prefer it done differently.’ It’s a ridiculous analogy – it’s hyperbole – but hopefully it helps make my point.

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What book publishing project methodologies are there?

When it comes to project management methodologies, you’re spoilt for choice. Each approach offers unique advantages tailored to different kinds of projects and teams. The Agile methodology, for example, is perfect for projects that require flexibility and continuous improvement often involving a team of people. Then there’s Waterfall, which follows a more linear and structured process, ideal for projects with well-defined stages and objectives. Waterfall is often termed a ‘planned approach’.

1. Waterfall Methodology: This traditional approach works well for projects with clearly defined stages—phase1, phase 2 , phase 3, and so on. Each phase needs to be completed before moving on to the next, providing a structured and sequential approach. Waterfall is a proven methodology for self-publishing a book.
2. Agile Methodology: By working in short, iterative cycles called Sprints, teams can adapt quickly to changes and feedback. This method is ideal if the project requires the input of a number of players. A possible positive is its flexibility and it acknowledges the fact that the outcome a project is unknown until it is completed.
3. Scrum Framework: A subset of Agile, the Scrum methodology focuses on small teams working in short, time-boxed Sprints to deliver parts of the project incrementally.
4. Kanban System: Kanban can help you track your publishing project’s progress on a visual board. By moving tasks through different stages—like ‘To Do’, ‘In Progress’, and ‘Done’—teams can easily see what needs to be done next and eliminate bottlenecks.

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What methodology does Green Hill use for book production?

I won’t go into the details of our project methodology because it’s like KFC’s ‘secret herbs and spices’. It’s how we’ve become an industry leader delivering a real competitive advantage for our company and provide great cost-effective, quality results for authors. It’s a project management ‘architecture’ developed over many years and the details of that remain with us! One author asked ‘Can you explain every step of your process?’ We undertake 124 different actions/tasks to publish a book and don’t unpack our processes in detail for authors. It would take many hours.

Green Hill uses Waterfall methodology for book production

Having said that all authors do need to know that we use a Waterfall approach. When an author joins Green Hill they join a project that is contracted to perform a Waterfall methodology.

Waterfall method – each phase starts after the completion of the prior

When we start a project the author receives the Author Guide which outlines how we communicate (in-person and online), what we do, what the author needs to do, when we complete phases and in which order each component is undertaken. Importantly its a linear process – step by step with the next step starting after the completion of the one prior. 

Waterfall projects can be completed in just 6-8 weeks after receipt of a final manuscript.

This project methodology is a formula for book publishing success!

What if an author needs an Agile approach?

Agile method – great if the author has plenty of time and deep pockets

If an author wants to adopt an Agile approach to their project we can certainly do that. However an Agile approach might cost 2-3 times as much as a Waterfall project. A Green Hill Publishing contract and the associated fixed price is for a Waterfall project methodology as clearly outlined in our Terms of Service. Switching or starting with an Agile methodology must be negotiated, cost and time being major points for mutual clarification and agreement.

Agile and Scrums are often a formula for a lengthy and costly book production process.

Authors might say “I’ll know the best book design when I see it”. They might provide several versions of their manuscript. They might need to see 10 cover designs. Sometimes this is called ‘experimental design’ and can seemingly never end, and when it does end the book design isn’t very good. Often a designer’s original clear and powerful book concept has been tampered with, reshaped, amended, modified and massaged into something mediocre.

Sometimes with Agile far too many people are involved. Authors might want to involve spouses, friends or colleagues in decision making and providing feedback. One author conducted an online survey asking people to vote on the best elements of several cover designs and then instructed the designer to mash the most popular elements together – it was a truly horrible book cover – a Frankenstein.

Under Agile, authors might want to remove chapters when the book has reached advanced design. One author wanted to handle paper samples for print and see embossing, way before he had finished writing the manuscript, let alone before design was underway. Another’s project, after an initial deadline of 2 months, stretched over 2 1/2 years from start to completion.

Its all expensive and time consuming.

Agile – it’s for the big spenders and might be for you if you think your thoughts are not yet well organised and you have the financial means. And you have plenty of time to invest.

Waterfall and Agile book production project management methodologies compared

Agile is expensive and slow, Waterfall is rapid and cost effective.

The two methodologies differ in execution, effect and results. Here I’ll visually show a couple of the major differences that will effect every self-published author.

The two most important concerns routinely become cost and time. Understandably most authors come to us with cost and time constraints. Very few have unlimited budgets. And for most authors, after lengthy periods in which they have crafted their content, finally the book’s ‘time has come’. If it’s not urgent, it’s timely to get their content published.

This can be easily explained in the overlay of the matrix/ Venn Diagram shown here. In essence, Waterfall is cost effective and rapid, whereas Agile is expensive and slow.

Are you ready for Waterfall or is Agile best suited?

Here’s a quick survey:

1. Do you rate yourself as being well organised?
2. Do you have a firm concept of the book in mind – what you want to say in the book (or what is its central theme) and what will readers takeaway from reading the book (or what will be its purpose or affect)?
3. Is the content final (both text and images)?
4. Do you not have a lot of spare time, and an unlimited budget?

If you answered ‘no’ to any of the questions above the Waterfall methodology (our default way of working) won’t be ideal for you. If you answered yes to all, get ready for a successful project using Waterfall! If you are organised and like to plan things ahead, Waterfall will be just right for you.

Key features of our project management

Every Green Hill project has a dedicated project manager whose role is to maintain communication with the author and co-ordinate our production resources.

Surrounding this methodology is well developed technology. We use project management software that provides critical path analysis and deploys a Kanban. Project progress is monitored daily and managed accordingly. Proprietary manuscript preparation software and book design technology is used.

But its not just all about technology. Our project management methodology actually frees our accomplished team of book designers to do just that – design books. A creative studio that does not operate within a well defined and structured project management system is often time poor. The creative staff – the book designers – have become so time poor trying to keep the project on track they don’t have time to design. At Green Hill our designers have time to focus on excellent book design, due to our project manager and project system methodology.

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Book publishing projects need adequate professional resources

The people and the technology

A successful book publishing project just doesn’t rely on methodology, however. The project management methodology must be matched by the right resources to make the project happen. This means the right people and the right technology.

Projects often fail because the publisher just doesn’t have have professional experts working on the book.

The other key element is technology. If your company is using Post-IT notes to keep track of your project – with professional project management technology nowhere to be seen – then problems are looming. Compounding this problem is outsourcing to graphic designers who do not have high-powered book publishing software with bespoke enhancements. These designers might be great at logos and business cards but have little or no experience with book production.

Foreign companies and Australian and New Zealand sole-traders

When authors come to us to fix a botched or abandoned self-publishing project we ask who their provider was. About 75% of the time they had previously contracted with a company outside of Australia or New Zealand. Many of the big foreign companies use Philippine call centres and Indian, Bangladeshi or Mexican designers sitting in homes in far-flung cultural settings and time zones. Although North American or UK companies, they outsource work across the world leading to high profits and low quality for authors. Imagine a Philippine publishing consultant, talking with a Mexican book designer, working on book design for an author in Perth. What could possibly go wrong? Often these projects can collapse – the author simply gives up or the publishing company cuts all communication, and in desperation the author contacts Green Hill.

A further 25% of the time authors contracted a local sole-trader publisher – only one person (sometimes just two people) – who is trying to be an expert at everything and is juggling too many balls at once. A feature of these providers is that they predictably go out of business, leaving authors stranded and out of pocket. A large percentage of sole-trader self-publishing companies usually last 12 -24 months after start-up before they shut-down. In Australia, official data shows  60% of all start-ups, not just self-publishing start-ups, fail within the first 3 years.

Green Hill is well resourced with an appropriate ‘division of labour’ – qualified and experienced task experts, and has proven computer based systems. Because of this, our company is now well into its second decade of successful operation.

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Key takeaways for self-published authors

• Green Hill has a proven process including a project management methodology to successfully publish your book with quality on-time and on-budget
• When you publish with Green Hill you contract to publish your book within the proven Green Hill Waterfall process as outlined in our Terms of Service
• Refrain from trying to dictate, invent or postulate which processes are best to publish your book (especially if you’ve never done a book before)
• Agile methods (and Scrums) are typically not suitable for self-publishing and can lead to chaos and blowouts in time and budgets. It does not necessarily lead to a better book, but almost certainly will cost twice (or even more) what it might otherwise and is only suitable for authors who have a one-year-plus lead-time and money to burn.
• Make the most of Green Hill’s project management experience – ‘go with the flow’ for a stress free, efficient and rewarding publishing process!

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