Author resources
Guides and reference material for Australian authors at every stage, written to be used rather than read once.
Publishing guide: how a book gets published in Australia
The short version of a process we walk authors through every week.
- Assess the manuscript. Before spending on design, find out what the writing needs. A professional assessment is inexpensive relative to what it saves.
- Edit in sequence. Developmental first, then line or copy editing, then proofreading on the final files. Skipping a level to save money usually costs more later.
- Design for the shelf and the thumbnail. Covers are seen at postage-stamp size online before they are seen in a hand.
- Format to specification. Each platform publishes exact requirements. Files that miss them are rejected or, worse, printed badly.
- Obtain ISBNs. In Australia, from Thorpe-Bowker, one per format. Decide whether you want your own imprint as publisher of record.
- Write metadata that works. Description, categories and keywords determine whether the right readers find the book.
- Set up platforms in your own name. Amazon KDP, IngramSpark and ebook stores. Your accounts, your payment details, your control.
- Proof, then publish. Order a printed proof. Read it. Fix what you find.
- Meet legal deposit obligations with the National Library of Australia and the relevant state or territory library.
- Launch with a plan. Website, listings, early readers and a schedule of activity for the first ninety days.
Read more on the book publishing and self-publishing pages.
Book writing guide: from idea to finished manuscript
- Define the reader. One person, specifically. Everything else follows from who the book is for.
- Write the promise. One sentence describing what the reader will have, feel or know at the end.
- Outline before drafting. A chapter list with one line each. It will change; that is what it is for.
- Draft in batches, badly. First drafts exist to be fixed. Aim for momentum, not polish.
- Get outside eyes early. A manuscript assessment after the first draft prevents months of revising the wrong things.
- Revise in layers. Structure first, then scenes or arguments, then sentences, then words.
- Know when to bring in help. A ghostwriter, co-writer or editor is a professional decision, not an admission.
See book writing services and ghostwriting.
Self-publishing guide
Self-publishing means you are the publisher: rights, income, decisions and responsibility all sit with you. Our self-publishing page sets out the Australian process step by step, including ISBNs, legal deposit and platform setup.
Downloadable checklists
[Add downloadable PDF checklists here once created: manuscript preparation checklist, cover brief template, launch plan template.]
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