21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing

Another one of my favorite articles... We got a Black President - Now what?

2012-02-25T08:30:00.001-08:00

We got a Black President…Nowwhat?

Now that Obama’s in office has young America stopped voting? Who andwhere are our Senators? Here I go again with my statistics.

On February 23^rd, 1870 the first African American was electedto serve in the United States Senate. Since 1870, there have only been five(yes, I said ONLY five) other African Americans ever to serve in the Senate andonly seven Hispanics.

How come this is something that young America, especially young AfricanAmericans and Hispanics are not more concerned about? The United StatesCongress is the legislative branch of the Federal Government. Shouldn’t we bemore involved?

Not surprisingly, President Obama is the first and only President toappoint an African American to Senate. Of the only six African Americans,President Obama was the fifth and won his election by the popular vote. Thatgoes to show you right there that your vote does count!

The fact that Illinois has a high rate of voters as well as a highAfrican American population may account for the fact that the last threeSenators, Carol Mosley Braun (1-3-93 – 1-3-99), Barack Hussein Obama (1-3-05 –11-16-08) and Roland W. Burris (12-31-08 – incumbent) were all from the stateof Illinois. Come on America, let’s take a page out of Illinois book and startvoting for our Senators as well.

On February 3^rd, 1870 when the amendment was ratified andeveryone was given the right to vote why hasn’t this advantage been taken yet?What are you waiting for young America? You think just because we got a BlackPresident, everything is all good now? Why aren’t we exercising this right?This is a privilege we are being given. Many people died and are still dying tothis day just to make sure we maintain this right. Have we become that complacentthat we are leaving all of the decisions regarding our future to the few peoplethat decide to get out there and vote?

It just absolutely blows my mind that these statistics are true andcorrect. How can we not be more aware of who are government is. I wish this article would have been my topiclast month and maybe I could have encouraged just a few of you to vote.Hopefully, this time next year you will remember this article and get out andvote. You may think your vote doesn’t make a difference but it does. When itcomes to our Alderman, Mayors and Senators, the popular vote makes a bigdifference. I hear constant complaintsregarding discrimination. How can we even have the nerve to complain when weare not using our right to vote and starting in our backyard by getting theproper people in place to insure that discrimination does not happen?

I said all of that to say…If you didn’t get out and Vote, you have no“Right” to complain about anything.

Choosing a Child Care Provider... or an Editor!

2012-02-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

I often get the question, “How do I choose an editor?”

I often equate it to finding achildcare provider. Sounds silly, huh? Let me explain. When an author creates amanuscript it is much like a pregnancy. The author is creating, growing andproducing something from within side of them. They prepare for the birth, whichwould be the release of the book and then they continue to help it grow whichwould be the marketing and promotion. So I suggest, finding someone with thesame qualities you would want in a childcare provider for your child.

First of all, you want aprofessional. You will want someone whose references you can check and confirm.You will not want to hear what their best friend or sister thinks about thembut what actual clients of their service think.

You will want someone firm yetcaring. You need to work with someone who is not going to be afraid toreprimand mistakes and tell you about them, but will also be able to do it in akind way. This will insure productivity as opposed to putting the author on thedefense.

You will want someone educatedin that field. Unfortunately, there are no licenses or boards governing theconduct or education of editors. There are no mandated continuing education classesas there are with most professional careers. It is up to the editor to stayactive in educating themselves and keeping up with changes. A lot of peoplethink that since they can spot typographical errors in their favorite books,that they can be an editor. This is not true.

Ask your editor what StyleGuide they will be using. Most fiction uses The Chicago Manual of Style butsome publishers such as Triple Crown Publications prefer The AP Style Guide.Your script needs to have a consistent style so it is imperative that one ofthese is used. Your editor should also include with his or her service, a stylesheet that is specific to your writing. If they don’t know what this is ordon’t do this, don’t use them.

As with any type of service,make sure that your editor provides you with specific contracts detailing theirobligation to you and your financial obligation to them. When making paymentsvia Pay-Pal, be sure to mark it as payment for a service should there ever beany disputes. If you are paying via check or money order, be sure to designatespecifically what the payment is for in the memo section.

Lastly, make sure you have anopen line of communication with your editor. There are a few terrific editorsout there who can help introduce your baby to the world in style.Unfortunately, there are also several want-to-be editors who are looking totake advantage of people and their dream. Make sure you are as careful and asthorough as you would be if you were choosing a childcare provider and youshould be just fine.

You can check out our editingservice at www.21StreetUrbanEditing.comor if you have any specific questions, you can always email those to questions@21StreetUrbanEditing.com

Niccole Simmons

Co-Founder of 21^st Street Urban Editing &Publishing

One of my Favorite Interviews... Author Terry Wroten

2012-02-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

“Beingsentenced to ten years in the California State Prison at the age of fourteenwas the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”

Imagine my surpriseupon hearing this coming from twenty-five year old debut author, Terry L.Wroten. At the age of ten, Wroten whowas a resident of South Central, Los Angeles joined the infamous 4trey gangstercrips street gang. At the age ofthirteen, Wroten was shot six times by rival gang members. At the age offourteen, Wroten was taken into custody and charged with three murders, robberyand assault. Inevitably he was exonerated of the three murder charges but wassentenced to the California Department of Corrections for a period of ten yearsfor the other charges. At age twenty-five, Wroten is the most anticipatedstreet literature author coming from the West Coast.

At the time of hisincarceration, Mr. Wroten was illiterate. He would have to have cell mates read him letters from his mother andalso write his letters to her. He wasunable to even address an envelope. He spent the first two years of hisincarceration in a juvenile detention center where he began to learn how toread and write. A few months short ofturning sixteen, Wroten was transferred to Tehachapi State prison. Here, the older inmates would help Wrotenwith his reading and writing. Sometimes the guards would even give him ahand. An older cellmate taught him howto use a dictionary at which time he learned how to look up words he couldn’tunderstand and inevitably expanded his vocabulary. Wroten reports that hiscomprehension skills seemed to almost immediately become enhanced upon learninghow to utilize the dictionary. Afterbeing stabbed while engaged in prison riot at the age of eighteen, whereinmates and correctional officers were injured. Wroten was placed in the SegregatedHousing Unit (SHU) for term five years for battery on a peace officer. It was at this time he read the book entitled“Gangsta” by K’wan and thought that he could write a similar tale. This is whenhe started to write.

In 2007 at the age of22, Wroten was released to a half way house in order to become un-institutionalizedand learn how to find his way back into society. He had a counselor which hereported to daily. After several meetings the counselor told Wroten that if hecould not find gainful employment soon, he would be revoked and sent back tothe penitentiary. When the counselor questionedWroten about what he was able to do or what kind of skills he had, his replywas, “I don’t know how to do shit butread and write.”

Wroten’s counselor thenasked to review some of his writing. Upon completing eight years of his ten year bid, he had approximatelyseven manuscripts completed. While beingplaced back in custody on a parole violation, Mr. Wroten had the opportunity tofinish his scripts for a total of twelve completed novels upon his release. Hiscounselor was extremely impressed by the content of Wroten’s stories and feltas if his writing was comparable to other urban street lit. authors.

Wrotens counselordecided to try and help him find a publisher. After being incarcerated at the time of the internet boom, Wroten wascompletely unfamiliar with how to use a computer or the internet. The firstthing the counselor taught Wroten was about the social networking site, My Space. It was there that they reached out to theinspiration behind Wroten’s writing, author K’wan. K’wan recognized thetalented young man’s writing skills and for two years the two correspondedwhile preparing for the release of “Natural Born Killaz”.

Now that Wroten hassigned a book deal under K’wan’s publishing house Black Dawn Inc. he is hoping to open some doors for others on theWest Coast. As of now, the East Coast has a strong-hold on the urbanfiction-street lit. genre. Wroten also aspires to show kids in urbancommunities that may be going down the path that he once did, that illegalhustling, selling drugs and gangbanging isn’t the only way. He currently does free motivational speakingat high schools and community centers in the Los Angeles area. Also, Wroten has penned an anthology; out now,with authors K’wan, Jrod Nider, JM Benjamin and Randy Ski-Thompson titled “TheMassacre”. His debut novel by Black Dawn Inc. entitled “Natural Born Killaz” isalso available now.

Mr. Wroten is also hopingto break into the film industry. He iscurrently in the process of writing screen plays and continuing to work onmanuscripts. He also wants naysayers ofurban fiction to know that had it not been for the gritty street tales urbanfiction portrays, that he most likely would have remained illiterate and alifelong menace to society. Wroten wenton to point out that most characters in urban street lit do tend to redeemthemselves at the end of the novel. “This is something we can relate to, notJudy Blume, Stephen King or JK Rowlings. This is what life is. I’m just bringing it to the frontline,”he stated humbly.

As the author of thisarticle, I do have to say that Mr. Wroten humility was a pleasantsurprise. Having a little bit ofbackground information before speaking to Mr. Wroten, I assumed I would betalking to a rough and gruff thug; however, Mr. Wroten was kind, soft and wellspoken whose passion and desire to write, not for fame and fortune but to finda way out and to inspire others was made evident throughout the entireinterview. His gratitude and thankfulness to author K’wan for giving him anopportunity to fulfill his goals is inexpressible. His desire to be a rolemodel and help others is also like nothing I have ever seen before.

If you would like tocontact Terry L Wroten, you can reach out to him at authortlw@yahoo.comor Facebook

Niccole Simmons

21^st Street Urban Editing &Publishing, LLC

niccole@21streeturbanediting.com

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Self-Publishing Package

2012-01-31T11:50:00.000-08:00

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Self-Publishing Package: Want assistance Self-Publishing your book? All you have to do is provide us with the manuscript... Allow us to take it from he re . We ...

Book Trailer for Betrayal. The sequel to 21st Street's best seller, Loyalty and the Bed You Lie In by Author TR Nairn

2012-01-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

Have you got your copies?

"Betrayal" by Author TR Nairn.

The Sequel to Loyalty and the Bed You Lie In also by Author TR Nairn

Free Shipping at www.21StreetUrbanEditing.com but available for purchase where ever books are sold. Make sure to get "Loyalty and the Bed You Lie In", as well!

Diamond, Rae and Meko started out as three with anunbeatable female empire, but once jealously reared its ugly head the trioquickly became two. Diamond's love and loyalty to her husband landed her injail behind his battle.

T.O., Diamonds husband, has heat on him from every direction and it's time forhim to step things up and find a way to get to his enemy first without gettinghis self killed before he's able to put all the pieces together.

Rae is left behind by Diamond to fulfill the needs of their empire. With her owndrama unfolding, her back is against the wall and she needs help. Will herchoice of help pose a threat to them? Will Diamond be freed from the belly ofthe beast? Will T.O. find out everything he needs to know before it's too late?

Get ready for another ride of suspense, surprises, in this murderous tale andlearn the true meaning of the weak and the strong, as you read the sequel tothe best seller, “Loyalty and the Bed You Lie In” by Author TR Nairnappropriately entitled “Betrayal”.

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Literary Awards... Talent or Popularity?

2012-01-29T13:28:00.000-08:00

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Literary Awards... Talent or Popularity?: Literary Awards – Talent or Popularity? One of the first revelations I had when beginning in the literary industry is that it is ext...

Literary Awards... Talent or Popularity?

2012-01-29T13:27:00.000-08:00

Literary Awards – Talent orPopularity?

One of the first revelations I had when beginning inthe literary industry is that it is extremely cliquish. It was quite disturbingto realize that a lot of popularity didn’t actually come from talent, it wasmore about who you associated and social-networked with.

There are those few that have a natural God-giventalent that were inevitable to be successful but for every one of the rarepeople that applies to, there are ten more who just know and associate with theright person. Unfortunately, we have even made the mistake of making atalentless person relevant in the industry just because of their associationwith us. Unfortunately, we are still paying for that mistake. But that is notwhat I wanted to share today. I am wondering what my fellow peers think aboutthe Literary Award winners and nominees.

Obviously, we at 21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing specialize in urban fiction. I willhave to do an entirely different post regarding my feelings surrounding theexclusion of mainstream publishing awards and well-deserving urban authors.

Because of this, the urban industry has come up with a few of their own awardceremonies. The nominees for these awards are often the sameyear after year. Some of these are well deserved nominations as these authorsare continuing to put out quality work but in my humble opinion, some of theseare based strictly on a popularity contest and nothing to do with skill orsales; therefore, are the awards being given worth any merit? I know popularity is a factor, but in the urban industry, it seems to mostly be the only criteria for winning an award.

Should we respect these wins or just congratulatethem for remaining relevant?

Should it be based wins on actual numbers of sales andtalent or are the only numbers important the amount of Twitter followers or FB friends the only numbers relevant?

I always assumed awards were given based on talent, sales, etc. I amcurious as to what my industry peers opinion is on this. Maybe it is apopularity contest and I am just naïve to believe that hard work, hustle anddedication to a craft should be award winning as opposed to who has the mosttime to social network and beg for votes. What say you literary friends?

www.21StreetUrbanEditing.com

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter

2012-01-24T19:28:00.001-08:00

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter: Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter K'wan Foye The world of urban fiction which seemed to be stagnant after Donald ...

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Self-Publishing Package

2012-01-24T19:28:00.000-08:00

Self-Publishing Package

2012-01-24T19:26:00.000-08:00

Want assistance Self-Publishing your book? All you have to do is provide us with the manuscript...

Allow us to take it from here. We will apply for your ISBN Number, Priced Barcode, LCCN Number, Professional Editing, Typesetting, Book Cover, (Front Cover, Back Cover and Spine).

We will also provide you with 100 copies of your final product and all of the completed files so you can continue to do print runs for the low price of $1799.00. Individually, the cost for all of this averages around $2700.00...

Payment arrangements are available as well as excellent references.

Contact us. info@21StreetUrbanEditing.com

Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter

2012-01-24T18:29:00.000-08:00

Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter

K'wan Foye

The world of urbanfiction which seemed to be stagnant after Donald Goines and Iceburg Slim gaveit a genre has made a comeback in the last ten years. With the self-publishingcraze in full effect and Amazon and Barnes & Noble allowing anyone toupload and sell a story, there are thousands of books now available. Amongstthe now thousands of urban authors, there is one name whom every single one ofthem will recognize. K’wan. He is the definition of a mononymous person in theurban industry and has been since his debut over ten years ago.

A lot of urban authorshave found their niche for writing while incarcerated for lengthy periods oftime. This may be the reason a lot of urban stories are so true to life. Theyare quite often, experiences the author has lived. Although K’wan’s story oftough times and strife as a youth growing up in Harlem is similar to otherauthors who write urban fiction, incarceration or reform is not what drove himto pen novels.

K’wan’s mother was anaspiring writer. She unfortunately passed away before her ultimate dream cameto fruition. Because of that, K’wan was inspired to begin writing as a way tohonor his mother and fulfill her dream. Entering the literary industry with onlyhis mother’s dream and a pen and paper was not easy. He had no ideal of theindustry politics he would incur or how to handle them. In his words, “You areonly as good as your last favor.” This revelation came to him through manytrials and tribulations during the onset of his career. People he trusted hadtotally taken advantage of his eagerness to write and entertain readers just sothey could make a dollar. He still to this day, has work out there that he hasnot been compensated for. Instead of allowing the frustration of deceit to getthe best of him, he took all of the bad situations and turned them in tolearning experiences that would make him the successful, savvy author he istoday.

K’wan did have a fewblessings as well. One of those blessings was L.A. Banks (RIP). She directed/encouraged him to submit to St. Martins Press. Banks told her editor, “Thiskid is gonna be huge one day and you need to check him out.” She helped him ina big way but most have never heard this story because she wasn’t the type ofperson to do something to say she did it. When Leslie helped him, it was fromthe heart. Although Leslie is no longer here, she is thought of often by K’wanwho still appreciates her recognizing his raw talent. K’wan humbly contributesher encouragement and belief in him as a big part of the reason his successcame so quickly.

Anyone dabbling in theindustry knows, being a genius writer is just not enough for long term success.K’wan had to learn industry standards, the ins and outs of publishing a book,and monitoring who his social interactions where with in order to remain onestep ahead of the game. He also learned that always staying true to his selfwould be in his best interest. He is not one to jump on bandwagons or followfads which have been the unfortunate demise of a lot of authors before their careerhas even taken off and he now has a wonderful agent that he works very closelywith when making business decisions.

After recently becominga free agent for the first time in eight years, K’wan has signed with a newpublisher. Cash Money Content recruitedK’wan and the announcement for his decision to accept their contract was madein December, 2011 at a private celebration. He is very excited to be working withAshley and Jaquavis Coleman, two authors whom he respects very much. Being ableto confide and consult with them encouraged his decision to sign with CMC. Congratulationsto Cash Money Content. Cash Money Content is an extension of Cash Money Recordswhom we all know for bringing us some of the greatest talent in the hip hopindustry such as Lil Wayne, Drake, Juvenile and the Hot Boys, and will now withouta doubt, be the new powerhouse in urban fiction.

Hopefully K’wan’s nextgoal of writing and directing films will be as successful. The determinationand drive he possesses is like no other. He is definitely a leader, icon andtrendsetter in the literary community. If you’d like to follow K’wan, you can click here to join his fan page K'wan's FB Fan Page directly on Facebook at or if you’re on Twitter, you’ll love the tweets. Click here to be directed to K'wan's Twitter page .

Professional Editing Tips for Self-Publishers

2011-12-20T08:52:00.000-08:00

I know you don't want to hear this but it needs to be said (again)...
You should have your book edited by more than one editor! I've said this in the past and upset some people who think because they gave Joe Editor $300.00 their book is now perfect. Here are some real facts...
*Publishing a book (correctly) is expensive and a large part of that expense is EDITING. Even more so for first time authors or if you have no formal training in writing properly. Your work is going to need much more extensive editing.
*Proper editing TAKES TIME. Coming with a deadline of 3 weeks or a short, strict timeline is foolish. It's not because the editor is lazy or not working on your work. This is a timely, tedious process when done properly.
*Learn the difference in editing and proofreading. Did you know that Random House's proofreaders catch an average of 200 errors and if they don't catch at least 150 errors when proofreading an average length manuscript, it is sent to another proofreader to be gone over again. This is AFTER being edited by 2 of their on staff editors.
*Do some research instead of waiting for your FB friend to tell you about it.
*One person can not successfully edit and proofread your book. You need an editing team (of at least 2 people but preferably more).
*You get what you pay for. If you pay $600.00 for typestting, book cover, editing and business cards or whatever else is thrown in there, that is going to be the quality of your work. Don't then complain about the outcome, that's what you paid for.
*If you pay Joe Editor to edit your book, then go to print, don't blame Joe Editor. It is your responsibility, as an author/self-publisher to go through the proper steps to put out a proper product. Now- if you've had at least 2 edits and a proofread and your book is still filled with errors - then you should sue the hell out of those 3 people but if you're not doing what you need to do as a professional by following all of the steps, then take the blame your self.
Obviously, as a service provider and not a client, I am on the editor's side today but I also follow these rules. Our editors don't work for us for free. As publishers, we have to pay them to edit our books we publish as well. It sucks to own an editing service and have to pay for editing, however, I know that to put out a professional book, I must pay 2 (or more) of our editors to get it right as well as proofread it myself when it is done... If I, as the owner of an editing service have to pay for edits, why wouldn't you? Or, you can keep blaming the editor for your un-professionalism in following through the proper steps to self-publish and continue putting our sub-par (Not measuring up to traditional standards of performance, value, or production) work.
THAT BEING SAID, our editors are the bomb :) I appreciate you all, Jason Rashon Scott, Jill Alicea, Shannon Fields, Aquila Butler, Jason and Windy Goodloe. Check us out and let us help you complete this project professionally.
Friend us on FB http://www.facebook.com/twentyfirststreet.urbanediting or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/21streeturban
You can also visit our website at www.21StreetUrbanEditing.com

The Scoop on Editing and Publishing with 21st Street 08/31 by Author Queen | Blog Talk Radio

2011-09-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

The Scoop on Editing and Publishing with 21st Street 08/31 by Author Queen | Blog Talk Radio

Self Publishing & Professionalism… The two CAN co-exist!

2011-08-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

Everyone is saying it. “The market is over saturated with NON-professional self-publishing authors and it gives us all a bad name.”

Whether that is true or not is for debate but I’d like to share some things I think can help the novice author.

It is important to use social networking for promoting. Whether it elicits even one sale is not as important as the exposure and familiarity you can create regarding your name, brand, title, etc. These are all ways you are going to get that recognition. Of course you want to be yourself; no one wants to be fake or phony. However, there is a time and place for everything and your ‘Author John Doe’ page is not the place for intimidation, disrespect, political or religious views (unless this is what your books are about), etc. I’m not saying you don’t want your character to shine through. I am saying be mindful that other professionals in your industry may also be viewing these posts. You might say, “I don’t care what anyone thinks of me…” and that may possibly be the way you feel which is fine. But when you are not respected in your industry amongst your peers, it will only hurt you. All of my blogs are just my opinions unless I state something as a fact and in my opinion; this is just not a good look. I know I personally will not bother reading anyone’s work that has been offensive on social networking and I may be missing out on some great stories but I don’t feel like it is a loss because they are many other great stories out there by people with pleasant positive attitudes who I am honored to support.

Respect those before you. I’ve heard it say several times how this established author or that established author thinks they are all that or they are stuck up and so on and so forth. That may be your opinion and that may actually be the case as well. Here comes my ‘however’… However, you have got to respect their hustle and when you have been in the business and the industry for as long as they have, people may be saying that about you as well. Unfortunately, this is not an easy industry to be successful in and it may harden a few people at times but the hustle, grind and hard work they have put in still deserves respect. You ain’t gotta like ‘em, but you should respect them. (And when you’re in the game as long as they are, see if your attitude isn’t a little different.)

Be leery of who you associate yourself with in the industry. Don’t make someone show you who they are directly. If they show your neighbor, take heed. Anyone can be anyone they want to be on the internet. Just because I holler out this or that authors name all the time doesn’t mean that author likes or respects me so don’t be misled by these people who holler every name in the industry on their tweets and FB posts like they are best friends. Actually ask that person whose name they are hollering about them. You might have a whole different outlook after that. I see it all the time where someone is name-dropping another person’s name just to lend themselves some credibility. Don’t fall for it. Do your research.

Now for my favorite part of the process. Editing, proofreading and typesetting are all soo important to put out a professional product. Of course, I suggest 21^st Street Urban Editing & Publishing (www.21StreetUrbanEditing.com ) *shameless plug* however even if you don’t use us, you have to use someone so here are a few things you need to do when searching out your editor.

The first thing you will want to do is figure out exactly what you are looking for in an editor. Once you do that, you need to contact them and get specific prices and details of the service they are providing. You will also want to check references by not only contacting the references they provide, but also view the work as well. Also ask around, this industry is very small and even people who haven’t directly used the service, may know someone who has. Make sure there is some type of formal training. Just because you can spot a typo in a book, doesn’t make you an editor. It is an extremely difficult, most of the time thankless job that takes a special person to do successfully. Research is very important and should be something you are doing to all of your service providers throughout your publishing endeavor.

You should also ask for a sample edit. I think pretty much any editor will provide you with a short sample edit so that you can get a feel for the process as well as their editing style. You need to know what the process is before it begins so you know what to expect.

Allow your editor time to work your script. If you are giving an editor a short period of time or constantly emailing them to find out how much longer, the work is going to reflect that. It may not necessarily mean they are sloppy or not competent to do the work, but more of them wanting to please the customer so the process may turn out a rushed finished product. Schedule at least four weeks at a minimum for your books to be in edits but allow up to eight weeks if need be. If you are looking to use a well-established editor, you may not be the only one and she may be booked out for months so schedule ahead of time and don’t rush it for your own sake.

Some manuscripts (especially first time authors) need way more work than others and you need to have that time allotted. DO NOT schedule your book release party before your book is at the printers. Scheduling a release date is great, as long as you have also scheduled that time period for proper edits and typesetting to take place. Nothing is more annoying or a more telling sign of a novice author than someone trying to go to edits three weeks before their scheduled release date. I never like to give an exact release date until I get it the delivery date confirmation from the printer. There is nothing wrong with saying Fall/2011 or Summer/2012. This way, you are not looking like a dumb ass when your date comes and goes and you have no book or worse yet, you have a sloppy, unprofessional book.

I will revisit this again with more suggestions. I look forward to the urban genre getting the respect it deserves and that starts with us.

Self-Publish - Getting Your Book Ready To Print

2011-06-23T18:13:00.001-07:00

So you have completed your manuscript and you want to self-publish. There are many steps that now need to take place. A lot of the steps in order to successfully self-publish properly you are probably not even aware of. There is more to it that just getting an ISBN number, book cover and printer.

In this particular post, I am just going to go over the things necessary to get your book to the printer. In future posts, I will elaborate on each of these steps I am referencing, as well as additional helpful tips and information. I am going to share with you what has proven to work for us. This was definitely learned via lots of money, frustration and research along with trial and error.

Let me get started...

The first thing I suggest after completing the manuscript is to get your book cover if you haven't already done so. This is so that while you are completing the rest of the steps, you can begin advertising your book and getting people familiar with the title to your book as well as your name as an author. There are hundreds of terrific book cover designers out there. One of them is Vonda Howard with Cupcake Creative Studios www.cupcakecreativestudio.com/. She has done a phenomonal job on our book covers and we have been very happy with her work.

The next step is to have your manuscript edited. Of course, I suggest our editing service, 21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing www.21StreetUrbanEditing.com however even if you do not use us, USE A PROFESSIONAL! This is not a service you want to skip or try and find the cheap way out of. Make sure you get a sample edit from the editor, references that you ACTUALLY CHECK and a contract that has a confidentiality clause included. There is no committee that governs editors such as the American Medical Association for doctors or The Bar Association for attorneys. Anyone can throw a website together and start claiming they are an editor. There are no tests to take and nobody regulating their conduct. It is very important to check their references as well as view their published work. Friends and references are two different titles so make sure the person verifying is actually a reference and not just a friend. Also, it is imperative to hire more than one editor AND a proofreader if you want it done professionally and correctly.

Now that your book is off to the editor, the next steps are easy. It is at this time we apply for the Copyright, www.copyright.gov ISBN Number www.myidentifiers.com and LCCN Number http://pcn.loc.gov/. All of this can be accomplished in an hour or two via online and you will feel totally accomplished when it is done. The copyright certificate will arrive quite some time later. The ISBN Number you will be able to get immediately upon applying for it and the LCCN Number they say takes up to two weeks but usually is sent via email with in a week.

Upon your manuscript being completely edited, you should then have it typeset. By this time, you should have all of the required numbers and information for this process to be completed. (Remember, I will be posting individual blogs about each of these steps later on.) Once your manuscript is typeset, you are ready to find a printer.

These are just the steps we take to physically get the book printed. There are lots of other things we do that make for successfully publishing the book. Stay tuned to find out what those other things are.

Welcome!

2011-06-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. My name is Niccole Simmons and I am one of the co-founders of 21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing. I decided to create this blog based on the many questions I get from aspiring authors, editors and self-publishers. This is a tough industry to navigate for a beginner and my intent is to help make the transition to successful author, editor or publisher, an easy one for you.
I would love to get your input on what topics you would like information on and will be happy to share what ever knowledge I have in the area of your request. Please send any requests for specific topics of my blogs to niccole@21streeturbanediting.com.
My first blog is going to be about getting started on your self-publishing endeavor so stay tuned and I hope I can be informative and helpful!