This is no big deal. It just means you need to talk to the person who is going to be designing and producing your book to see what's involved. This is not a chargeable service.
These are the kinds of things that will come up
- Are you clear about what self-publishing is? Is it a considered choice you have made, rather than a casual one. Do you know the difference between self-publishing and traditional publishing? Do you realise that in self-publishing YOU are the publisher. Much more about that here.
- If you want to proceed with self-publishing, is your manuscript in digital form ready for the person who will be producing your book? ie., it needs to be typed up in a computer word processing document that can be handed on to your designer.
- Has your book been edited? Not edited at all?
- Have you a feel for the sort of reader you're aiming the book at? Writing needs to be targeted. Friends and family? A special interest group? Young children and grandmas.
- You will need to have a feel for the look and dimensions of your book. Are you wanting a standard A5 size, or a special size?
- You will need to have an idea of how many pages your manuscript will come to given the dimensions of your book: too few and the book won't have a spine, too many and you might be startled to find how many pages it all comes to and what you'll be paying the printers.
- Do you want to design your own cover or do you want the designer to do it for you?
- Do you want illustrations in your book? Do you need to find someone to do these for you, will you do them yourself, or do you want your designer to do them?
- Will you be using photos? Are they in a bad way? A few tweaks in photo editing program may make all the difference between a faded old photo and one in which the person or scene is clear.
