Once we add the interior formatting option to our shopping cart, we’re on to Step 3 in the 5-step pre-production process, and it’s a fun one: Choosing our production options!
Some of them may even be free, depending upon what package you selected, so scroll through them all to see what is available (there’s a lot — when Outskirts Press says you can customize your publication, we aren’t kidding). Of course, none of these production options are required to publish a book, but if you want to add optional things like interior images, copyright registration, indexing, etc., you have the options available on this screen:
This isn’t a full list of what’s available, but it’s the most that would fit on a single screen at one time. Among the production options that are missing are illustrations, private label ISBN/imprint, retail returns, transcribing, indexing, expedited service, and much more.
You can see that the ebook format is free with my Diamond package. If I add this option to my cart (and why wouldn’t I, it’s free!), my free Author webpage will have secure credit card transactions for instant delivery of my ebook. Outskirts Press will handle the secure credit card transactions (I can set my ebook price to almost whatever I want) and we’ll handle the instant delivery of the secured ebook file to your reader. So, since it’s free with my Diamond, that’s a no-brainer. Add to Cart. With every production option I add to my cart, the Production Options shopping screen returns and I scroll through other options to add.
Since in my case I am publishing the second volume of Fandemonium, I want to promote the first volume, so I also add the Back Page promotion option. That way, an “ad” for Fandemonium Volume 1 will be designed and added to the back page of Volume 2. That’s logical — readers of this volume may be interested in the first volume, too, right? It’s a great choice for authors of multiple books.
If you plan on pursuing off-line retail book sales through physical brick and mortar bookstores you will need the “First year retail/bookstore returns program” for each format you are publishing. Most off-line bookstores won’t consider your book without this option. Of course, as more and more people buy their books online from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, you may decide pursuing offline sales is not worth the effort or expense — all these production services are entirely optional. That’s the benefit of publishing with Outskirts Press.
Once I’m done selecting my production options for Fandemonium Volume 2, I scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click the button that says “Done with Production Options” and the process moves forward to marketing options, which we’ll cover next…
President of Outskirts Press 