Special surprises are quite extraordinary! Sometimes they’re exciting, other times they’ll give you a heart attack. Perhaps even a mixture between the two. When I committed to the more expensive and tougher route of publishing, I didn’t think there would be so many steps. Honestly, I thought I’d just write the book, hire an editor and cover designer, submit it for publication, and be on my merry way. Easy right? Boy, I was in for a special surprise. There are little things, like copyright, ISBN, and LCC number you need to publish in 2023. I’m sure some of you are wondering what those things are. I’ll go into further detail, a lot of research and time went into learning the ins and outs of self publishing.
Publishing is not for dummies!
Buckle your seatbelts for a special surprise! The copyright is pretty self-explanatory. Technically, once you’ve written the manuscript, it’s already protected under copyright law. Submitting it for an official copyright is just an added protection layer. ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. It’s a number that is unique to your book to make it identifiable in the vast ocean of books. LCCN is a Library of Congress Control Number, which assigns a number to your book so that it may be available in libraries. It’s not mandatory like an ISBN, but definitely helps reach a bigger audience. When I learned about these, it was a special surprise. I’m glad to have learned these steps. So the next book I write, I’m much better equipped with the knowledge to publish.