At the moment I’m publishing three books. Technically, the process is really simple.
First, a manuscript is written and re-edited for 50 times.
The manuscript should never be shown to relatives and friends. There’re a couple of close people reading your work first. They can correct, but not change the text too much.
A ready manuscript had better be checked by a proof-reader, who I always co-work with for my inner peace.
A corrector mustn’t be confused with an editor, as a proofreader helps correct technical errors and spelling, while an editor seems to be more dangerous for any writer.
Then you start looking for a printing house. The main criteria for choosing a printing house are price and quality. I am really conservative in this matter; therefore I prefer a certain printing house in Astana which I trust. Although the price is higher than in Karaganda or Kokshetau, I’d better be close to the process.
A coder’s work is important during the process of preparation for printing. It is necessary to have a designer or an artist who prepares covers or illustrations.
I usually ask my designer friends to make a cover for my book. First I give them a book to read, so that they’re deep into the meaning. The cover must convey the book’s spirit, and carry certain symbols prompting people to read the book.
Each of my books is colored in one spectrum. For example, "The City of Flying Packages" is brown, while its sequel is beige, "Raised Tselina" is white, and "Tested on myself" is black. As for the new books, the one called "The Rush of Million" will be green, since it's on my walk to Islam, "Paper Netsuke" compiling posts from the Facebook and other mini-stories will be blue, and the red one will be called "The Voice", because it has a certain tension and it’s very emotional.
Afterwards, the printing house says the price and you either agree with it or not. Having agreed on the price, you give a go-ahead for printing.
It’s very important to receive the ISBN code so that your book is included in the world book catalog. Having your book released, you need to leave a few copies so that the book is listed. This service is chargeable.
Any writer can do it all on his/her own. But I don’t do, because it’s a quite difficult process requiring lots of documents. Therefore, I always look for printing houses settling such issues on their own.
Having the book printed, you face the most difficult stage. Your book is to be sold
In our country modern Kazakhstani authors’ books aren’t sold, as Russian and foreign books are preferred. We do not have a publishing system, as well as the containment one for foreign authors.
A couple of years ago I brought my books to "Meloman" for 500 tenge, and they sold them for 1390 tenge. So, my little book is sold like the Russian ones. Our authors don’t have any advertising, however, we’re in a high price range.
My advice to young writers is the following: «Write. You always need to write».
