Deborah Ling is an author coach and editor with over 30 years of experience. She provides editing services to help authors prepare books for publishing, including editing manuscripts, formatting for distribution platforms, designing covers, and more. The document outlines common mistakes made by self-publishing authors and provides tips to avoid them. It also shares testimonials from satisfied clients who praise Deborah's professionalism, efficiency, and ability to produce high quality work. Deborah invites authors to contact her for a free consultation to discuss preparing their book for successful publishing.

1. AuthorPublishing System
Deborah Ling
Author Coach

2. Who Am I and Why Should You
Listen to Me?
• My name is Deborah Ling, and I am an
author coach.
• I have been editing for over 30 years.
• I started editing when I worked for a
newspaper in the late 80s.
• Then I owned a newspaper.
• After that I relocated to California and
started editing books and websites.

3. You are in the right place if…
• You want to write a book but do not know
where to start.
– I can direct you, and get you going. I am even
a ghostwriter if that is what you need.
– Stay tuned, I will be sharing tips for authors
that will keep you from making the typical
errors many authors make.

4. You are in the right place if…
• You are a new author, wrote your book,
but don’t know what to do now.
– I can tell you what your options are as a new
author.
– By speaking with an expert, you are going in
the right direction.

5. You are in the right place if…
• You have written previous books to the
one you have now, and you just want
someone to prepare it for publishing.
• Taking the book and preparing it for publishing is
my specialty. Doing whatever it takes to get it
ready.

6. What You Will Learn Today
• The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make When
Self-Publishing and How Not to Make
Them

7. The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make
When Self-Publishing
• 1. Writing for the wrong reason.
• If you are writing to make a lot of money,
statistically, you’re heading for disappointment.
Instead, you should write a book because you
have something valuable to say, you have a
cause you want to further, you want to brand
your business or yourself, or you want to meet
the intellectual challenge of writing a book.

8. The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make
When Self-Publishing
2. Using a word processor other than
Microsoft Word
You may not be aware, but almost all distributors
(Amazon, Kindle, Smashwords, CreateSpace
IngramSpark, etc.), request a doc from MS
Word. If you use another software you may need
to convert it, which can cause formatting issues.
Start with MS Word and you will be ahead of the
game.

9. The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make
When Self-Publishing
3. Designing your own cover
• Unless you are a graphic designer, it is
recommended that you do not design your own
cover. Find a graphic designer you like, you will
be glad you did. There are many places to find
designers that I can recommend.

10. The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make
When Self-Publishing
4. Not building your marketing platform
in advance.
• It is recommended that as soon as you start
writing a book, you should also begin to market
it. Get a Facebook fan page and start sending
out teasers. Ask your followers which cover
design they like. Get them invested in what you
are doing. Ask for Beta readers. Give them quick
peeks. Etc.

11. The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make
When Self-Publishing
5. Pet words and favorite phrases
Some authors have pet words or favorite phrases
that they repeat over and over again. If you
catch yourself doing it, you can go to the
Thesaurus and look up other words to use
instead of your pet statement. Otherwise, a
good editor will do the searching for you and
exchange your repetition for some different
terms.

12. The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make
When Self-Publishing
• 6. Selling only an ebook version.
• If you only sell an ebook on Amazon you are
leaving money on the table. Smashwords
distributes to Barnes & Noble, the libraries and
about 10 other places. CreateSpace (which is
becoming KDP Print), or Ingram Spark are pay
on demand (no up front money) and creates the
hard copy print. There is also audio.

13. The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make
When Self-Publishing
7. Not hiring a professional editor.
• You may think you are great at editing, or that
your wife, husband, or best friend can do it for
you. But if you are not using a professional
editor, things will be missed. And let’s face it,
one bad review can ruin sales.

14. Recap: The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make
When Self-Publishing
1. Writing for the wrong reason.
2. Using a word processor other than
Microsoft Word
3. Designing your own cover
4. Not building your marketing platform in
advance.
5. Pet words and favorite phrases

15. Recap: The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make
When Self-Publishing
6. Selling only an ebook version.
7. Not hiring a professional editor.

16. See What Others are Saying
Deborah Ling started working on some of our
manuscripts in 2014. And I must say, we have
been happy with her professionalism ever since.
She always goes beyond our expectations. I
personally love her efficiency. I recommend her
to anyone who wants their manuscript worked
on to the best standard.
Nicholas Mensah - Manager -
Invedpublishing.com

17. See What Others are Saying
I used Deborah Ling to edit, format and proof a non-fiction
book that is 475,000 words in length, encompasses the
insertion of many color pictures, which she sized
uniformly; and lots of foreign words, which creates havoc
with spellcheck software. She also put together two
different types of indexes, one a typical index and the
other an index of life forms that one encounters in sailing
around the world.
Deb has been easy to work with, pleasant, responsive,
easy to get hold of via email and telephone, and
completed the different phases of the work project in a
timely manner.
Brian Fox - Captain American Spirit II

18. See What Others are Saying
• What makes Deborah Ling stand out as a professional
writer/editor, is her commitment to ensure the final draft
reflects her customer’s preferences and overall vision.
Many writers/editors struggle to produce content that is
written in any style other than his or her (the writer’s)
own. Deb is very patient and doesn’t argue about
redoing work if need be. She is focused and likes to get
straight to business. I used her services many times.
Although she wasn’t the only person I used for a rather
large project of mine (I wrote 32 travel guides), definitely
she was my favorite.
• Charlie - - The Traveler

19. See What Others are Saying
I've worked with Deborah on two books. She
turned a collection of missives in MS Word into a
final product available to the world to read,
understand, and most important, connect to
through powerful prose presented in a
compelling voice. My books would be far worse
if it wasn't for her. As a matter of fact, my first
book was!
Jeremy Strozer - Author of: Threads of The
War: Personal Truth-Inspired Flash-Fiction of
The 20th Century's War, Volumes 1-3

20. What Would it be Worth to You?
• A good editor will not only look at your
grammar, spelling, and typos, but will also
see if your storyline follows through, or if
non-fiction, if the order is correct or needs
to be changed.
• The editor will make sure your chapter
titles match your TOC.
• A good editor goes above and beyond.

21. What Would it be Worth to You?
What is it worth to you
to have your book the best it can be?

22. Call for a free
Consultation
https://bookme.name/DeborahLing