Becoming a professional author is a dream of many who sit pen in hand (or more likely, fingers poised over their keyboards), you may have a great story to tell and have always longed to get it out to the public, but for whatever reason haven’t made that leap.

So, if not now, when?

There are lots of reasons why people don’t follow through on their dreams, it can be lack of time, fear of failure, lack of resources, lack of confidence (again, fear), too many distractions and lack of motivation. But if this is important to you (and I assume it is), why would you waste time in not moving forward with your goal?

For many, the primary reason for not working towards your goal is fear, fear of failure has stopped many people and robbed the world of some amazing books, services, ideas and businesses. This fear ensures that you give weight to the many reasons why you shouldn’t proceed, not having time, not having the resources, that you need to learn something else before making a start etc. 

Fear WILL hold you back and if you don’t recognize this you WILL let it.

When you think about writing a book and then publishing it, many will worry about rejection, this could be from a publisher, reader or even a critic, you can think that you’re simply not good enough and that once your book is completed you’ll be called out as a fraud. This ‘Impostor’ syndrome is held by countless authors, many of which are highly successful and regarded as great writers, it is far more common to think like this than you may realize, knowing that pretty much everyone else feels the same should help you to realize that you’re not alone.

If you are thinking of writing a book, the best way to do so is to simply stop thinking about it and start doing it. If you’re waiting for the perfect time to start, understand one thing…. It doesn’t exist.

Having said this, some planning will help, those excuses as to why you ‘can’t’ write your book right now should be addressed. So look at them individually: 

​I don’t have the time right now

if you haven’t the time to write, look at where you spend each hour of your average day, then look at your average week, how much time do you spend on Facebook/social media, how much time do you give to watching TV? Could you cut back by just one hour per week on staring at your phone or TV? When you review an average week, you will normally find a small chunk of time that you can use to write, if it’s just an hour per week, that’s great, your book may take a little longer to write but no one said it was a race.

​I don’t have the resources 

You can start with a pencil and a sheet of paper, just go to your local dollar store, you can technically write a book on a tablet and Google’s Chromebooks start from $150. The point is, you don’t need a top of the range MacBook Pro to write a book.

​There are too many distractions

If you are writing from home (and you don’t have kids), turn off your internet, TV and phone, only for the period that you’re writing, the less temptation the better. Or if you live with others, can you get out and write in a café for an hour? This is how J.K. Rowling wrote her first book, and it worked out very well for her. If you do have kids then the only time you may have will be when they’ve gone to bed or are at school, remember, you’re not trying to write the entire book in one day, even if you can just spare 30 mins per week, it’s better than not writing at all.

​I haven’t written for awhile and can’t seem to get back into it

Just open up Word on your laptop or grab a notepad and pen, and now just write. Write anything, it really doesn’t matter, free-writing is great in helping you to blow the cobwebs away and begin to slowly get your creative flow back. You don’t have to keep what you write (unless you’re really happy with it), the focus here is in just getting some words down.

​Regardless of what’s holding you back right now, there is always a way to achieve your creative goals, so finally, what’s stopping you?

The process of creating something such as a book, art, design or photography is a very personal process for any artist or creative, the transition from vision to execution to result can be a long path and certainly one where motivation and belief will play major roles.
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For many creatives the journey can feel lonely, your stamina to keep going can fail over time and passion turns to routine, suddenly what you’re working on feels harder to complete and you find yourself full of doubt, next a creative block kicks in and you stare at a blank page wondering what to do.

Sometimes when a block or lack of passion hits you it’s because you’ve forgotten some of the basic reasons why you started in your chosen field. You have to go back to basics and remember why you started in the first place.
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Trying to force your way through a lack of passion or creative block is the worst way to get past it, if you’re working on a project and don’t seem to be getting anywhere, stop, walk away from it and commit to looking at it again the following morning, recharging your batteries with a good night’s sleep works so many times.

But you should also consider going back to the basics of your craft, if you’re into photography for example, instead of trying to make your next shoot something big, try something more minimalist. I know of a photographer who spent several hours on a beach just photographing rock pools within section no longer than one hundred yards, if forced him to look very differently at his current location and find the art in what was in front of him.
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The same goes for writing, instead of trying to complete a chapter in a week, commit to writing just one page, but make the promise to yourself that this one page will be as perfect as you can make it, enjoy the process and believe in it.

If this still seems like too much for where you are right now, go even more basic, just free write, it doesn’t matter what it is, just write whatever comes to mind and do NOT judge it, it is what it is.
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Another way to bring passion and motivation back to your craft is to seek inspiration from others, look at the celebrated greats, look at what they have created and study it, this could be from books, art galleries, blogs and YouTube videos, you have so much inspiration at your finger tips (via cellphones, laptops, tablets etc.) there is so much information that can help you if you just look.

YouTube is a great source of inspiration for individuals, if you simply look for motivational or inspirational videos and just watch a couple of them, you’ll find some of your passion coming back to you, they can act like the your very own motivational coach prepping you for the day, if you don’t believe me, just give it a try.

The main thing to remember is that you started doing what you do because you believe in it, you do have a passion for your craft (otherwise you would have never started), you just need to reconnect.  If you’re struggling at this moment just stop, relax and make sure you sleep on it, go back to basics, revisit those who inspired you and believe.

You’ve got this 

Your book is complete... but is it?

Now that you have finished your first draft, you’ll want to go back and edit what you’ve written, and at first this can seem like an overwhelming and very daunting task. This is where procrastination can set it, ‘I’ll do it next week…….’ many will say, and the book sits in a file on your laptop, its launch date creeping further and further away.

But it shouldn’t be this way, fine tuning your manuscript is vital if you want to succeed, many authors will use the services of a professional editor (we even know authors who use multiple editors in order to polish their book prior to launch), the main thing is that your manuscript should be edited once you have stopped writing.
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As mentioned, many authors will use an editor, and some will do it themselves, it is of course recommended that you get a fresh set of eyes to look at your book in a constructive manner (this is where an editor would really help), but you can edit yourself, you need to be objective and to some degree separate yourself from the obvious personal connection to the book, but if you really want to do it yourself, here are some tips to try and make it a little easier.
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Break it down in to smaller pieces

If you intend to sit down and edit the book in one continuous go you may well struggle, break the process down into reviewing/editing one chapter at a time, you will need to pay attention to the overall outline of the narrative, plot & structure, but focusing in on one section of the book makes it a great deal easier to see where changes should be made.

Check your editing

Once you have made any edits make sure you go back and review them properly, in most cases this is worth leaving until the following day, you should give it some time and then re-read what you have just edited, you’ll find that with the element of time your edits will either stand up or you’ll see where you should tweak further.

Scrutinize your content

The process of editing isn’t just about checking for spelling and grammar errors, editing your book is about checking the overall story and ensuring that it makes sense too, so you should ask some questions of the book while working on the edit.

The first and obvious one is… does it make sense or do the plot and subplots go off at crazy tangents that add nothing to the overall narrative of the book?

Are your characters believable? Will your readers be able to connect with them on a real level? Great books have characters who have depth to them, the readers can connect and relate, will they do the same with yours?

Check the structure of your sentences for length, if they are too long (or too short) it can make the reading of your book disjointed or cumbersome, it’s always good to review a couple of best sellers within your genre to obtain an idea of how the big publishing houses prepare their books prior to working on yours.

Look for overused words and phrases within your manuscript, it can be easy (especially when writing a book over a long period of time) to use the same phrase over and over again, this should become obvious when you’re editing and something you should look to adjust within the edit itself.

Get someone else to read your book

Having another person read your book in an objective and unbiased manner is incredibly helpful for the editing process, even if you ask them to read the edited chapters as you complete them (so you don’t swamp your reviewer). The other person’s perspective on your work will help to find elements you may have missed that need adjusting.

Writing a blurb for a book of fiction is something that can take you days or even weeks to fine tune, it will become a selling point for your book and as such it’s vital to get right, but there is a fine line between what you should add and what you should leave out.

You also need to consider the length of the text, how much should you write? It’s tempting to try to say as much as you possibly can, but this can lead to a blurb which is close to 400 words and ends up never being read by those browsing for their next paperback.
 
So, here are our top tips on what you should consider when writing a blurb for your book (fiction):
 
One – Research
Before you start to write anything, look at the best sellers within your own genre and see how they’ve laid out their back pages, you’ll tend to find that they are concise, not over-bearing and designed to hook the reader. By looking at these best sellers you’ll get an idea of what your reader will expect to see along with a formula for what works.
 
Two – Genre & Details
The cover should make it clear what the genre is, but so too should your blurb, you need to reference the theme and genre of the book so that your readers know if it’s right for them. Try not to compare your book to others and never outright say how amazing it is either, for many readers ‘bragging’ is a huge turn-off.
 
Three – The Protagonist
Introduce your protagonist and give the reader an idea of who they are and what’s happening to them, of course don’t give any spoilers away but you should write so that the reader wants to know more about them and their story.

Four – The Hook
Every blurb for fiction needs a hook, this should describe an element within the book which draws in the reader and makes them want to find out more, you should try to avoid clichés and of course never give anything away. The hook can describe the challenge for the protagonist, their goals, conflicts etc. but it needs to add drama, this will become what is essentially a ‘sales-pitch’ for your book, so take your time with it.
 
Five – Size matters
You’ll normally over-write with your first attempt at a blurb (and this is fine), you need to spell out what the story is and hook your reader in to wanting to know more, but as we mentioned earlier, it shouldn’t be 400+ words. A good size for a blurb should be around 250 – 300 words in total.

Also think about whether you want to add a short bio and author profile image, if you do, you’ll need to consider the amount of room you’ll have for every element upon the back page, the image and bio will reduce the amount of room you have for your blurb, you can also consider having this within the pages of the book too, the ‘About the Author’ section normally appears towards the end of the book itself.
 
Six – Quotes
Many authors soft-launch their books at first, this enables them to get copies out to friends, family and reviewers, after a couple of months they’re able to collect reviews that they can then quote upon the back page of the book.

Depending upon how much other copy you have on the back page, you should be able to add a couple of quotes, these are a great way to show to your reader why your book is worth purchasing.
 
Seven – Bio and Profile image
If you do decide to have a short bio upon the back page (and not within the book itself), keep it short and relevant, you are not writing a resume. Your readers will want to know a little about who you are, if you have published before, if you have a website/social media, a rough idea as to where you’re based (obviously do not put your address here) and some of your relevant interests. It should give your readers a small insight into the author but not your life story.
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With the profile image, keep it professional and do NOT use a selfie taken from a cellphone, the image should be taken in portrait and needs to be 300dpi in resolution. 

Your book cover design will become the face of your work and as such will always play a very important role, it gives the viewer an immediate idea as to the contents and whether or not they’re going to look any further.

So, understanding this purpose (more than it just looking pretty) is important to you as an author, if you want your book to be taken seriously and ultimately sell, then you need to understand that its advertising, presentation and design will need to be both professional and able to compete within the market.

Most serious authors get this, knowing that their competition is vast and full of big name publishing houses (as well as indie authors) leads them to adopt a professional approach to the launch of their publication. There are close to 2,000 books published every day in the US alone, so without a focused plan you may find it challenging to get people to see your new book.

But the basics of having a great cover to begin with is a must, when faced with masses of competition you can’t cut corners and expect to gain a huge audience. Now this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend thousands upon a book cover design, and some authors do create their own, but unless you have the talent to create something that you’d expect to see in your local Barnes & Noble store, it’s best to get a professional to create one for you.

So, what should you look for with a professional book cover?

Well first you need to think about what it is you want for the cover, what do other books within your genre look like? Who are the big name authors within your genre and how do theirs look? Once you know what your competition looks like you should have a better idea as to how you should approach your own book.

This is important as it will help you find a design team which can match your expectations, every design service will have examples of previous book covers upon their website, this will show quite clearly if they would be a good match for you and your book.

Sometimes you may find a designer that you like but don’t see examples close to your own ideas upon the website, it’s always worth just getting in touch and asking if they have ever done something similar and if so, if they could send some examples. We have completed hundreds of covers over the years and only have a small portion of them upon our own website (it can make websites too cumbersome for use, especially for mobile devices).

Also ask to see examples of previous covers as they appear on Amazon or other online book stores, you should find out if they’ve created for the main publishers such as KDP, Ingram Spark, Lulu, Smashwords, Nook, B&N etc.

Along with the cover you should look at revisions offered within the service, drafts offered and any promotional designs which may or may not come with the service, promotional designs such as banners, 3Ds, posters, GIFs and so on are also very useful in the ongoing promotion of your book.

So, how much should you pay?

This will vary from service to service, some charging prices up to $1500 (depending upon the complexity and designs offered), but on average most covers and advertising comes in at around the $600 mark, you can spend less, but again, it does depend upon what your book needs and how much promotional designs you may need.
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But regardless of how much you spend upon a book cover, the most important thing to remember is to give your book the best chance possible, making it look professional and taking a proactive approach to advertising and promotion will give you the best chance of making sales.

Now that you have your book cover completed, the formatting done and all edits finalized, your book should be looking great and ready to publish, but have you thought about your brand as an indie author?

You may be thinking ‘well, that’s for the big sellers who have a large publishing house behind them, right?’
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Not really, it is true that most big name authors will normally have a large advertising budget to spend, and they will have a ‘brand/style/image’ which is consistent across every platform they’re represented upon, but this is not something that’s exclusive to those within the best sellers lists.

As an indie author your competition will be those best sellers, if you present an image of something which looks home-made or amateur, then the viewers will make the same assumption about the contents of your book and your proficiency as an author.
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So, making sure that your cover and the content you post online through social media, blogs or your own website looks professional and consistent is crucial. 

One
Understand that in order to be successful and achieve the results that you may not currently have, you will need to do something different to what you are currently doing. Look, if you want change, YOU need to change yourself and your process first.

Two
Look at your current social media pages, are they personal or set up separately for you as an author? Most PR agencies and publishers will tell you to separate the two, keep your personal pages away from your author profile, this will enable you to present a consistent image as an author to your readers.

Three
Again, look at your on-line touch points, blog, website, social media, do they look like they belong to the same person? Or do you have different images, colors, profile photos etc.? Your social media, blog and website should all show a consistent image, one that lets the viewer know that they are on your page.

Four
Post regularly, be consistent with your standards and be visual, most social media is focused upon the visual (just look at how big Instagram is), so don’t just post huge chunks of text (as no one’s going to read it). Use professional images, banners and photographs that will grab the attention of your viewer.

Five
Don’t cut corners, you can get great banners, profile icons and advertising made to represent your brand very reasonably, look at what the most successful authors are doing on their websites and social media pages, look to them for inspiration.
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​With a small amount of effort, you can project a unified image across all of your touch points on-line, it all goes towards presenting a professional image of you as an author and that your books are something the public should take seriously.

​If you’re an author who is about to embark upon the creation of a book cover design, you’ll have started to research designers, the process and maybe even the thought of creating a cover yourself, and the more you look into it the more confusing it can seem.

So, what are the basics that you should be aware of as you get a cover made (or try to make one)?

The first thing to ask is as to where you’ll be selling the book, most authors will choose both eBook and print, as such you’ll need book cover designs for both mediums (and there is a difference between the two).

Because the two options for publication are different to each other we’ll look at them separately, starting with eBook design.

eBook cover design

So, what should you be aware of with regards to an eBook cover? Well, first of all the dimensions will vary depending upon who is publishing your eBook. For example, KDP publish their eBooks for Kindle as 1600 x 2561 pixels, whereas Lulu will size their eBook covers to 612 x 792 pixels (which is more square in its appearance when compared to KDP).

The second element to consider is the color profile, unlike the majority of print, eBooks use the RGB color profile. RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue and is known as an Additive color model, this is something specific to screens and provides a wider range of colors.

​The third element will be the resolution of the image itself, now most screens operate at 72 dpi/ppi (dots per inch – a printing term or Pixels per inch – for digital) but you will find that this can lead to a more blocky image, so we tend to create our eBook covers for 300 dpi/ppi, you’ll also find that many eBook publishers will ask for it to be at 300 dpi/ppi anyway.

Finally is the file itself, the overwhelming majority of eBook covers are created as JPEGs and normally between 2MB – 10MB in size.

Printed Book Cover Designs

Printed book cover designs are very different to the way they are set up in comparison to eBooks, the first thing you’ll find is that the color profile will normally be with CMYK, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. CMYK is a subtractive color profile, when your book cover design is printed it will be done using four plates (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) together making the colors of the design.

Unlike RGB It’s subtractive in that the less of each individual color plate you add the lighter the overall color becomes, the downside to CMYK is that the color range itself is smaller than RGB, so you will find some limitations as to the vibrance of colors.

Sticking with CMYK for a moment, you will also find that some printers (such as Ingram Spark) will also place restrictions upon the amount of ink that can be used within your design, for example, if you wanted a rich black color you would print 100% on all four plates (C=100%, M=100%, Y=100% & K=100%), however, when you try to print like this is can cause smears and issues within the printing process. So, to ensure a clean print there may be restrictions of having a maximum of 240% ink across all four plates (so your rich black now becomes C=0%, M=0%, Y=0% & K=100%), this isn’t as deep a black as before but will ensure a clean print.
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Next is the size of your book, this is compiled of several elements, the front and back page, the spine and the bleed areas. Now most people will understand the back page, front page and spine, but the bleed areas (unless you’ve published before) may be new to you. The bleed area is a strip 0.125in wide which runs around the four outer edges of the book cover, when the book cover is trimmed these outer edges get cut off, now because the image upon the cover extends into these bleed areas when the design is trimmed to size you will not have any white lines running on the outer edges of your book.

The size you choose to print your book as will depend upon your genre, page count, audience and preference, you can find more details on trim sizing from our article ‘Understanding Trim Sizes’

The fonts you use within your design will also need to be embedded when you export (or save) your design, basically when you send your cover to a printer and they don’t have the fonts used upon it within their system then it will have issues trying to print. So, the PDF should be created with the fonts you want upon the cover actually embedded into it, when the printer goes to use the design, the fonts are with it and everything prints as it should.

Most Adobe software will allow you to export with the fonts used embedded, and this is pretty much as standard (so it is easier to do than you may at first think).

The resolution for printed book covers will always be at a minimum of 300 dpi, this keeps everything clean and sharp for the cover.

When you come to save/export your book cover you’ll do so as a PDF, again, this will ensure that the fonts are embedded and that the profiles are set for printing, most printers will require you to export as PDF/X-1a:2001 (this you’ll find as a setting within the export options when doing so) and to ensure that you export without any printers marks.

So, there is more to preparing your cover design for both digital and print than you may have at first realized, both options have some limitations but both also enable you to create great designs which will make your book look amazing too.

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Creativity in writing, design, art, music and any form of expression will always be at the forefront of the discipline, it’s where new ideas, new paths, new ways of looking at the world and the leading edge of your chosen art form lie. But like ‘Writer’s Block’, struggling for creativity can happen (and has happened to many artists).

However, most blocks are just temporary, caused by trying to force something and a lack of patience, this leads on to panicking that you’ll never complete what you’re working on and the spiral continues.

But there is hope, as mentioned, it is just temporary and sometimes the best thing to do is to simply stop for the day. It’s so beneficial to rest and get back to it after a good night’s sleep (it’s surprising how much differently you look at what you’ve just created/worked on after 24hrs).
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There are many ways to get back in to your creative flow, all of them are easy to do and maybe just a combination of a couple will get you back on track.

One – Get up and get out

A lot of creativity happens while in a stationary environment (writers, painters, designers etc.), you need to get up and get the blood flowing in your veins. Go out into the fresh air and go for a walk, run or bicycle ride, the change of environment, fresh air and exercise all help to stimulate your creativity (and it helps to maintain a healthy lifestyle, a true win-win).

Two – Rest

As mentioned at the beginning, creativity needs concentration and focus, nether of these can you bring if you’re completely tired. A good night’s sleep is vital to creativity, being alert and well rested is a must if you want to be productive. So, make sure you get 7 to 8 hours to quality sleep each night (ditch the cell phones while your lying in bed, they really don’t help).

Three – Get inspired

​Whatever your chosen art form, seek inspiration from its giants, this maybe reading classic novels, going to an art gallery, watching a movie or visiting several websites. Observing what the best have done can breed inspiration.

Four – Push past your comfort zone

Doing something that initially scares you builds confidence and forces you to think creatively, it could be public speaking, joining a group, a new sport, trying a new art form, promoting your book to publishers or selling your art at a craft fair (the list is endless). Of course, make sure what you’re about to do is safe and appropriate, but pushing your boundaries is a great way to increase creative thinking.

Five – Clear your mind

Sometimes overthinking can be your worst enemy, if you’ve never tried it before consider meditation, this centuries old practice is used by millions of people around the world today and some of the most successful creatives swear by it. Give it a try, there are hundreds of instructional videos on YouTube to show you how, it’s so much easier than you think and you don’t have to be sat cross legged by a waterfall either!

Six – Free write

Free writing can be as simple as doodling and jotting down thoughts and daydreams, there’s no pressure, no agenda and no right or wrong outcome. Just grab a pad of paper, pencil or pen, relax and see where it takes you.

Seven – Have a routine

Knowing when you are at your most creative is something that many don’t give thought to, it may be that you work best at 5am or you could be fired up and ready to create at midnight (it’s different for everyone of us). But YOU will have an understanding of what works best for YOU, so try to plan your routine to exploit your strength, it may not always be possible to do this for every day, but you should be able to plan for at least two days of each week.

Eight – Practice

Regardless of how good you think you are, you still need to practice, the leaders in any field of art became leaders through thousands of hours of dedication and practice, if you want to be great you need to put the hours in.

Nine – Learn new skills

We live in an age where all the information you could ever want is just at your fingertips, but do you utilize this? Whatever your chosen artform is, there is always something new to be learnt, a new skill to be attained and an existing one to be polished and mastered. There are lots resources out there, but websites such as Udemy is brilliant for this, if you don’t want to spend any money then YouTube can also be a good resource too.

Ten – Work with others

Working with other people within your field can be scary (especially if you normally create alone), but it can also be inspirational. It gives you an opportunity to learn and forces you to raise your own game, working with others exposes you to different ways of creating and looking at the world.

As Dorian continues its path up the East coast of the USA we count our blessings in Florida, we watched it on the news updates and prepared, luckily we only caught the outer bands as it shifted further East, but our thoughts and prayers go out to the people affected by it. The Bahamas have taken the brunt of the hurricane with towns flattened, lives taken and the islands changed dramatically for many months and even years to come.

Now as it hits the Carolinas and continues further North we expect to see further disruption and damage, people prepare as best they can but the loss of power and damage to property leaves huge clean-ups and repairs ahead of them.

As it hits the mainland It’s still hard to take in what has happened to the Bahamas, Dorian lingered as a category 5 Hurricane over their islands for many hours, the latest report shows that over 30 people tragically lost their lives due to the storm, we pray that this figure doesn’t go up in the coming days, but there are still hundreds of people missing.

Right now they (and everyone else effected by the storm) need our support, they need food, water, shelter, help rebuilding and supplies, so what can we all do? The American Red Cross are collecting donations to aid those effected by Hurricane Dorian, please see their website https://www.redcross.org and donate whatever you can.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone effected by Dorian.

​As any author will tell you, writing a book is a labor of love, it’s a long process which takes a great deal of passion, patience and perseverance. So, when you’ve written the final word upon the page, what next? The tempting first thing that you may want to do is go straight to publishing, setting up a KDP account, uploading your manuscript and then shouting about it on Facebook, but wait, just because you’ve finished writing, doesn’t mean that the manuscript is ready for launch.

Even if you don’t realize it, your manuscript will need to be edited and proofread prior to going anywhere near a Print-On-Demand service.

Speaking with an author a couple of years ago, she told me that she had written a book within the romance genre and couldn’t wait to publish it, she had invested into some great advertising and book cover design and then gone on to upload everything to KDP (Createspace as it was back then). Her book looked amazing and the sales started to come in, excellent she thought.
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That is until her real reviews started to appear (and not the ones from friends and family), the first were just one star then a couple of twos and back to ones, she was devastated and pulled her book from the shelves. The real feedback this author was getting was painful, it pointed out plot holes, grammar issues and even some spelling errors, these reviews and star ratings were stopping sales, it was a tough call but she had to work further on the book.

To save yourself this headache you should always think about using an editor before you go anywhere near publishing your book, there are plenty of services available online and there are options to suit every budget. Now this sounds easy, so why doesn’t every author use an editor?

There are several reasons, it could be budget constraints, time constraints or the fear or feedback, people tend hate receiving feedback unless it’s all positive. Let’s face it, you’ve given your manuscript to someone you may not know that well and they’re telling you that areas need improving, how dare they!!
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Well, that’s their job and there’s nothing personal about it either, so, as long as you are using a reputable editor, you should use this invaluable information to polish your manuscript into something amazing. A good editor will have the skill and insight to help and work with you in elevating your book, you should embrace their recommendations and keep in mind the bigger picture of publishing success.

Along with editing is proof-reading, many editors offer this service and it’s worth while considering it, this should catch any issues with the manuscript and ensure that the final publication is professional.
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The editing and proofreading process can be long winded and will require re-writes, again, this is another reason that stops some authors from considering it, but it will lead to a better manuscript, better reviews and a far better chance with a larger publisher or agent.

Once completed you should consider a soft launch with your book, a soft launch enables you to get copies out to a select few readers, it becomes another step in the publication process that will help you, from your soft launch you should be able to gain quotes which you can then use either upon the cover and/or on your website/blog/social media pages. It can also give you some helpful feedback prior to a publicized launch.
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There are many steps in publishing your book, in fairness self-publishing is still a great deal easier than it has ever been, but you should still take your time. Delaying your launch by a couple of weeks to tweak your book now is better than pulling it from the shelves to do later.