Here’s one scenario: You’ve written a book, shopped it around to publishers and there have been no takers. You know it’s a good book and you know you can sell it. You decide to publish it yourself.

Here’s another: You’ve written a book that’s special to you, perhaps it’s about something that happened to you, a life story, a family history, or your own personal philosophy of life, and want a small number of books as a keepsake for family and/or friends. You decide to publish it yourself.

Either way, it’s your book and you want to see it in print. Benchmark can assist you in realizing that goal.

Here are some beginning guidelines:

1. Make sure the body of your book is in a plain text format single digital file. Don’t make each chapter a different text file, but you can include title page information, dedication, acknowledgements, index, etc. in separate files. Don’t format the files.

2. Print out a hard copy on paper. If there’s anything you want changed, mark it clearly on the hard copy. Mark the hard copy indicating any special formatting you want in the text (such as italics, bold, ALL CAPS, script, etc.)

3. If your book includes photos, diagrams or other graphics, clearly label them (you can photocopy them and write on the photocopies to avoid marking the originals) and mark the position for inserting them on the hard copy. Don’t insert them into the text file.

4. Print out the PDF file (here) and fill it in. Fax or email it to us for a price quotation on your job. Every book is unique, so we need this information to give you a price.