What is a publishing consultant?
Definition: A publishing consultant helps authors who want to self-publish make their way through the publishing process. They guide authors and provide experts in the fields of editing, production, printing, reviewing, etc. to make the publishing process a little easier for novices. A publishing consultant will also usually tell you what to do to start your own publishing company, how to purchase an ISBN, how distribution works, etc.
Having a publishing consultant is an easier way for authors to become self-published and helps to avoid the negative connotations of vanity, subsidy or POD publishing. More work is involved for the self-published author through all stages of publishing the book as well as selling and publicizing it after it is printed, but hiring a publishing consultant makes the industry less of a mystery.
The services of a publishing consultant combined with the fees charged by the various experts hired to perform the many tasks involved in publishing and promoting a successful book may seem more expensive than the services provided by subsidy or vanity publishers. You will find you get what you pay for. The editing, proofreading, formatting,cover design services and extra effort put into the process by the author contribute to the overall superior quality of the end product. The resulting book will be more marketable than a vanity/subsidy/POD book.
A true self-published book, which lists the author or the author's company as publisher, will have success with mainstream reviewers and will be more appealing to a traditional publisher.