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how to publish a book yourself

30 Aug 2021 By EBOOKS.NG

Few years ago aspiring book author would have to get past the gatekeepers. First you would have to spend weeks or months writing a book proposal and sample chapters. Then you might contact a bunch of agents to see if they would be interested in recommending your book to major publishers. Most would grumble that your idea would not be likely to make a lot of money

Various tools for self-publishing have broken these barriers for authors who prefer to do it alone.

By self-publishing, we generally mean creating and selling a book online, outside the traditional publishing industry — in which publishing companies pay authors advances and a royalty, working with them to edit, design, and distribute the book.

Today, anybody with an internet connection can write an ebook and make it available to hundreds of millions of readers — pretty much for free. The new challenge is to make these books bestsellers. Many writers have risen to this challenge, however, with the help of modern methods and social media.

There are many benefits that draw authors to self publishing. Without having to go through the traditional gatekeepers of the publishing world, you will find:

  • Creative freedom. You have full control over the content, the title, the length, and the book cover design. You have the option to collaborate with editors and designers — but in the end, the only editorial approval you’ll need is your own!
  • A guarantee of publishing. If you need to release your book by a certain date, pretty much the only way to guarantee it is to publish it yourself. After all, you’re not beholden to the schedules of a gargantuan press.
  • A greater portion of royalties. By essentially cutting out the middleman, the self-published author will retain all the proceeds (minus the retailer’s cut).
  • 100% ownership of rights. As part of their book deals, traditional publishers sometimes ask for exclusive rights to reprint, film adaptations, and merchandising. The independent publishing route at least ensures you remain in full control.

How to Self-Publish a Book in 7 Steps

In this section, we’ll give you the whistle-stop tour. We’ll show you what we believe to be the simplest method for publishing a book independently, while also providing you with the resources to learn more if you want.

So here it is: how to publish your book (the indie way) in seven steps.

1. Write the book

An author with an advance, an agent, and a regular editor will have a support team in place to guide the first draft. But by and large, the process of writing a manuscript is the same for any author: with a little planning and discipline. any author can learn how to write a book

The first thing you need to do is plan your first draft. However, this plan will depend on what kind of book you’re writing:

1. Non-fiction

When you’re writing a non-fiction book that’s either a how-to book, or a title that aims to solve a readers problem, the planning might include:

  • Research and interviews to develop content, and
  • The creation of a “book proposal.”

A book proposal is a document that shows publishers what the end result of a book will be. Needless to say, they’re very common in the traditional publishing industry. However, more independent non-fiction authors have recently found it a useful to create one as well — to ensure that their book stays on message and delivers. To get a sample template,

2. Memoir

While also based on true events, memoirs require a slightly different approach than other non-fiction books. Unlike most other types of non-fiction, memoirs tend not to offer solutions to a reader’s problems, but simply to tell a story. If you’re writing about your own life, check out this guide to outlining a memoir.

3. Fiction

In the prep phase, most fiction writers will lay some groundwork and develop the world of their novel, sketch out their characters, and map the plot.

Create a routine

Finding the time to write is an enormous challenge for authors — especially those who have to balance a full-time job and family obligations. To make sure you don’t lose momentum and interest in writing, you need to establish a sustainable writing habit that works with your schedule.

Perfect your craft

Writing a book is like developing any other skill: it requires time, effort, and a willingness to learn. If your goal is to be a better writer, make sure you’re always learning from your mistakes and building on them.

2. Edit the manuscript

Editing is a pretty broad term. It can range from an author’s rewrites of their first draft to the final proofread before the book launch. In this section, we offer our recommended approach to editing your book for self publishing.

Self-edit as much as you can

An editor’s time is money: your money. Before you hand your work off to a professional, make sure you do everything you can for it — or you’ll just end up wasting money paying an editor to clean up basic mistakes.

If you’re a novelist, that might mean working through a few drafts to iron out the story and characters; for non-fiction, that might mean sharing the manuscript with a focus group and re-writing it based on feedback.

Let a professional help you over the finishing line

Once you’ve taken your manuscript as far as you can by yourself, it’s best to bring in a fresh pair of eyes. These days, finding your ideal editor is more straightforward than ever. For example, you can search for (and request quotes from) professionals with experience in your genre.

Before getting too far down the editing rabbit hole, it’s important to understand the different types of editors, and what each of them does

What kind of editing does your book need?

Takes one minute!

Okay, your manuscript has been edited, polished, and proofed. Now it’s time to make sure your book looks as good as it reads.

3. Design the cover and format the interior

When we talk about book design, the first thing that jumps to mind is the cover — and for good reason! Self published authors rely heavily on a book cover for sales, whether it’s with ads or just by attracting readers on retailers like the Kindle store. It’s also important not to forget about interior design: the way that the words are formatted on the page.

Which writing app is right for you?

Find out here! Takes 30 seconds

Once you’ve completed the step of designing and formatting, you will have everything you need to start selling your book. That takes us to our next stage.

4. Self-publish as an ebook and a print book

In days past, self-publishing a book involved getting a print run and paying up-front for thousands of copies. You pretty much always ended up with copies that you couldn’t sell. Thankfully, modern publishing has provided simple solutions to this problem!

If you’re looking for the simplest solution, here it is: just publish your book with KDP. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing is an author platform that lets you upload your book and list it for free. Readers can then buy the ebook or have a print version created for them at the click of a mouse. No need to understand how the sausage is made: Amazon has simplified the process. However, if you want to dig a bit deeper and explore your options, carry on reading…

With POD (print on demand), authors can upload their book files to a printing service. This service will churn out individual copies as, and when, they are purchased. The cost-per-unit is higher than with printing methods of traditional publishers, but the lack of risk still makes this the preferred option of self-publishing authors.

The two largest POD services in the world are Kindle Direct Publishing and IngramSpark, both of which provide comparable products at similar costs. However, it’s worth investigating the options to see which one makes more sense for you and your book. (Pssst… for an IngramSpark promo code, read our IngramSpark review here.)

eBooks

Book sales on the Kindle store are a self-publishing author’s bread and butter. After all, KDP offers the highest percentage royalty, and ebooks are usually priced lower than print books. This greatly appeals to readers who might not want to drop $15 on an author they’ve never heard of. Additionally, once the book is on an e-reader, the quality of the product is virtually indistinguishable from something that a big publisher puts out.

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Wondering whether you should give all your ebook distribution rights to Amazon?

Answer these 5 questions to find out!

5. Master the Kindle store (and other retailers)

Anybody can get their book onto the Amazon store (and therefore the ubiquitous Amazon Kindle) for free. Yet few people know how to do it properly.

For instance, when uploading your title, there are certain things you can do to increase visibility with your readers. Then there’s the matter of getting the people who find your book to buy it. To succeed here, you need to turn yourself into a bit of an Amazon expert. Fortunately, we have everything you need to do so!

6. Market your book effectively

Apart from writing a great book, all of the other steps above can be realized through an afternoon of research and work. But when it comes to marketing in self-publishing, things start to get a little more involved.

The good news is that there are tried-and-tested methods for promoting your title, including automated mailing lists, price promotions, and online advertising. Here are some articles on marketing and ads for self-published authors.

7. Create an awesome launch plan

A lot hinges on a book’s first few weeks on the market. To give yourself the best chance at thriving on Amazon and other platforms, your title must accumulate a healthy dose of book sales and reviews soon after its release. With that in mind, a lot of work needs to go into preparing your book launch. Here’s what you need to learn:

So far, we’ve covered writing your book, editing and designing it, planning your launch, and growing your marketing efforts. You now have enough knowledge to actually go and self publish your book. Assuming that your finances are in place, that is…

The Financial Implications

Money is an obstacle that nearly all self-publishing authors will face. At this point, you are solely responsible for funding everything to do with your book. However, that doesn’t mean you need to empty your savings account in order to publish it! Read on to find out the facts about financing your book.

The cost of self publishing

Here are two excellent resources that can help you determine your costs and find alternate ways to cover them:

The upside to all this, as we hinted at earlier, is that by bearing most of the costs, the self-publishing author also gets to enjoy most of the spoils.

Royalties

To give you an idea of the money you can expect to make from each copy sold, let’s look at the royalties offered to both independent and traditionally published authors.

Author royalties on paperbacks:

  • An author with a traditionally published book can expect around 5%.
  • An indie authors will see 20-50% depending on printing costs.

Author royalties on ebooks:

  • A traditionally published author will see 20-25% of net (after the retailer’s cut).
  • An authors of a self published book may enjoy up to 70% if their book is priced reasonably.

This massive disparity is one of the reasons why J.K. Rowling has dipped her toes into self-publishing. The ebooks and audiobooks (incidentally, great for road trips) of her Harry Potter series are now released by her own company, Pottermore, allowing her to take the publisher’s share of sales as well as the author’s. Clever, eh?

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