How Do You Self-Publish a Book?
by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.
How do you self-publish a book? That’s a very important question a lot of writers have, especially as they complete a manuscript. If you’ve written a book that you believe is ready for the world, congratulations! Self-publishing is an excellent way to get your work out into the world without relying on a traditional publisher. But how do you self-publish a book? Self-publishing can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be—with the right information and guidance, anyone can become a self-published author, and with some diligence and book marketing prowess, they can be a successful one, too. Read on to learn the answer to that question: how do you self-publish a book? Take control of your own writing career and consider enacting these book marketing strategies today.
How Do You Self-Publish a Book?: Write Your Book
This one is obvious, but it bears repeating: before you can self-publish, you need to write your book. This means taking the time to craft a well thought out plot, characters with depth and purpose, and a writing style that engages readers. Writing is hard, and it takes time—so make sure you give yourself enough of both before diving into the actual publishing process. How do you self-publish a book? Write it first.
Then, even if you feel good about it, make sure to get writing feedback from a critique group or developmental editor. You might not be seeing everything clearly yet, and might need to go back for another revision. If you don’t have any beta readers available, there are many services online that offer editing services at a reasonable price.
Remember, when you self-publish, you are the last set of eyes on the project. At the very least, hire a proofreader so that you won’t hear about pesky grammatical errors in your reviews.
How Do You Self-Publish a Book?: Prepare Your Manuscript
Once you’ve finished writing your book, the next step is to prepare it for publication. This is where the question of How do you self-publish a book? often gets overwhelming. This means formatting your manuscript properly so that it looks professional when published.
When you self-publish, you are responsible for formatting your manuscript into an ebook-ready file type, making sure it looks good on ereaders and in a printed version (if you’re doing one), has compelling marketing copy and cover design, and all of the other functions that a traditional publisher is usually responsible for. You can learn how to do all of this yourself—the tools for self-publishing have never been more robust—or you can hire service providers to do all of these functions for you, if your budget allows.
How Do You Self-Publish a Book?: Choose Your Publishing Platform
The next step is choosing which platform you want to use for self-publishing. There are several popular options such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), IngramSpark, Kobo Writing Life, Lulu Press, Smashwords, and Draft2Digital—though the last two have merged, as of this writing. All of these platforms offer different features and benefits depending on what type of book you are publishing and the audience you are targeting. Do some research into each platform before making a decision so that you can find one that best suits your needs.
How Do You Self-Publish a Book?: Publish Your Book
Once you’ve chosen your publishing platform, all that’s left is actually publishing your book. Depending on which platform you want to use, this could involve uploading your manuscript in various formats (eBook vs. print), attaching your cover and marketing copy to the project, setting up pricing options for both digital downloads and physical copies (if you plan to make those applicable), as well as deciding on marketing options like advertising or special promotions, if available on your chosen platform. Each service has its own set of instructions for how to publish a book—and most of them are pretty intuitive. However, there are all kinds of tips, tricks, and book marketing strategies that you might not be aware of when you first set out to research how to self-publish a book. It’s definitely worth digging into more, because self-publishing is mostly about marketing the project, rather than creating it.
Self-publishing can be intimidating at first—but with the right information and guidance anyone can become a self-published author. How do you self-publish a book? Start by writing a good story; then prepare it for publication by following industry standard formatting guidelines; choose the right publishing platform for your needs; lastly, publish your book following the instructions provided by the platform you’ve selected. With these steps in mind, everyone has what they need to start their journey towards becoming an independent author.
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