Learning how to self-publish a book and getting your ideas or concept into the world is easier than it was in the past. There are many ideas and knowledge freely available online and shared by authors who have all developed the proven techniques for selling more books.
You also have various avenues to use professional services without breaking the bank in any way. In this article, I will be sharing the standard and jargon-free techniques to scaling the heights in the self-publishing world. Now, here are the methods to self-publishing a book in eighteen simple ways.
How to Self-Publish a Book in 18 Steps
Step One: Why do you want to Write?
Now, before you open your laptop and begin to daydream about which photographer should take your best-selling author picture or be interviewed on the best talk show, you’ll have to answer this one question. Why do you want to write this book?
It’s not enough to have an inspiring idea. Before you put that pen on paper, you need to know your goal. And it might take writing a blog post to begin a journey that has you self-publishing a book within a year.
You have to remember that this is a path you wish to take, this is a path you want to take as a career rather than publishing one book, and that’s it.
And, to be candid, self-publishing a book is pretty cool, but it requires much hard work. It also involves some emotional attachment, early morning and long nights, not to forget long weekends, and facing a long critical process that is totally unlike anything you’ve ever seen or experienced.
Solidifying the goal of fueling your book will carry you through this daunting process.
Step Two: Write your Book
Indeed, this step comes topmost, or maybe not, since a few people start out worrying about self-publishing a book before they even have the liberty to finish; or sometimes even begin writing the first draft.
Although you may have an eventual goal of book publishing, I advise placing those plans on the back burner when drafting. The process may be somewhat short or long, and you don’t know whether a book will indeed be said to be publishable until it is done—so write.
Step Three: Compile the Front and Back of the EBook
Once the book is done, and when I say done. I mean rewritten, edited, and polished into being genuinely worthy of being a self-published book—you’ll have to compile the front and back matter of the book’s various parts for the published e-book kind.
What consists of the Back Matter?
- About the Author: This includes all necessary details, like, mailing list, contact page, and links to the website.
- Acknowledgments: It is advisable to place them behind as they aren’t a selling point in any way.
- Dedication: it is advisable to place it at the end of the book so that readers searching the preview inline don’t have to skip through front matter to get the unnecessary details of the book—the hook would be pretty nice at the back matter, which would make your readers get the book.
- Copyright: Then, you add a standard copyright page. This includes all the credit for the copyright design and all other illustrations.
What consists of the Front Matter?
- Title Page: author name, book title, and book publisher’s name.
- Mailing List Incentive: the offer for a free e-book, which you should include in the very front so that it’s accessible to all previewing the book. And that’s even if they choose not to buy the accessible version of the e-book, which may make them interested in your other books.
- Make the About story: This is similar to the back cover matter. Make sure you include it from the start of the book, which captures your readers’ interest and reminds readers what the piece is all about.
- Mapping: You can include a map of some sort, especially in terms of fiction. This is included at the beginning of the book.
Step Four: Make a Routine
Make sure you do find the right time to write those pieces and self-publish a book. Finding the right time to write that piece can be a bit daunting for authors, especially for those who seek to balance family responsibility and a full-time job.
Well, this can be resolved if you establish a good writing habit, especially the one that pretty well works for you.
Step Five: Publishing site
Where do you seek to self-publish your book? There are various publishing sites in which you can very well publish without any hassles of any kind. All you have to do is decide on which of the online publishing platforms are good for you and make reservations to make your book public—it’s as simple as that.
Step Six: Feedback
Don’t proceed without getting the necessary feedback. When writing your book, it’s essential to get as much input as necessary—you have to get this feedback to improve your writing and all types of self-publish books in the future. Your writing of a book of any kind needs some input, so you can’t do without it.
Step Seven: Book Title
Decide on a book title after writing your first draft—this helps in self-publishing your book accurately without the laziness of its converse. When you select a book title first, you tend to draw and write yourself into some corner. All because you’re trying so hard to tread the line of your story instead of writing the basic things that need to be written. So it’s advisable not to make this as complex as it needs to be.
Step Seven: Edit Manuscript
You can do this yourself or hire a good book editor. This can mean the difference between becoming a mediocre self-publishing book or a bestselling author. Therefore, it is pretty essential to take as much as necessary during this process. To find a book editor, I’ll advise you to begin with your network—that’s a good start in self-publishing your book.
Step Eight: Book Cover
This is one of the essential factors that will surely get more sales, only if you play the cards right. One reason is that your book cover design is what all of your readers get attracted to at first glance and would determine the rate at which your book is read or not. And please do not use that phrase, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover” here, for it doesn’t apply to your self-publish book, none.
Step Nine: Using KDP?
If you’re using Amazon KDP, have you created an account?
Amazon KDP is a self-publishing service in which you can create and manage the sales of your book online.
This is one of the best ways in learning the specific ways to self-publish a book without any hassles of any type, and what’s more about this, you tend to sell much quicker. So I advise you use this, especially if you’re a newbie in this profession.
Step Ten: Format your Book
If you’re on a budget, then you don’t need to worry. There are various resources online that tell you how to format your book for free—you don’t need to hire anyone when it comes to this.
You can begin this by looking at forums on various publishing sites; these are the areas in which there are multiple discussions on book formatting. You can also apply KDP free resources to format your self-publish book. When you format, this can be a somewhat grueling experience for the newbies, so if you can hire someone to do it, it’s advisable to consider that. And you do have to remember; the formatting looks different for nonfiction and fictional books.
Step Eleven: Proofread your Book
Compile an e-book just as you would if you were self-publishing a book, and go over it carefully. Do check the formatting; this is to make sure there are no mistakes that can dampen your way to the success of the books. When you’re fully satisfied, then you proceed by reading it aloud.
If you have an old keyboard Kindle, which has inclusive the great read-aloud feature, it would be pretty helpful for you. When you use an old keyboard kindle to read your work and listen to your book, this is an excellent way to find all errors that need to be fixed.
Step Twelve: Hire Proofreaders
It will be ideal for you if you have the cash to do so to get proofreaders. This is the right time to hire a professional proofreader for that self-publish book. And regardless, you can get more readers to join the clique in making your book a success. You can hire book proofreaders in Fiverr or Upwork.
Step Thirteen: Self Publish your book
When you feel outright confident that your book is ready, then it is high time to upload it on your KDP account. If you do not have a KDP account, do not worry. You can either click this link KDP.com or follow the instructions given below;
- On the KDP main page, make sure to find and click on ‘Your bookshelf.’
- Find and click on ‘Kindle e-book Actions.’
- Then, find and click on ‘Edit e-book content.’
- Finally, click on ‘upload e-book manuscript’ and make your upload.
When self-publishing a book on KDP, they are known to permit seven keywords, so do make sure your readers can find your book when searching on Amazon.
Step Fourteen: Set your Book Price
One of the important decisions to self-publishing a book is the price. The famous question from the newest authors is, “What can be the price of my book?”
My answer to this is $2.99 to $5.99—nothing way more and nothing way less. And this is ideal for you when you seek to launch. It is advisable to price the e-book at $0.99 for a start.
In KDP, there’s an avenue to have fun with tweaking the price periodically. For example, you can set the price to 2 dollars, and softly increase the cost to I dollars a week, and watch how well the new price performs in the market. Once you observe the sales dips, that’s a good sign to determine the perfect price of your book, which would assure you of success.
Step Fifteen: Find a Mentor
Don’t be proud; get help from someone who’s been where you want him or her to be. Just imagine this, getting help from a mentor who can help you avoid all the necessary pitfalls and remove all the years of trying times off your learning curve.
Well, all you have to do is to make sure it’s someone that knows his or her onions in the writing and publishing world. There are various quack mentors, so please be warned; this is a self-publish book. You might be new in this, so you need an excellent start to sail ahead with someone giving you the needed encouragement.
Step Sixteen: Make a Launch Team
This is a group of people who are primarily dedicated to making your self-published book an overall success. Therefore, they have to gladden with what they are going to do. Do remember that an enthusiastic team member is better than a group with less enthused.
To find the best of all candidates, here are a few questions to ask them;
- Why do you wish to support my book?
- What type of goals do you wish to reach by this project taken by you?
- What are your strategies in bringing this book to the market?
- Do you have any influencers in mind?
- What is your genuine interest in this book?
Step Seventeen: Maximize the potential
It would help if you took the necessary action even after the official launch of the self-published book. For example, as soon as your book goes live on KDP or Amazon, it would help if you were sure to influence your launch team—keep in touch constantly, and keep in touch with your audience to help you market your book.
It may be pretty odd to ask your followers to help you now, but they’re there to help you succeed and would willingly oblige to the opportunity. You might be so surprised at how willing they’ll be to help if you ask them what you want. ‘ask, and you shall receive….”
Step Eighteen: Time to Celebrate
Self-Publishing a book when done writing is the start. And depending on all the goals for the book, self-publishing a book is bound to get you more clients or customers, establish you as a pro in your niche, and even free publicity.
This can help you land workshop gigs of all sorts and even public speaking and help build a verifiable business in your area of expertise. Your book sales can also be a significant source of income, being some passive income to you.
