This guide is not meant to be all-encompassing, instead it’s meant to give you an idea of what self publishing your book could look like. We hope you enjoy this starter guide to self publishing, and if you have any questions feel free to contact us or schedule a free consultation to talk about your self publishing goals.
1. Complete your manuscript
A messy completed first draft is still a book draft. Try to have restraint on titling your book, editing, or cover art until you have the first draft done. Your finished draft may impact those things, so don’t put the cart before the cart.
2. Make your unique publishing guide
This blog post should be a jumping off point for your self-publishing journey, but everyone’s publishing journey is different based on your skills, finances, and time. You need to establish a budget, and timeline for self publishing your book that works for you. Keep in mind that sometimes you get what you pay for. So make sure you have money (or a lot of time!) for the most important things like a good editing and a well researched/expertly designed cover.
3. Hire an editor and format your book
You need to do some editing yourself, but you shouldn’t be the only one doing it. If you have room in your budget, consider hiring a professional editor. When hiring an editor, you should expect to pay at least $0.02 per word, with the price increasing depending on turnaround time and experience.
If you are dealing with a shoestring budget, you may be able to find a deal on Fiverr. If you are blessed with friends who might beta read and help make corrections that is always helpful, but if at all possible, try to spend the money for something professional as it can make or break a book.
Once your content is edited and revised, you will need to format your book so that it is readable and has your desired aesthetic. Do research on the best font sizes and compare the fonts and style of other books in your genre, you want to make sure that your book looks like it belongs on a bookshelf with those similar books and (most importantly) doesn’t strain your eyes to read.
4. Rally your launch team or “cheerleaders”
It takes a village to publish a book, especially if you are self publishing. When you self publish you need to do everything your publishing house would do. So pull out those favors, call up your friends and family, and tell everyone about your book.
Your launch team can beta read your book, connect you with resources, and help market your book. Building hype doesn’t have to be (and shouldn’t just be) on social media. Word of mouth is the best kind of marketing so if you get your launch team helping out then you will have a more successful self publishing experience.
5. Commission cover art and get your ISBN
I know you probably don’t want to hear it, but yes, books are judged by their covers. Covers are a window into the quality and beauty of what’s written inside. You can be an amazing writer, but if you design an amateur cover, then at first glance, people will assume your content is also amateur.
With that being said, do the research on high quality books in your genre. What sells, and what is a good representation of your writing. From there you can take an honest inventory of your skills and resources. You can hire someone on Fiverr or design your own cover on Canva, but make sure to flight test it and get honest feedback from people before you commit to the cover. Oh, and save those source files in a safe place so you can make tweaks down the road.
You will also need to get an ISBN, which is the special set of numbers that accompanies your barcode that takes your book from just a manuscript to something distributable. You can buy your ISBN at http://www.myidentifiers.com, or if you are only distributing through Amazon you can get a free ISBN to assign to your book when you are setting up your book on Amazon KDP.
6. Build hype
Writing a book is a huge accomplishment, so you should be hyped! If you haven’t already, now is the time to tell all your friends and family about your book. Set a launch date that you know you can stick to and let everyone know about it so they can be anticipating your launch.
When we say tell everyone, we don’t just mean your launch team. We mean actually sit down and make a list of everyone close to you. For people you are close with, there is no shame in sending a text or calling them up to personally inform them on the big news. Use any other avenues you have to share your book. Tell your chatty aunt to spread the word, post on Facebook, send an email to your coworkers, and send a letter to your grandmother’s house.
When you self publish, you are your own marketing team. You don’t have to do all that social hype building, and maybe your book reach and sales aren’t your priority right now and that’s okay, but just remember if your friends don’t know about your book how are they supposed to support you?
6. Publish your book!
So you’ve written your book, it’s got a cover, and an ISBN… Now what? You have several options for self publishing your book. You can do one or all of these options. If all of these steps intimidate you, we recommend starting with Amazon KDP, and branching out from there.
7. Market your book
If you make it to this step, congratulations, you are an author! That is something that can’t be undone. You are now an author of a published book. It’s up to you how much time and attention you spend on marketing and distributing your book. Below are some ideas to get you started.
- Contact your local library to schedule a book reading or book signing event.
- Contact podcastors, YouTubers, and other content creators in your niche to see if they are interested in collaborating.
- Use your email list.
- Create content on social media.
- Promote your book on your blog or guest post on other websites.
To build your own custom plan to market your book, schedule a consultation with an expert on the Literary Canvas Publishing House team.