How To Self-Publish Your Book?
Updated: Aug 3, 2020
Earlier it was strenuous to publish a book but now you after ebooks gaining popularity it is easy to publish an ebook on the Amazon through kindle publishing and you are an author.
A publishing house will work with an established writer to write, edit, publish and market their book to make it the best seller. On the contrary, it is challenging for a new author to break in as in the beginning, they lack credibility as they have no track record.
Writers who find it difficult to cut deal with publishers can go self publish the books. Even sometimes big names like 'Sam Haskell' choose to self-publish rather than going to reputed publishing companies. Following are the steps that one can follow to get their books self-published also the links mentioned can help you achieve desired results.
1. Write the book
A book can be classified as fiction like 'Harry Potter' by 'J.K.Rowlings' or non-fiction like 'The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life' by 'Robin Sharma' or a memoir like 'Promises I Made My Mother' by 'Sam Haskell'.
After selecting the genre of the book, a writer can choose to write solo or with the help of his team which includes the agent, co-author and publishers.
Writing a book requires great discipline as one should be able to write the manuscript and regularly to finish the draft in time. One can write the draft on a google drive which will make it easy to share the writings and edit it if it is co-authored.
2. Edit the draft
Once the first draft is ready one can run the scripts by through Grammarly and Scribens which will ensure the manuscript is free from any punctuation and other grammar errors. Multiple readings and feedbacks from close ones can help in identifying unseen errors.
One also has the option to hire a professional editor or find some freelancer on upwork, fiver or freelancer.com to get the job done.
3. Formatting
Cover design and the title of the book also are important deciding factors to cast the first impression on the reader and hence it is o necessary to have a catchy title. Also, the presentation of the interiors of the book matter as many choose to flip through the pages before buying it.
By using Adobe InDesign or Microsoft publisher one can make adjustments to the book to make it more readable and presentable.
4. Cover design
Cover can be a make or break deal as it gives the glimpse of what the book is about. A good book with a bad cover is more likely to fail as it would fail to appeal to the audience.
It is recommended to hire a professional graphic designer to get the best output. One can choose to create their own covers by taking inspirations from the popular book covers and using them to create a good cover on 99designs.
5. Self-Publishing as paperback and ebook
Many budding writers often just go for publishing an ebook, but a paperback hardcopy can make the book more legitimate and also help to generate more profits as people are more likely to buy it.
Paperback: Printing paperback from local printing house can be inexpensive because it depends on the quantity that you order besides a print-on-demand website can make self-publishing a physical book free of cost. CreateSpace and Lulu.com (if you are aware of any other website let us know in the comments below) offer print-on-demand services. CreateSpace gives you the estimates of how much you would be paid depending on which platform your book is sold.
Kindle: While publishing on kindle the author should make sure to enter the right keywords to optimise the search so that it helps the search engine to direct more people to the book.
What if this all fails?
To boost sales one can offer them free for a limited amount of time or give free copies to book reviewers who can then create the market for good sales.
Even following all the steps gives you no guarantee that the book will be a success. As it depends on many factors like the content, the time of launch and addressing the needs f audiences. Also, with so many books available, there is a high chance that it can get lost in the pool.
A published book is going to give you business and exposure even if it fails. One can use it as a business card when meeting people and that would create your strong impression and can open many doors to countless opportunities.