How to Self-publish Your Own Book in 8 Steps (2022)

YOU ARE READING: How to Self-publish Your Own Book in 8 Steps (2022) AT PhebinhvanhocEN

Almost every writer dreams of writing a best-selling book, but for decades it’s been almost impossible to do it successfully without the help of a traditional publisher.

Getting the attention of a big publisher is not easy. it means submitting manuscripts, nervously waiting for a response that may never come, and trying to stay positive in the face of rejection.

You are reading: Self publish your books

For the few lucky enough to make it past this stage, there are still months of negotiations to come over the creative direction of their work and their share of the profits.

Working with editors is far from a dream come true, but what if you could skip the process altogether? what if you could write, edit, publish, and sell your own book⁠, all without having to answer to the whims of the gatekeepers?

In today’s maker economy, you can. self-publishing tools are more available now than ever. you just need to know how to use them.

1. write a book that is marketable

Entrepreneurs use market research to validate product ideas. This process involves taking a close look at competitor products, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, discovering untapped niches, and establishing your ideal customer.

An author may scoff at the idea of conducting market research, but the “author-prenuer” knows that understanding their audience early on will make it easier to sell their book in the future.

You may already have books written, have a few book proposals, or be starting from scratch. Either way, using these methods to assess your book’s market potential before beginning the self-publishing process for the first time will help you establish a plan of action around marketing your book.

Identify your genre. Genre is more than just a “category” for your book. Aspects such as story structure, verbiage, writing style, and visual content may differ depending on the genre of your book. for example, a children’s book might describe a rotten apple as “mushy” or “slug,” while a murder mystery might describe it as “rotten” or “festering.” considering the quirks of your genre will give you a better understanding of the audience you’re writing for.
Explore how people talk about your genre. Browse the message boards to learn more about how fans of your genre (and potential buyers) decide what to read. What attracts them to your gender? Are there any common frustrations with the genre?
Assess the best-selling books in your genre. Conduct a competitive analysis by evaluating the best-selling books in your genre on marketplaces like Amazon and the new york times best sellers list.
evaluate your competitors’ positioning. Positioning is the message, values and overall business strategy that is presented to the public. ask yourself what distinguishes the most popular books in their genre. what do the titles, the cover and the synopsis say? What is the hook that grabs the reader’s attention?
Discover what is missing. In the high-volume book publishing industry, marketing is all about differentiation. Put yourself in the shoes of your genre audience and ask yourself, what are these bestsellers missing? Are your stories not being told?
If possible, identify a niche in your genre. A niche is a subsection of your gender audience. Niche building is a great way to differentiate yourself in a crowded market and reduce the reach of your competition.

If you already have a desktop publishing manuscript in mind, consider its market potential now, before moving on to the next steps. you may be able to easily identify what sets your book apart, or you may want to make some revisions.

Either way, understanding your book’s audience will help make future marketing decisions much easier.

2. edit like a pro

Self-publishers will have to compete in the same stores and markets as traditional publishers, which means your book needs to look as polished and polished as if it came from a major publisher.

You may not have the large number of publishers that a large publisher does, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create a product that can compete.

start by editing the script yourself

Before you give your first draft to someone else, read it yourself, cover to cover, as if you were a member of your target audience. It’s easy to get lost in the weeds during the writing process, and a thorough read from cover to cover will help you understand how your entire book translates.

Once you have a manuscript that’s ready for another set of eyes, put your business hat back on and start getting feedback from potential fans.

get feedback from your target audience

During the product development process, entrepreneurs refine their product by obtaining feedback from target audiences, with the goal of improving product usability. this is also important for self-published books.

Before you send the book to a professional publisher, give people copies and ask for their feedback. It’s important that the feedback you receive comes from your book’s intended audience.

Find message boards related to your genre, send your manuscript to friends and family (if they fit your target audience), and get as much feedback on your manuscript as you can. The goal of this stage is not to correct mechanical errors or typos, but to get an overall read on the marketing of the book as a whole.

have a professional edit your master copy

Copy editing is a very meticulous process that involves reviewing a manuscript line by line with the intention of improving readability and ensuring that the piece is free of grammatical and factual errors.

While you should do your own editing before submitting your manuscript, it’s important to have a professional take a look at it and get an outside perspective on the content of your book. It can sometimes be difficult for writers to recognize problems with the readability of their own work.

where to hire a freelance editor

Hiring a freelance editor allows self-publishers to work with a professional editor within the limits of their budget. there are several places where you can hire freelance editors to help you edit your work. Freelancing sites have a wide variety of freelancers, with varying costs and degrees of experience:

rush. reedsy is a freelancing site dedicated specifically to matching freelance authors with freelance publishers. what makes reedsy unique is the ability to hire editors who specialize in their specific genre.
upwork. upwork specializes in connecting businesses with a wide variety of freelance talent, including editors and proofreaders. upwork has search filters that allow you to view freelancers by hourly rates, making it easy to work within your budget.
fiverr. fiverr bills itself as the world’s largest digital services marketplace. users are divided into “buyers” and “sellers”. vendors offer a wide variety of services, including proofreading and editing.
guru. guru allows business owners to create job postings for Let the freelancers explore. freelancers respond to postings quoting their rate and business owners can screen applicants and select the one that best suits their needs.

3. develop an eye-catching book cover design

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but most people will. Your cover acts as your book’s main visual aid for users navigating online retailers, marketplaces, your online store, and just about everywhere else your book will be sold.

Should I hire a professional designer?

Author-entrepreneurs wear many hats and the graphic designer is often one of them. Designing your own cover will take a little time, but it can also save you a lot of money. The answer to this question depends entirely on the experience you have with the task.

Whether you design your cover yourself or hire a freelancer, you’ll need to think like a marketer when it comes to evaluating your cover design. here are some things to keep in mind:

Use inspiration to inform your decision. Gather a couple of successful book cover designs in their genre and see what works best for them. Why is one cover more attractive than another? what does the cover content say about your book?
think in terms of thumbnails. when customers browse your online store, amazon or physical bookstores⁠, your cover significantly reduce its size. remember that small details of your book cover design could be overlooked in this context. During the design process, try to remember to view your cover in its thumbnail form to make sure no prominent details are lost and the cover doesn’t look too cluttered.
make your title readable. An eye-catching cover design could go to waste if readers can’t quickly and easily associate it with your book’s title. having the title prominent will help readers associate the image with the name of your book and make them more likely to remember it.
Please note the spine and back cover. While the spine and back cover may not show up on thumbnails, they will show up on your book’s physical enchantment. many readers worry about how the spine looks on their shelf. follow the same aesthetic as your cover and make sure the design is consistent.

if you’re looking to hire a designer, you can use the previous freelance services you used to hire an editor to hire a designer as well:

reedsy
upwork
fiverr
guru

free tools to design your own cover

If you have design experience and want to try designing your own cover, here are some free design tools you might consider using:

canva
fotor
edit.org
visme

At this point, you should have a well-edited manuscript and a strong cover design, but there are still more steps to bring all those elements together in creating a physical product.

4. decide which self-publishing platforms you will use

A desktop publishing platform is a tool used to turn all the elements of your book into a physical product and distribute it to buyers and retailers. The desktop publishing company you use will affect your distribution channels, so at this point it’s important to start thinking about how you want to sell books online.

desktop publishing with print on demand

Print on demand is a fulfillment method where your books are printed and shipped to the point of sale. This means you don’t need to print a bunch of copies of your book, store them, and ship them yourself.

Print-on-demand books are perfect for self-publishers because they are inexpensive and save time by allowing you to outsource the manufacturing and distribution of your products.

sell on amazon with kindle direct publishing

kindle direct publishing (kdp) is amazon’s desktop publishing platform that allows users to print their books on demand at the point of sale. Amazon accounts for about 50% of the print book market. Readers are used to Amazon’s interface, which makes it easy for them to navigate and find your book.

In addition to this, Amazon will suggest your book to readers that its algorithm thinks might be interested. Although KDP will directly upload your book to Amazon, you don’t necessarily need to use it to sell print books.

how much does it cost to use kdp?

Because kdp uses print-on-demand fulfillment, charges for using kdp are only incurred once you’ve sold a book. Paperbacks sold on Amazon Marketplaces using KDP are subject to a 60% royalty rate, which means you earn 60% of the listed price.

That said, printing costs (which can vary depending on paper type and number of pages) are also deducted from the total. Fortunately, Amazon has a handy royalty and printing cost calculator that will give you an estimate of the total amount in royalties you can expect to receive.

A downside to note about KDP is the exclusivity clause: if you sell eBooks on Amazon using KDP, you won’t be able to sell the same eBooks elsewhere. however, physical books sold through kdp can still be sold on other platforms.

sell in store with lulu and shopify

lulu is a desktop publishing platform that provides tools to print and distribute your own books and e-books. lulu offers a wide variety of sizes, bindings, and page types giving you plenty of options to develop your manuscript and cover into a physical product.

What makes Lulu a plus is Lulu Direct’s Shopify app, which easily integrates with your Shopify store. Using the Lulu app in your Shopify store, you can print and ship books at the point of purchase, automating the logistics process.

other self-publishing platforms

There are several desktop publishing companies that allow users to create physical copies of their books and sell them through major retailers. Most have a print-on-demand option to sell on Amazon, but it may not be available to sell in store.

If you decide to use a desktop publishing platform other than lulu, you’ll need to print, store, and ship copies of your book in the traditional way, which means there may be more overhead than with a print-on-demand service.

rush. In addition to being a platform for finding freelancers, Reedsy also offers self-publishing services. their book formatting tool helps self-published freelance authors create professionally designed e-books and print book files for free.
ingramspark. ingramspark offers tools to design your print books and integrated distribution capabilities to more than 40,000 retailers and libraries.
blurb. blurb is a platform that offers a ton of digital software to create your book design and sell it through major retailers like amazon. blurb tools are especially useful for large photo books with a more unique page-to-page layout.

5. formatting your book

In the desktop publishing formatting stage, you’ll be putting the finishing touches on your product, making sure it has all the trappings of a professionally published book.

The reason the formatting step comes after the finding a desktop publisher step is that desktop publishing platforms often have their own built-in layout and formatting features. the tools you use may vary depending on the platform you use, but the end product is the same.

how the book format works

Self-publishing platforms like kdp require users to upload two separate files. the first is the manuscript file, which includes all the inside pages of the book, and the second is the cover file, which contains the outside of your book: the front cover, spine, and back cover.

formatting your script file

Although your manuscript may be beautifully written and edited, there are still some formatting choices to make as you begin preparing it for publication.

sets cropping and margins. your trim is the height and width of your pages. self-publishing platforms often have several page sizes to choose from, but you still need to set the margin sizes.

preliminary matter

The cover of a book is all the pages that come before the beginning of your manuscript. books usually have five types of covers:

mid-title page: Often the first page of a published book, the mid-title page is a right-facing page that contains the title of the book and nothing else⁠ —not even page numbers.
title page: Your title page also doesn’t include page numbers, but usually contains the author’s name and a subtitle. Publishing companies often include their logo here as well, but for self-publishers, a logo is optional.
Copyright Page: Your copyright page should always be on the first page from the left on the back of the title page and contain all copyright information book copyright. if you’re not sure what to include, here’s a helpful publisher scribe template.
dedication page: this is on the next page to the right and usually doesn’t include numbers page or headers. dedication pages should be short, usually one or two sentences.
Table of Contents Pages: Table of Contents pages typically list the titles of the chapters and sections of your book, along with the page numbers where they appear.

6. launch your book like a store launches a product

If you want to set yourself up for success, your next task is to plan a product launch. You may not have the experience of a professional publisher, but you have prepared yourself for marketing by creating a book that has an audience you know inside and out. our handy ecommerce launch checklist can get you on the right track.

There is a lot to consider before a book is released. Let’s review some important steps:

- make sure your amazon sales channels are working. Amazon is an incredibly important platform for selling books. Whether you sell on Amazon through KDP or are using a different self-publishing platform synced with Amazon, you’ll want to make sure you can accept payments through Amazon. make a test purchase and have a copy of your book shipped to you as if you were a customer.
- create an author website with an online payment. Your book should have a “home base” for all your sales channels and social media content. it will make it easier for users to find out more about you and help people contact you for interviews and other promotional opportunities.
start your free 14 day shopify trial, no credit card required!
- prepare standard pages on your website. Your author website should include a home page, an about us page, a contact page, and a product page for your book. Additional blog and book content may be added after launch, but you’ll want to have these pages complete before you open your store.
- Establish a way to capture visitor email addresses. Email marketing is a very powerful tool for building an audience. use an email marketing app like shopify email, seguno, or klaviyo to send email notifications and provide a way for visitors to receive updates about you and your books.
- Install a tool of analysis . Website analytics can give you valuable insights into visitor behavior and help you make improvements to your online store. shopify has built-in analytics reporting, but you can also set up a third-party analytics tool like google analytics.
Once your book is formatted and your sales channels are set up, users will be able to purchase your book. now it’s time to show you how to do it.

7. promote yourself on social media

You have written and edited your book like a pro. you have tested all your sales channels and everything works perfectly. You have a cool website and a cool book, but how do you find clients?

Social media provides a great marketing opportunity for small businesses, and desktop publishing authors are no exception. Social media offers low-cost access to large audiences, and having a good social media marketing strategy will help build an engaged audience that can drive book sales and help broaden the reach of your book’s awareness.

Increasing your social media following should be an ongoing process, something you do consistently along with writing, editing, and publishing your work. For desktop publishing, here are some great ideas for social media content you can try to promote your book:
- share excerpts on social media platforms. Give users a sample of your writing to hook them, then prompt them to buy your book to read more.
- encourage user reviews on amazon. User reviews help increase your visibility on Amazon. Encourage early buyers to leave reviews to help increase your book’s visibility.
- start an advertising campaign on facebook. With Facebook Ads, you can reach your ideal customers based on their likes, interests, and behaviors. Set aside a Facebook advertising budget to help get your book known to the users most likely to buy it.
- collaborate with social media influencers. work with influencers who have a cross-audience with yours to build awareness of your book among an audience that might enjoy it.
- access publications and podcasts. The literary world is full of online publications and podcasts that cover a wide range of literary genres. Follow publications and podcasts within your niche and see if they are willing to offer an interview.
- Write on your blog and share articles on social media. Since you have a website, why not post blog articles and share them on social media? audiences that enjoy your writing will be much more likely to buy your book.
Growing your audience on social media takes some time, but as more and more audience members become familiar with your work, online book sales will increase.

8. start working on your next book

Desktop publishing authors must act as authors and entrepreneurs. In the early stages of a business, with fewer employees and a smaller budget, entrepreneurs tend to wear many hats.

Sometimes, they need to act as marketing strategists, social media managers, web designers, product developers, shipping coordinators, customer service representatives, and everything in between.

For self-published authors, the journey is the same.

Don’t be discouraged if your first release doesn’t land you on the New York Times bestseller list. Few authors, whether self-published or not, reach the pinnacle of their success after publishing their first book.

continue to grow your social media presence and grow your audience. each social media interaction will help build your online profile a little more. With every book you publish, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of your audience and become more accustomed to the self-publishing process. Plus, you’ll earn passive income along the way.

See Also: Theresa Caputo – Audio Books, Best Sellers, Author Bio | Audible.com

Other content