If you’re a writer, a dreamer, or anyone with something important to say, you’ve probably thought about writing and publishing a book. But while writing a book is a great achievement in itself, getting it in front of readers is another matter, and figuring out how to get a book published can be a real challenge for beginners!
In fact, with more publishing options than ever before, today’s authors have a lot to take in. We’re here to clear the fog and show you exactly how to publish a book in 2022. In this comprehensive guide, you’ll find hard tips, publishing resources, and all the professional guidance you’ll need to get your book published to the world.
You are reading: Writing and publishing books
this is the simple step by step process to publish a book:
1. choose a post path
again, modern authors have many publishing paths to choose from. There is no “right” way to publish a book, so the steps in this guide should be viewed as best practices, rather than required actions.
That said, your path to book publication will inevitably affect your approach here. Before continuing, you must decide:
- do you want to self-publish or traditionally publish?
- if the latter, do you prefer to go through a small publisher or a larger publisher?
This quiz should guide you in the right direction, but at the end of the day, only you can determine which publishing path is right for you. if you haven’t looked into it yet, check out the posts linked above. But for those who just want quick takeaways on self-publishing versus traditional publishing, we’ve summarized them in the table below.
pros and cons of three different publishing paths
Do you have a solid idea of the best publishing path for your book? great! Now we’ll cover tips every author should keep in mind, regardless of how they choose to publish.
2. edit draft
The greatest gift any author can give their manuscript is a full edit. Yes, this is true whether you’re self-publishing or sending your book out to agents: either way, people will read it, judge it, and make decisions that will affect its success.
Have you never edited a book before? Fear not, we’ve written a step-by-step guide on how to edit a book to help you get through it! that post contains detailed editing tips for every major element of the story, like plot, characters, and conflict, as well as finer points like dialogue and descriptions. but here are some tips to get you started:
- wait a week or more before editing. this will give you the freshness you need to consider your writing as an editor would.
- get started with the plot and the characters. read the entire book and take notes considering the general elements. Does your plot follow a sensible structure, have a good number of plot points, and don’t seem too rushed at the end? Do your characters feel complete, with compelling motivations driving them and dynamic interactions with others?
- If this is too intimidating, skip to the line edits. You may not be able to understand the plot or character changes right now, but you can still work on the pacing of individual scenes. or you can hone your voice with better word choice. even basic mechanical errors are better than nothing!
- When in doubt, read aloud. If you have difficulty finishing a part of your edit, try reading passages aloud high . this is a great way to break through your mental blocks and hear what can be improved in your writing.
Do I really need to edit my book?
In short, yes. no one wants to read a book full of typos or plot holes, and no author worth his salt would publish an unedited draft anyway. Unless you’ve already signed a book deal, you’ll need to find someone to fix your manuscript, and lacking the training to become an editor, that means hiring a professional editor to do the work.
do you need a deep development edition? a careful editing copy? One last eagle-eyed review? professional publishers take care of every detail to ensure your book is virtually perfect before it goes to print.
3. get feedback from editors and critics circles
Whether you hire an editor or not, thoughtful feedback from third parties is invaluable. So during the editing process (most authors go through several rounds of revisions), share your manuscript with trusted collaborators to see what they think.
To help participants provide more honest feedback, ask them to submit an anonymous feedback form on specific elements such as plot, characters, pacing, and prose. you can include a rating system to make it easier for them. Also, to make sure their feedback is constructive, ask them to come up with a solution to each problem, not just point it out.
Where should I look for feedback?
If you feel comfortable asking friends and family for their notes, you should. however, this can be a delicate process and it may be best not to involve anyone you know personally. Here are three other ways to get reliable feedback on your book:
⭕️ critique circles are great places to get feedback. not only do they allow you to take notes in your book, but they also help you hone your own critical skills! check out that post for more information on criticism circles.
🖊 writing communities can also be helpful. Many of these communities have built-in review circles, but it’s worth checking their individual forums to see if anyone is looking for a review partner or, if you’re lucky, offering free reviews.
🤓 beta readers are a third way to get honest, detailed feedback from people who are interested in your book. For context, most authors use beta readers after they’ve done some desktop publishing, but before they turn their book over to a publisher. you can read that post for more information.
4. title your manuscript
Having gotten this far, you may have already chosen the title of your book. But if you haven’t made up your mind yet, or if the editing process changed your manuscript so much that you feel you need a new title to match, now is the time to nail it down.
We’ve got some awesome resources to help you with this, including our book title generator (offering over 10,000 possibilities!) and our post on choosing great book titles. but whatever title you choose, you’ll be fine if you take the following seriously:
- Keep it short. Think of how many bestsellers these days have one- or two-word titles. naming your book “the [something]” is a timeless approach for a reason: it gets the point across quickly and is easy for readers to remember.
- make it intriguing. other The advantage of a short title is that it naturally creates intrigue. still, when in doubt, apply a little more. brit bennett could have just as accurately called her 2020 book the vignes family saga, but the vanishing half is a much more intriguing and stylish title.
- don’t copy anyone too much . While it’s good to use tried-and-true formulas, you don’t want your headline to sound so familiar that people think, “Haven’t I read it before?” stay away from, for example, the galilean code or the girl on the bus.
See Also: 20 Best Triathlon Books for Training, Inspiration, and Enjoyment
Stuck in the mud with your title? Give that book title generator a spin!
5. format your book for publication
Now that you have your manuscript fully polished, you’re ready to format your book with chapter titles, aligned text, and page numbers. again, this is crucial, whether you’re self-publishing or sending your work to agents: either way, you want to make a good impression with a professionally formatted book.
For those who send their book to agents, all they need to do is format their manuscript in a standardized and readable way. in fact, we have a manuscript format template just for the occasion! just enter your text and send the file on its way.
If you’re publishing alone, this step becomes a little more complicated: you need to format your book so that it’s 100% ready to upload to your desktop publishing platform of choice. and many authors are understandably concerned about formatting; after all, design is a very different skill set than writing.
That’s why we created the reedsy book editor: a simple, intuitive, and best of all, free tool to format your book for publication. try reedsy book editor for free today.
more book format options
🙌 free formatting software. in addition to reedsy book editor, you can try kindle create and apple pages, which provide formatting templates for free. however, each software is tailored to its own store, so converting your files for other retailers can get complicated.
💸 paid formatting software. You can also opt for more elaborate formatting software like scrivener ($45) or vellum ($200). The great thing about these programs is that you can try them for free, and if you like what you see, pay the license fee to format as many books as you like.
👩💻 Hire a professional typesetter. Another good option, especially for those planning to print on demand, is to hire a professional typesetter. this is the more expensive route, but it ensures immaculate interior design, which is very important if you’re printing your book, as you don’t want the text to be unevenly spaced or sucked into the binding.
Now take a moment to stop and think!
So far, this guide has applied to all methods of publishing a book, but this is where things diverge. From here, the steps to publish a book will depend on your preferred route:
- If you plan to publish on your own, follow the rest of this guide in its entirety.
- If you plan to publish traditionally, >now is the time to start consulting literary agents! steps 6-10 will be handled by your prospective publisher. however, if you want to publish through a smaller press (meaning more hands-on involvement) or simply want to better understand the full publishing process, feel free to read on.
6. design a book cover that converts readers
The next thing you’ll need to get your book published successfully is a solid cover. Your book cover gives readers a vital first impression of your work, which means it should not only grab the attention of your target audience, but also let them know that this book is for them.
To do this, your cover design should be:
- flashy but tasteful. Whether you choose a cover based on photography, illustrations, or typography, it should be interesting enough to grab the reader’s attention, but not so cluttered that it seems overwhelming or unprofessional. here are three covers in each of those categories that strike the perfect balance:
- Genre-indicative. Consciously or not, readers look for certain cover design elements in their favorite genres, and yours must match (at least some of) these conventions too. Romance novels, for instance, tend toward illustrated covers and shades of red, pink, and purple. Thrillers, meanwhile, often employ dark colors and unsettling photos to signal their content. A few more examples to demonstrate:
- tailored to your publication medium. If you’re self-publishing an eBook, your cover should be just that, a cover, as that’s all readers will see. however, if you plan to print your book, you will also need a spine and back cover design.
As with formatting, this can all sound quite intimidating to authors who are not design experts. But unlike interior design, which most authors can do with the right tools, the cover really needs to be designed by a professional. You shouldn’t take any chances with your number one marketing tool, and a professional cover designer has the talent, experience, and industry knowledge to help make your book successful.
With their unique vision and design skills, the two can work together to create a cover that not only converts readers, but also leaves a lasting impression on them.
7. write a description of the book ‘ready for publication’
Your book description is another important factor in getting people to buy your book. Fortunately, it’s easy to optimize your description for better sales. Our post on how to write a book description that sells is the most helpful resource for this, but the basics of writing a strong description are:
- Hook readers in with a headline. Whether it’s a dramatic statement, a quote from a glowing review, or the actual first line of your book, your title should immediately engage readers.
- introduce the plot or main idea. but don’t summarize everything, you don’t have room for that! provide a brief description of the core conflicts or, if you’ve written a nonfiction book, write down the basic concepts you’ll cover.
- leave them wanting more. end with a question, a hint about a twist, or even a complete fail. make it impossible for readers not to preview your book (if only because they’re skeptical you can).
when in doubt, look at the descriptions of the best sellers of your genre and try to emulate them. read five to ten of these descriptions and you’ll probably see a pattern begin to emerge: from there, your description will pretty much write itself. like this:
What about keywords and categories?
While not included in your book description, keywords and categories are two of the most important parts of your online book listing. for those who don’t know:
- keywords are related phrases that people can search for to find a book like yours. For example, if you’ve written a self-help book on eating better, some of your keywords might be “how to eat healthy,” “best diet plan,” and “change your life.” You can check out our Amazon Keywords post for more information.
- Categories are the genres and sub-genres your book belongs to. these can be as general (“non-fiction”) or as specific as you like (“non-fiction > biography & autobiography > personal memoirs”). More can be found in our essential amazon category guide!
The best way to choose keywords and categories is to put yourself in the shoes of your target reader. what would they look for to find your book? What similar books might they be reading, and what categories do those books fit into?
One good thing to remember about your book’s description, keywords, and categories is that you can always change them later. That said, you should still try to optimize these elements before your book is released and get to work. speaking of which, the next step is…
8. create a book release plan
Your book will not sell itself and the first few days are decisive. so one thing you need before you go live (and start working on ASAP!) is an excellent release plan.
This plan should raise awareness, tap into your existing audience, and make a fuss about your book. The book launch guide linked above explains everything in detail, but let’s quickly cover four actions you should definitely include in your launch plan:
See Also: Free Coloring Pages and Books (Download & Printable as PDF) – VerbNow
👯 form a street team. This will be made up of friends and collaborators who promote your book on their own platforms. remember, united forces and social proof are much more powerful than a single selfish effort!
👩🏽💻 Create a website and mailing list. You will need an author website with a clear signup area for your mailing list to acquire readers. get on wordpress or hire a web designer, and start learning everything you can about mailing lists.
📖 get book reviews. If your title doesn’t have reviews when it’s released, people will assume it’s not worth reading. avoid this ill fate by communicating with reviewers early and often; be sure to target reviewers and bloggers in your niche.
🎉 Host a virtual launch party. Not only on social media, but also on your author website (if you have one) and through guest posting on other people’s blogs. make it a great event; Shout about your book from the rooftops, so as many people as possible find out.
9. publish your book to online retailers
congratulations! you’re finally ready to publish your own book.
You’ll be glad to know that the act of self-publishing a book is quite easy. amazon and other retailers will walk you through the upload process step by step, and as long as you have your materials ready, you shouldn’t have a problem.
This is what you can expect to do, in order:
- enter your title, book description and keywords/categories
- upload your manuscript as an epub file
- add your book cover (jpg, tiff or pdf)
- price your book and click “publish”!
should i post outside of amazon?
Perhaps the biggest question when it comes to self-publishing is: should you self-publish only through amazon, or “go wide” with other stores like apple books, barnes & noble and kobo?
For newbies, opting for Amazon exclusivity is often the best option, simply because it offers so much in return. kdp select (a program that requires exclusivity from amazon) allows you to run the price promotions we mentioned, as well as add your book to the unlimited library of kindle, where even more readers can find it.
however, ignoring other platforms may not be a good idea if your target readers live in an area where amazon has less influence over the online book market (such as germany or canada).
It’s also not ideal if you want your book to be “permafree,” since Amazon only allows free promotions for a limited time, or if you don’t think your book will attract many readers through Kindle Unlimited. (some genres work better than others on ku; learn more in that blog post.)
The bottom line: Do your research to find out what’s best for you. We’ve written another post about eBook distribution and the fine print of Amazon exclusivity, so if you’re weighing your options, that’s a great place to start.
10. market the book to increase sales
Your book is polished, published, and hopefully already attracting readers. But that doesn’t mean your work is done, far from it.
The final step of how to publish a book is to market it to the maximum. You’ve already put your launch plan in place, but here are a few more essentials to keep in mind:
🤝 Take more tours of the blog and connect with the authors. Guest posting to promote your book isn’t just for your launch plan! even after you’ve launched it, continue to access relevant blogs, especially those written by other authors who might want to cross-promote.
🤑 make the most of price promotions. Unless your book is permanent, the price can always be better for customers. If your downloads are slowing down and you haven’t run a price promotion in a while, try below.
💁🏻 Use third-party promotional services. Burnout at self-marketing, or just don’t have the massive influence you’d like? book promotion services can help you. Look for services that cater specifically to your book’s target audience.
💪 always be prepared for opportunities. You never know when you’ll have the opportunity to promote your book in a way that will change your life! If you were to meet Reese Witherspoon tomorrow, you should have a preview of your book ready to airdrop on her phone.
final thoughts
Publishing a book is always a huge undertaking, whether you choose desktop publishing or not. The good news is that if you’ve read this far, you now know exactly what your options are, plus the pros and cons of each.
we can’t publish your book for you; however, we are confident that you have everything you need to achieve this lifelong goal. keep an eye on the prize, enjoy the ride and send us a postcard when you get there. we are very excited to see where you end up.
Still want more information on how to publish a book? Check out the following resources:
See Also: Small and Big Differences Between the ‘Harry Potter’ Books and Movies
- how to self-publish a book: 7 steps to success
- how much does it cost to self-publish a book?
- how to publish a book the traditional way
- how to get a book deal