Learn How to Self-Publish a Book This Year

Every year, more and more authors are getting interested in gaining creative freedom and a larger share of royalties for their written works. They want to learn how to self-publish a book this year or shortly.

The Content Experts PH offers book consultancy, novel editing, book editing, book design and layout services, and eBook writing, too. Email us today for a quote.

If you’re one of them, you might consider self-publishing which accomplishes just that while giving yourself the best chance of succeeding. Curious about how to self-publish a book this year?

Let’s go through all the essential aspects of self-publishing a book with just seven easy steps.

1. Write A Strong Book to Be Self-Published

How to self-publish a book?

Whether you’re a traditional publisher or an indie author, the success of your print book or eBook depends on whether readers will enjoy it enough to recommend it to others. While there is no formula for generating adored bestsellers, here are several approaches that can assist you in writing a book that will perform well in the market.

Don’t Tire of Writing a Lot

Famous authors never came to what they are now without writing hard. They keep writing every day. Having your twelfth work explode is better than having the same happen to your first published title. The point here is you want to develop quality work over time, which often means you need to work continuously no matter how tiring it seems. Patience is important. Remember that all kinds of publishing fall under the rubric of the marathon. They’re never sprints.

Keep Going, Even If You Have Difficulties

In the middle of writing a book, authors always find themselves having trouble overcoming the ups and downs of the writing process. Some get tempted to quit, but with the proper discipline and determination, overcoming barriers throughout the entire writing course would be just a piece of cake. There are infinite ways to keep writing even when things get tough. But, first, you must keep going and remember that you have a tale to tell.

2. Proofread and Edit Your Manuscript

The term “editing” involves a wide range of activities. It can range from rewriting an author’s first draft to the final proofread before a book’s release. This section outlines how we recommend editing your book in your quest to find out how to self-publish a book.

Attempt To Self-Edit as Much As Possible

The time of an editor is money — your money. So please ensure you do everything you can for your work before handing it off to a professional, or you’ll pay an editor to fix minor errors.

For novelists, this means going through several drafts to smoothen the story and characters. For nonfiction, this entails sharing the manuscript with a focus group and rewriting it based on their feedback.

Let A Professional Assist You in Crossing the Finish Line

Once you’ve gotten as far as you can with your book on your own, it’s time to enlist the help of another set of eyes. Finding your ideal editor is easier now than ever, and this has been a recommended practice for authors learning how to self-publish a book. But before diving too deep into the editing abyss, it’s crucial to understand the different kinds of editors and what each does.

Critique of a manuscript

This is a comprehensive review of your written work. It considers narrative voice, storyline, and character development, among other factors. In addition, editors provide suggestions on issues that will help improve your overall tale in this assessment form.

Comprehensive edit

A comprehensive edit addresses structural issues (much like a manuscript critique) but also includes a line edit, which examines writing style and language in greater detail. An editor concentrates on using language to communicate your tale to a reader during a line edit.

Copyediting

This is frequently confused with a line edit, but the two steps in the editing process are very different. First, a copyedit examines the text for technical flaws, such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, as well as internal inconsistencies.

Proofread

The editing process ends with this step. A proofreader looks for any awkward page breaks in the final copy of the manuscript (usually after typesetting), and they may also do some light copyediting.

Okay, now that your manuscript has been polished, proofread, and edited, it’s time to ensure that your book looks as lovely as it reads and still follows through with the essentials of self-publish a book.

3. Create A Reader-Friendly Book Cover

Whether featured as a marketing tool or thumbnail on retailers like the Kindle store, self-published writers rely heavily on custom book covers for sales. However, don’t forget to put as much effort into the interior design — the layout of content and graphics on the page. In short, you must invest in digital and print book design and layout, too!

Interior Design

Although interior design may not appear to be the fascinating aspect of the design process, producing a professionally produced book is required. Typesetting, often known as book formatting, contains “rules” for widows, orphans, hyphens, and other features in a book to make it more readable. The goal is to create the perfect reading experience.

Book Cover Design

The book cover should entice the reader to read the story. It should show what the book is about without giving too much away, similar to how the book title does but with pictures. Creating a reader-friendly book cover design aims to persuade your reader to pick up the book. This would serve as bait to catch in your web of literary magic. It must appeal to human emotions such as excitement and curiosity.

4. Decide on A Book Format

Self-publishing a book includes ordering a print run and paying for thousands of copies in advance. As a result, you’d usually have copies you couldn’t sell. Modern publication, thankfully, has brought straightforward remedies to this dilemma.

Print on Demand

Authors can upload their books to a printing firm using POD (print on demand). Individual copies are churned out as and when purchased by POD’s service. Although the cost per unit is higher than traditional publishers’ printing procedures, the lack of risk makes this the favored alternative for authors learning how to self-publish a book. 

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and IngramSpark are the world’s two most extensive POD services, offering equivalent products at comparable prices. First, however, it’s worth looking into the possibilities to determine which one is best for you and your book.

eBooks

An author in the process of learning how to self-publish a book under KDP thrives on book sales on the Kindle store. After all, KDP offers the most considerable royalty rate, attracting authors who want to publish for a profit. Many authors also use ghostwriters and eBook writing services if they no longer have time (or energy) to produce new content for existing, successful brands.

Audiobooks

Audiobooks have stayed popular over the years, and self-published authors who have invested in them have reaped the rewards. Audiobooks are usually issued after print or eBooks. It’s rare for a book to be released in audiobook format first. They’re an excellent method to build your backlist, especially if you’re starting a new book.

5. Pick A Platform for Self-Publishing

When determining where (or via which firm) you’ll sell your book, Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing is the easiest and most popular option for self-publishing authors as it allows you to submit your book and list it for free. Then, readers can purchase the eBook or have a print edition printed at the stroke of a button.

Getting a Glimpse of Amazon’s KDP

There are various ways Amazon’s KDP could help you how to self-publish a book. It has revolutionized the publishing industry by allowing authors to make it easier to publish a book and build a long-term book company. Here are some perks of self-publishing a book via Amazon’s KDP:

Widespread availability. Because Amazon’s platform is so large, authors may reach audiences worldwide, including the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Increased royalties. Authors can earn higher royalties through Amazon than they would through traditional publishing organizations. Depending on the book you sell, royalty payments on Amazon can be as high as 60%.

Authorship rights. Although you publish your book on KDP, you keep the rights to it thanks to Amazon’s non-exclusive agreement.

Quick time to publish. Traditional publishing typically takes a long time to bring a book to market. The KDP publication procedure is relatively speedy on Amazon’s platform.

There is no inventory. The days of authors having to buy printed copies of their books in advance to sell them are long gone. Print-on-demand technology allows books to be printed as soon as they are ordered.

6. Take Charge of Book Promotion to Increase Sales

Apart from creating and going through how to self-publish a book, the stages outlined above can be accomplished in an afternoon of planning and research. However, when it comes to self-publishing marketing or marketing a book online, things get a little more complicated.

There are many effective methods ways to promote your books, such as automated mailing lists, price promotions, and online advertising.

Start Promoting Your Book

Make sure your Amazon eBook metadata is correct. Metadata is an abbreviation for “information about your book.” Think about it before you publish since you can set the metadata when you put up your book using Amazon’s KDP interface. The most basic way to optimize your metadata is to make sure that your book’s description is at least a hundred words long and includes genre-specific phrases that people could search for. If you’re stumped for ideas, use the if…then formula: “if you like action and adventure, you’ll appreciate this book” or “if you loved The Maze Runner, you’d love this novel.”

Moreover, before selling your book on Amazon, get some reviews. The importance of reviews in selling a book cannot be overstated. If your book happens to have no reviews, some readers will entirely disregard it because there are always five other books to select from. It’s challenging to gain the first early reviews, but don’t give up; whatever you do, don’t cheat because Amazon will find out. Instead, you may gently request that people evaluate your book; it just takes patience and determination.

It’s all about rankings on Amazon when it comes to sales: The higher your book’s ranking on Amazon’s popularity charts, the newer readers will find it.

Nobody truly comprehends how exactly how Amazon’s ranking system works, but we know that it’s closely linked to sales volume over short periods. This means that to climb the ranks, you must sell a large number of copies in a short period. You can’t hack’ Amazon’s algorithm, but you may create a successful marketing strategy by understanding that high sales volume leads to higher rankings.

And lastly, take a 48-hour blitz marketing plan for your book. We know what you’re thinking after the last tip: How do you sell so many copies of your books in such a short amount of time? This is where the “stacking” method comes into play, which entails preparing many promotional chances for your book simultaneously. Many writers use platforms like Freebooksy or Bargain Booksy to promote their books during a free or discounted price promotion to boost sales. Readers that subscribe to these sites are always looking for good deals; if your title appeals to them, many will download it.

So far, we’ve tackled how to self-publish a book — from writing it to editing and designing it, organizing its launch, and expanding your marketing efforts. You now have sufficient knowledge to proceed with self-publishing your book.

7. Self-Publish the Book and Sell It Through Internet Retailers

Now that you’ve completed the project and received all the essential feedback from reviewers, you’ve summoned all your courage and pulled the trigger: congrats, you already know how to self-publish a book! So, what’s next for you now that your book is out there in the world is finding its devoted readers.

Aside from doing the promotional works mentioned earlier, in finding devoted readers, consider the last book you read: why did you choose to read it? How did you come upon it? Did the author send you a message and ask you to buy their book, which you did? Isn’t it likely that this isn’t the case?

You most likely learned about the book through a friend, a review site, an Amazon search, or a Kindle recommendation, among other sources. As a result, the most critical question is not “how to acquire new readers” but rather “how can readers best find your book.” It’s a slight shift in perspective, but it’s critical for successful book marketing. Most authors write books in genres they would read themselves, so start thinking about how you’ll find books — it’s frequently how you’ll find your audience and success in your self-publishing journey.

You’ve completed the publication process, and now, you are a master of how to self-publish a book, and now it’s time to start thinking about long-term marketing.

Any author will tell you that advertising a book is a never-ending process. It’ll look great in your social media or print bio, attracting a steady stream of new readers. One of the more important steps you must accomplish before launching any book is creating an author website.

The road to book publication can be a little tricky. It may, however, be one of the most rewarding experiences if you properly prepare how to self-publish a book and surround yourself with the appropriate people. Hopefully, you find the creative freedom and complete creative control over your work through self-publishing, where you gain the rightful share of royalties every author deserves.

Are you ready to dive into self-publishing, book marketing, and author marketing? Outsource these efforts to us today. Email us for a quote or fill the form below to send The Content Experts PH a message directly.