SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK IN 6 STEPS

Step 1: Decide if self-publishing is the right path for your book writing career

If you think of it as a path that you want to take, do research on what is required before embarking on it. In this way, you will know what type of genre you want to focus your work on. There are so many genres but depending on what you want, each genre has its own pros and cons.

Make sure you know the pros and cons of this method as compared with traditional book publishing. As you may know, the current trend in the writing world is the use of digital methods to self-publish a book.

There are so many software companies that have brought digital publishing to life. They have created software to make this process easier and more convenient for writers. In a case like this, you might want to do more research to ideally see if you can manage to do it yourself.

Another thing to note is that there are some cases where you want to publish an e-book and convert it into an audiobook. This is a very brilliant way of publishing and marketing your book because your audience will have three versions to choose from.

Some will like audio only, and some will opt for an e-book, which is a downloadable version of your book. Some will want to have a hard copy of your book. With all these versions, you can easily market it online or in person.

Check on the issues that may arise in the process, and also try and identify the advantages of self-publishing over the traditional method of publishing.

Step 2: Put your manuscript in order

This includes editing your work, formatting in the right style, as well as creating your book pages and cover. This might take you a little bit of time, but the end process is worth it.

After writing a rough draft, you have to put more effort in Edit your work in terms of grammar, format, image editing and on.

Some people might hire editors at this point, but if you can do it, then go for it. You will need to do multiple rough edits on your work until you are sure enough that the final copy is ‘clean’.

 This part is important because you do not want your audience reading unedited work because they will leave reviews of your book.

Create an eye-catching book cover that is a visual representation of your entire work. Do not just create a book cover that looks impressive but does not represent your work. Your book cover should draw people to want to read what is inside.

Step 3: Choose a platform that allows you to self-publish your book

There are so many platforms to publish a book. Make sure you do your research to find out which one best fits your book.

Examples of these platforms are; KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing, Apple books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo Inc., CreateSpace, Pressbooks, Google Play Books, Smashwords, Lulu press, Fastpencil reachpublishers.com  

These platforms come with features that are helpful in the process of publishing, and so many authors have become bestsellers through these platforms.

Step 4: Publish your book

You have done your research on which platform is best for your book, and it is now time to publish. Create a checklist of all the requirements to ensure that you have covered all the tasks and are ready to publish.

Once you have double-checked and marked all the checklist of requirements for your book, you can hit the publish button and let your book become available to the whole world.

Step 5: Promote your new book

Once you have published your book, it’s now time to let it be known. Promote your book using social media, email marketing and even word of mouth. You can market your book just like any author who went the traditional route to publish his/her book. This is so important because the more people read your book, the more it becomes popular.

Reviews are also important because you can get direct, honest opinions from your audience, and this will help know what to change in your next book.

Whenever you attend an event or a meeting, ensure you have a copy or two of your book so that you can suggest it for people to read and promote you. You can print out more copies and hand them over to people that you know will help you promote your book. Maybe you have a friend who loves reading or a friend who loves posting on social media; they can be helpful in showing other people your book.

Step 6: Track your sales and feedback

Create a report on how your book is selling and which promotional strategy works more than the other. This is so crucial in terms of becoming a writer. Once you know your selling point and what needs to change in the next book, you can always improve book after book.

Do not focus on making money, focus on building your career and creating good-quality work

Becoming the best–selling author does not happen overnight. You have to put in work and patience to see the results. If you have already published that one book, do not sit and wait for results, instead focus on creating another one.

Be consistent and ensure that you are creating quality work that will entice the readers. Depending on your book writing genre, the more you publish your work, the more you grow your audience and that is how becoming an author happens.

Even though it will take time to write a book, do not wait for long before publishing another book, especially if you are focusing on short stories, poetry, essays, cookbook, true crime etc.

Do a lot of research and make changes depending on what your next book is about.

As you advance in your writing career, ensure that you invest in more advanced techniques that will help you publish your work within a short time. You can hire an editor or an editing team to ensure that your book publishing is done faster than before. You can also pay for advertisements to ensure that you reach a vast group of people within a short amount of time, hence increasing your book sales.