A Step-By-Step Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book With 8 Steps

Are you planning to self-publish your book and join those successful authors who enjoy the whole creative controls and a bigger portion of royalties?

If your answer is yes, then you have clicked on the perfect link.

In this blog, we are about to show you how you can also get your book out in the realm on your own terms. That is completely doable.

You can also do this by following eight easy steps. Let us look at each one of these steps for self-publishing briefly.

Let’s go!

8 Steps To Publish Your Book On Your Own

Step No. 1 – Choose Your Book’s Genre

The book genre that you opt for is going to determine your target audience. Prior to diving into the compelling writing process, it is always a wiser idea to decide your genre so you can perfectly plan and categorise your story. Consider different types of books that are popular right now, and how your book will fit into those popular genres. If you have written a story but cannot make it fit into a genre, then you can also ask your book proofreading service to help you out with this case. Here is a list of the most commonly read genres:

1. Fiction
2. Nonfiction
3. Children’s

Step No. 2 – Outline Your Book

Outlining your book is a crucial step in the entire process of self-publishing. A proper outline will offer guidance and structure, making sure that you stay on track while writing your book. So, begin brainstorming a list of topics that you want to include in your story. You don’t have to provide many details at this point. Therefore, it is fine if you only focus on the major ideas that you wish to convey. Once you have the list, it is high time to organise it into a proper outline.

Step No. 3 – Write Your Book

Book writing is one of the most daunting yet rewarding experiences of your life. And similar to any fulfilling endeavor, it can be difficult to know where to begin. But sweat not, there are a lot of ways to tackle this challenge, such as:

1. Get organized
2. Set a daily word count goal
3. Choose a writing space
4. Have a plan for revision

Step No. 4 – Find A Good Editor

When you are all set to take the next step towards publishing your masterpiece, you will want to find a great editor. He/she can assist you in polishing and refining your work so that it becomes perfect for publication. You can find an editor by asking your friends, or other authors for recommendations. You can also look for them by yourself online.

Step No. 5 – Design Your Book’s Cover

The book cover design is the first and foremost thing that your audience will see, so you will want it to be engaging and attractive. You can design your book cover all by yourself, or you can also hire online experts to do it for you.

Step No. 6 – Format Your Book

Once you are done writing and editing your story, it is time to format it into a comprehensible form. This is the process of organizing the images, text, and layout of your masterpiece so that it looks professional and easy to understand. The most significant part of formatting a book is crafting a great interior layout. It means that you will have to select the perfect font size, font type, spacing, margins, chapter headings, and much more. Another crucial element of book formatting is selecting its file type. There are a range of different formats to choose from such as AZW3, PDF, MOBI, EPUB, etc. Each of these formats comes with its own set of boons and benefits. So, make sure to research what suits you the most and then go for it.

Step No. 7 – Publish Your Book

When you are all set to publish your story, you need to determine the format you wish to use. By format, we mean you want to decide whether you want to self-publish a paperback, hardcover, or ebook. Audiobook seems like a nice option, too. If you wish to publish a paper, you need to search for a reputable book printer for hire. However, the most popular option is to opt for an ebook. This is usually the easiest and quickest option as it can be performed with minimal effort and cost.

Step No. 8 – Market Your Book

Now that you have published your story, you need to spread the word out as much as you can. Marketing your work is necessary to gain sales and readership, but it might seem daunting if you do not know where to begin. The first step is to have an online presence for your book. You must set up your website and also, social media accounts, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

It is also vital to have accounts on popular book-selling apps like Goodreads and Amazon, etc. Since, you are doing so much, how about you go a step ahead and also consider investing in ad campaigns for your story? Targeted ads on sites like Google Adwords, Amazon, Facebook, etc. can really draw attention to your book. Lastly, do not forget about reaching out to your existing network. Ask them to help you spill the tea about your post reviews and book. 

• Is it fine to self-publish my own book?

If your prospective readership is narrower, then you might want to opt directly for self-publishing or a smaller press. But, if you lack a proper platform and working on non-fiction, you might just go ahead and self-publish your work all on your own.

• How much does it approximately cost to self-publish a story?

To self-publish a book in the United States, it usually costs somewhere between $500 and $5,000. A lot of that goes to hiring book designer services, marketing, editors, and much more. The average self-published book costs approximately about $2,000 to market and publish.

• Is it possible to publish a book for free?

There are a lot of sites that allow writers to publish their work for free, such as:

1. Amazon KDP
2. Apple Books
3. Barnes & Noble Press
4. Dream
5. Google Play Books
6. IngramSpark
7. PublishDrive
8. Kobo Writing Life and a lot more

• Is it productive to self-publish a book?

Generally, you can expect your self-publishing royalties to be importantly higher than the royalties you get from traditional publishing. This is because if you self-publish your book, you will be the author, marketer, editor, as well as the publisher. So, this is how you get to keep most of the profits.

Summing It All Up!

If you follow all the steps given above, you will end up having a successfully published book that you worked so hard for. Not only this, you will also be given the best chance to succeed. There are a lot of success stories of self-publishing authors making heaps of $$$ with their brilliantly published stories. Moreover, the credit also goes to the higher royalty rates, indie authors can earn a lot more, approximately five times more than those writers who opt for the traditional publishing route.