After finishing your manuscript, the next step would be to have your work published. The most obvious step would be to have your work traditionally published. However, the traditional publishing route could be a bit tricky. This is because the traditional publishing route entails waiting for some time to get a publishing deal, and you will also need to give some part of your book royalties and rights to the publishing house you are working with.
Why not try self-publishing? This self-publishing method is an option that will allow authors to publish without the help of a traditional publishing house. If you are going to self-publish a book, you should ensure that you have the best strategy at your disposal. Here are 10 easy steps to self-publishing your book.
What Is Self-Publishing?
Before you start on the self-publishing route, you should first know what self-publishing actually is. This is a publishing route that entails the author doing the majority of the publishing. The key advantage of self-publishing is that the author gets control of the publishing process. The author will also be able to keep most of the rights to the books.
While self-publishing is a good method, you should also remember that there may be some disadvantages as well. A main disadvantage is that the author will be expected to do most of the work and pay for self-publishing as well. If you are going to self-publish a book, you should be prepared both mentally and financially.
1. Set a budget
If you are going to self-publish a book of your own, it is important that you have enough money to finance the endeavor. Remember that self-publishing a book is not cheap. Every move you make, from editing to printing to marketing to book design, will cost you money.
As a rule, you should ensure that you have enough money to last you the whole time you are self-publishing your work. Self-publishing a book costs around $500 to $3500, depending on the services and the quality of your book. While you should always pursue your dreams as a writer, you should also be honest with your budget and constantly assess how much you are willing to spend. That way you won’t get into debt just to get your work published.
2. Know your target market
Apart from having a set budget, you will also need to know your target market. Remember that you will need to market your book yourself. This means that before you even start publishing, you will need to choose a target market that you will focus on. This is not only for reaching out to
When choosing a target market, you will need to base your choice on your book’s genre and your own preferences. Remember that before you started writing your manuscript, you already had a demographic of people in mind.
3. Edit your manuscript thoroughly
Before you have your work published, you should ensure that your manuscript is as well edited as possible. Remember that your work will be judged for the formatting and the overall design. As a rule, you should take the time to edit your work as thoroughly as possible. While you do have some great book editing software at your disposal, such as Microsoft Word or Grammarly, you would be advised to get the help of an experienced book editor. Having a professional book editor look through your manuscript will ensure that your work is free of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors. If you want to hire a skilled book editor, you could always check LinkedIn or Fiverr. These platforms have a multitude of freelance book editors that offer affordable services.
4. Choose a fitting book price
Although there are a lot of things that you will need to take into account as you self-publish your book, you should still remember that your book price is important. Remember that your choice of book price will help determine whether your book will be bought. While you could choose the book price at random, you should also take a look at the book price that the majority of writers use.
5. Invest in a great book cover
As a rule, you should ensure that your book cover is as attractive as possible. Remember that the very first thing that your potential readers will see is your book cover. If your book cover is subpar, you will have a hard time selling your books in the long run.
When having your book cover designed, you should have a concept in mind. The cover must not only be aesthetically pleasing but also capture the key concepts of your work. While you could choose to design the book cover yourself, you would be advised to employ a skilled and experienced book designer. These designers may be somewhat expensive to hire; however, they are worth the expense.
6. Choose whether to publish a physical book, an eBook, or an audiobook
Yet another aspect of the self-publishing process that you should take into account is whether to publish a physical version of your book or try the audiobook or eBook formats. While you could try to self-publish your books in all three formats, you may find yourself spending too much money. Remember that each form has its own specification and will cost you a different amount in order to have it published.
As a rule, you should know what each option has to offer. For example, if you publish a physical book, you will stand to earn more. Physical books often sell at a higher price, and many readers prefer them. However, having them published and distributed may also be more labor-intensive.
7. Reach out to established authors for advice
While you could start on your self-publishing journey at any time, you will also need the best advice possible. Remember that you don’t have any experience as a self-published author. You won’t really know everything about the self-publishing process. As a rule, you should reach out to established authors who have already self-published their works.
The author does not need to be a famous author. What’s important is that the author was able to self-publish a book successfully. This means that the author will be able to give you key bits of information that will help you throughout the self-publishing process.
8. Set up a book marketing platform
If you want your book to be a success, you should ensure that you are able to market it as effectively as possible. Remember that the book marketing process is one of the most important aspects of self-publishing a book. This is because the more effective your book marketing is, the more opportunities you will have for selling your work.
An author blog is a great book marketing platform that you could set up on your own. If you are going to set up an author blog, you should make sure to incorporate these key factors into your blog.
Aesthetics
If you are going to set up an author blog, you should ensure that your blog’s aesthetic is on point. Remember that your blog’s aesthetic will determine whether potential readers will subscribe to your author’s blog. When you design your author blog, you should have an overall design that you follow. Try to think of a concept that you will consistently follow.
Branding
Apart from the overall aesthetics of your author blog, you should also make sure that your branding is on point. Your branding will determine whether your author blog will stand out from other author blogs. Remember that there are thousands of author blogs, and if your blog’s branding is lackluster, you will have a hard time making an impact with potential readers. You should ensure that the colors, designs, fonts, and motifs that you put in your author blog are easy to remember and will stand out from the branding of other authors. You should also ensure that your brand color and motifs are used on a consistent basis and should coordinate as pleasantly as possible. You may also set up an online bookstore from which you could sell your books.
Discoverability
Another aspect of your author blog that you will need to take into account is its discoverability. This is especially important if your author blog is new and potential readers have yet to discover your work. If your author’s blog’s discoverability is substandard, you will have a hard time getting potential readers to visit your blog. In order to increase the discoverability of your author blog, you should use SEO, or search engine optimization, for your blog. You should insert keywords strategically throughout your website and other social media platforms. This will create a good deal of traffic to your author blog.
Relevant content
Aside from discoverability, you should make sure that the content that you post on your author blog is as relevant as possible. Remember that your author’s blog’s aesthetics will be what attracts your potential readers, but your content will be what keeps them going back to your blog. You could create a multitude of content, such as short articles, long articles, poetry, and book reviews. You should ensure that your content is as enjoyable and immersive as possible.
9. Hire a reputable print-on-demand business
As you delve into the self-publishing process, you will soon notice that it is not like traditional publishing. A key difference is that you are expected to print copies of your work. This is a tricky endeavor because printing books in bulk is expensive. You will also have to take the risk that the books you printed out may get damaged or not get sold. This is a stressful situation that many self-published authors will have to go through.
However, in the past few decades, print-on-demand services have become the norm. What is print on demand? This is a technology that stores ready-to publish books in digital form, and the book will only be printed when it is already sold.
Before you hire a print-on-demand service, you should ensure that the company you are hiring is not only affordable but also offers you great services. Some great examples of print-on-demand companies are Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Blurb, and Gelato, to name but a few.
10. Try out self-publishing companies
You could try to tough it out and do most of the work yourself; however, being a self-published author does not mean that you should do everything by yourself. In the past few years, companies that specialize in assisting self-publishing authors have become established. These companies offer services that include publishing, marketing, and book distribution.
By using these self-publishing companies, you will have all the help you need to self-publish your work without too much struggle. Please take note, though, that not all self-publishing companies offer the same level of quality. There are some companies, such as Writers Tactics, that offer free book publishing services. On the other hand, there are also some companies that offer subpar services. As a rule, you should double-check all the self-publishing companies that you may work with. Checking out their services and background may be a bit time-consuming; however, this is better than investing money in a self-publishing company that won’t give you the best services.
Conclusion
Publishing a manuscript may be quite a challenge. This is because traditional publishing could be quite tricky, and you will also have to wait to get a publishing contract, and you will also need to give some of your book royalties and book rights to the publishing house you have a deal with. This is why you should try out self-publishing. Before starting the self-publishing process, you should have a set strategy. With this guide, you’ll know how to self-publish your book the right way.