A Quick Guide to Self-Publishing

I want to assist you with your journey toward your book. With this quick guide to self-publishing, I want to give you the starting blocks you need to start working toward your first book. But first, you need to understand that self-publishing can be intimidating and difficult. However, becoming a self-published author is now easier than ever.

In reality, I’ve self-published four books since 2019, three of which have gone on to become #1 Amazon Best Sellers. Today, I’m going to share nine steps that will help you become a self-published author. But, before we get started, there are three things I’d want to tell you about self-publishing.

1. Many people aspire to write and publish a book. They, on the other hand, do not do it. 80% of individuals want to create and publish a book, according to polls. If you’re a writer, your chances of getting a book published are considerably better.
2. Many people assume that self-published novels are inferior to those published traditionally. This is only true if you do not put forth the effort to make your book outstanding. Editing, cover design, formatting, and having strong content are all examples of this. In your book, don’t be cheap anywhere.
3. The book market is becoming increasingly crowded with self-published publications. That may be true, but you can still sell thousands of copies if you write a decent book and learn how to advertise it.

To put it another way, there may be reasons why you don’t want to self-publish your book or even try to write one. But the truth is that now is the perfect time to do it, and you can succeed if you do it correctly.

Your Quick Guide to Self-Publishing in Nine Steps

This is a quick guide to self-publishing. If you want to learn more, I recommend that you read my complete guide to self-publishing. They both go into considerable detail about self-publishing. Otherwise, here are the nine steps you must take:

1. Make your plan for your book. You must choose a topic, create an outline for your book, and make a few decisions. It would be beneficial if you determined on the length of your content, who your target audience is, and how long you want your project to take from start to end.
2. Write your book. You can begin by composing your book in the form of a series of blog articles. Alternatively, you can compose it as a separate document in Google Docs or Microsoft Word. I’ve done both, but I prefer blog posts since I receive more comments.
3. Edit your manuscript. To assist you to edit your book, you’ll need an impartial editor. You can look for an editor on Fiverr, through writing clubs, or by simply Googling it. This person should be able to assist you in making your book exceptional.
4. Make your cover for your book. This is another area where I strongly advise you to employ someone to help you. Having a great cover will aid in the sale of your books. I don’t advocate doing this yourself unless you’re already a designer.
5. Make your layout for your book. You must format your manuscript into digital and print formats once it is ready to be uploaded to generate your book. You can learn to do it yourself, hire someone to do it for you, or use software to do it for you. If you want me to format your book, I can do it for you because I enjoy it.
6. Publish your book. When publishing your book, you need to decide on pricing, pick excellent categories and keywords, and write a solid book description. For choosing categories and keywords, I use Publisher Rocket, it is the best thing out there.
7. Distribute your book. Where do you want to publish it? I suggest these three places as they are the ones I use: Amazon KDP, ACX, and Smashwords. This helps get your book out into the world.
8. Start promoting your book. I advertise my novels in three different methods. With three of them, this is how I became a #1 Bestseller. I concentrate on a launch day FREE promotion, the formation of a launch team, and the purchase of email list promotions. When I do these things, I’ve been three for three in terms of being a bestseller.
9. Your book should be promoted. This is a different phase because your book’s continuing promotion is what makes it outstanding. I do this using email sequences in which I frequently mention my book, as well as quarterly promotions. This keeps sales and engagement alive.

That is all there is to it. This is your quick guide to self-publishing with these nine steps that will take you from concept to self-published author. And possibly a best-selling author. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any additional inquiries.

Final Thoughts

You will not be sorry you wrote and published your book.

In the future, you’ll probably be more enthusiastic about writing new books. The best part is how simple it can actually be. And once you’ve written one book, each subsequent book becomes easier.

Finally, I would advise you to celebrate the publication of your book. Many authors fall into the trap of believing that their novels did not do as well as they expected.

Publishing your first book, on the other hand, is a significant accomplishment in and of itself. So, congratulate yourself on your book. Please forward it to everyone you know. Make a point of acknowledging and celebrating every book sold and milestone reached.

You’ll be ready for the next book if you do it this way.

If you’ve ever published a book, please tell us about it in the comments box below. Let us know if you think there’s a step missing or something you’d do differently. Aspiring authors should strive to learn as much as possible.

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J.R. Heimbigner is a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon who loves helping people grow in their faith, find productivity success, learn about investing, and help writers become authors. You can connect with him on Medium, his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Ko-fi!