How to Self-Publish a Book - 18 Vital Tips and Checklist Steps

How to Self-Publish a Book: 18 Vital Tips and Checklist Steps

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This article is primarily for authors who want to self-publish a book. Some of these tips also apply if you’re working with a traditional publisher. In either case, use this checklist to produce a professional and appealing book, stay on schedule, coordinate important publishing tasks and have your book be discovered by more readers.

Tip # 1: Hire an Editor

You will need an editor when you’re writing your book and once you think the manuscript is finished. This is because edits will continue until you, your editor and your proofreader all agree that the manuscript is complete. Even then it’s not finished, because editing will continue to be a mission-critical task throughout the interior layout phase. It’s a good idea to have your editor work with you on your publicity copy too; for example, the all-important back cover blurb (more on this below).

What to look for in a book editor? Someone equally comfortable with you, your story, your book’s genre and the English language, and who is self-confident but not overbearing. Please don’t try to be your own editor. An editor’s unique perspective on your book is invaluable and you can’t get that on your own.

Tip # 2: Hire a Professional Book Designer

Although you can independently handle the tasks necessary to publish a book, it is a very time-consuming and complicated process. Do you prefer to spend a reasonable fee for a professional to handle these tasks for you, within a sensible time frame, as well as offer reassurance and support (particularly if this is your first self-published book), or do you want to painstakingly execute every task and sub-task yourself? I decided to hire a book designer and was rewarded with a beautifully designed book, a project that stayed on track, and plenty of help getting it into distribution with KDP and IngramSpark. By paying attention to your designer’s methodology, you will learn a great deal about self-publishing. (I hired the quintessential book design firm 1106 Design (Phoenix, Arizona) to design my poetry book and I highly recommend them.)

Reedsy’s blog article “How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book in 2020?” provides detailed cost data for the key components of designing a book: editing, cover design, formatting (interior design and typesetting), distribution and marketing.

https://blog.reedsy.com/cost-to-self-publish-a-book/

Tip # 3: Copyedit and Proofread Your Manuscript Before You Deliver It to a Book Designer

Don’t be in such a rush to deliver your manuscript that you overlook a copyediting and proofreading cycle beforehand. You will save time and expense during the design phase—especially interior design—if your manuscript is as clean as possible when you hand it over to the designer. The designer will probably find some errors, which is what you want to happen because new eyes are reading your work for the first time. To bolster your own copyediting and proofreading chops, buy and use hard copies of these exemplary guides: The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition and The Elements of Style, 4th Edition. If you prefer accessing The Chicago Manual of Style online, go for it; however, an annual subscription is $39, compared to the $43 one-time cost of a new hardcover. Either way, use these guides to produce a more professional book.

Tip # 4: An Enticing Title Is Essential

Sometimes a book’s title will come to you from that magical place of unexpected inspiration. Or you may be struggling to come up with a good title. Begin brainstorming by making a list of keywords and phrases. Emphasize keywords that reflect your book’s main themes such as plot elements, characters, place settings and primary emotions. Keep every idea for future reference in case you later decide to change the title (also, keywords are required by KDP and IngramSpark for print-on-demand categorization, which in turn helps potential readers find your book). Seek feedback from your editor and beta readers. You may want to include a subtitle.

There are plenty of online FAQs about choosing a title from the perspective of audience appeal. I encourage you to Google these to assist you in striking a balance between a title that resonates for you and your readers.

Tip # 5: Write a Synopsis

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Lee, this is backwards. Why should I write a summary of my book before it’s finished?” The answer is… Writing a book synopsis early in the process has the same benefit as an early, robust outline: it keeps you focused from start to finish. A synopsis should describe your book in one hundred words or less. Imagine yourself summarizing your book to a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. As you’ll see later in this article, a synopsis will come in handy when you start to pen your book’s blurb.

Tip # 6: Write an Author Bio

Your author bio should be short: one hundred words or less. Focus on your recent writing accomplishments, especially those relevant to your latest book. If you also have expertise as a speaker, teacher, consultant or other, explain that. Although you should be concise, you also want to give the reader a sense of who you are. Read the bios of other authors to get a feel for various styles. I recommend that you include a last sentence that points folks to your website, because it is the one place where you engage with your audience without depending on another company’s platform. You will use this bio in your book, countless author pages (Amazon, Goodreads, etc.) and publicity documents, so spend the time to get it right.

Tip # 7: Get a Good Headshot Photo

You may already have a headshot photograph that you like. If not, have a friend or family member take the photo, or hire a professional photographer. Like your author bio, you will use this author photo in your book, numerous PR documents and marketing platforms so make it a good, endearing one. And, smile.

Tip # 8: Study Similar Books in Your Genre

Identify at least ten books that are like yours; more is better. These books are your competition. Compare how they are being marketed with your own marketing campaign. Here’s a step-by-step guide to finding the best-selling books in a genre; it’s easy once you know the label for that genre and its sub-genres. The example below uses the “hard science fiction” genre.

  1. On Amazon, look up Arthur C. Clarke’s classic novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.
  2. Click on the Paperback button.
  3. Scroll down to the “Product details” section.
  4. Below the “Amazon Best Sellers Rank” line you’ll see three lines of genre performance rankings: Hard Science Fiction (Books), Exploration Science Fiction and Technothrillers (Books).
  5. Click on the “Hard Science Fiction (Books)” link. The left side of your screen now displays a tree of the Science Fiction sub-genres and the bulk of the screen to the right of the tree will be a grid titled “Best Sellers in Hard Science Fiction” starting at #1 and ending with #100. (Alternately, from outside Amazon you can Google “amazon best sellers hard science fiction” for the same results.)

That’s a bunch of clicks but you’re now looking at a very important component of how your book gets marketed: genres and sub-genres. Virtually all books will fall into several sub-genres, so don’t ignore these as they are essential to helping potential readers discover your book.

This next section warrants an entire article, but for now I will list the properties you want to study in order to best market your book. Regarding price data, for consistency track a book’s list price not its discount price. Look at each competing book and note the following information.

  • Author
  • Title: including subtitle if applicable
  • Genres and sub-genres
  • Rank: for consistency use the top-most genre (first in the three-item list) for the Paperback format, e.g., 2001: A Space Odyssey is currently ranked #853 in Hard Science Fiction
  • Pages
  • Publisher: I only track traditional versus self-published; you may be hoping to work with a traditional publisher in which case this could be a useful source for the names of publishing companies to contact
  • Price of Hardcover
  • Price of Paperback
  • Price of Kindle (Amazon)
  • Price of NOOK (Barnes & Noble)
  • Price of Audio book
  • Awards

Tip # 9: Choose Trustworthy Beta Readers

Trustworthy. That is the most important consideration when choosing a beta reader. You certainly want many other qualities too, but if you can’t trust someone to keep your book confidential, it doesn’t matter how eloquent their comments are. Family and friends are a good place to start, but also include people who don’t know you as well, in order to gather a wider range of opinions. Some book bloggers and reviewers will beta read your book if you’re willing to beta read theirs. Some people beta read for a fee, which you can try if you want but I recommend you stick with volunteer beta readers.

Tip # 10: Decide Whether to Self-Publish or to Use a Traditional Publisher

As I mentioned at the outset, this article is intended primarily for authors who intend to self-publish. For a comprehensive overview of traditional publishing and self-publishing options, check out Reedsy’s article “How to Get a Book Published: Your Guide to Success in 2020.”

https://blog.reedsy.com/how-to-get-your-book-published/

If you decide to self-publish, you can use a new company that you create for this purpose, use an existing company or use yourself as a sole proprietor. You’re not required to create a company in order to self-publish a book; however, always consult with an accountant and/or a tax advisor on such a matter.

Tip # 11: Write a Description for the Back Cover (aka “The Blurb”)

Once you have a final manuscript, you’ll need to write “the blurb.” This is the stylized description that appears on the back cover. The synopsis I described earlier can easily be the basis of your blurb. Many self-publishing pundits cite this text as a book’s most important marketing text (neck and neck with the title). Read the back covers of other books to get a feel for the different styles of a blurb. This text is a crucial part of the back matter, sell sheet, online descriptions (like your Amazon Author page), press kit, submittals to book reviewers, etc. Unless you’re a well-known author with name recognition, the blurb is more important than the author bio, so give the blurb the attention it deserves.

Tip # 12: Set Up Social Media Channels Before Your Book’s Release Date

If your social media channels are already set up, update them to reflect your new book; otherwise, now is a great time to establish them. Social media marketing is a broad and deep topic. A Google search for “self-publishing social media marketing” will get you started. I encourage you to explore the specific topics that interest you.

IngramSpark offers an excellent overview with its free online course “Social Media Marketing for Self‑Publishers.” This course provides over an hour of content divided into 12 chapters. To participate in the course, you do have to subscribe to their free newsletter.

https://www.ingramspark.com/social-media-course

Tip # 13: If You’re Starting a Blog, Write Your First Three Articles Now

If you plan to post articles on your blog or in your newsletter and you haven’t published any yet, write your first three articles before your launch date. There’s nothing magical about the number three, but I think that having three published articles establishes a rhythm and a range of material that looks more professional than a solo article hanging out on your blog all by itself.

Tip # 14: Join Several Author Groups

Facebook hosts groups that focus on various aspects of writing and publishing. Consider joining more than one group to get a diversity of opinions. An excellent all-purpose group is Shayla Raquel’s Curiouser Author Network. Another good one is Writers Helping Writers. Be aware that the purpose of these two groups is to get and give advice, not to promote your book. There are Facebook groups that focus on promotion; for example, Writers and Authors’ Promotions.

Tip # 15: If You Don’t Already Have a Website, Get Started Early

If you’re starting from scratch, engage with a web designer at least two months in advance of your book’s anticipated release date. If you only need to add a page about your latest book to an existing website, then the scope of the design work will be smaller but give yourself adequate lead time regardless. When I started thinking about my author website, I wrote down my main goals, keywords, headlines, themes and colors, and a draft page hierarchy. I collected photos, images and links, then I created hand-drawn and digital storyboards. I also studied the vibe of the websites of other writers, musicians and artists. It was a fun and productive experience.

Tip # 16: Plan for Lead Times Required by Book Marketing Services

Book marketing companies provide an array of useful services: virtual book tours, NetGalley or similar review co-ops, cover reveals, lists that specialize in free or bargain-price eBooks, social media coordination, and many more. These companies can be an effective part of your marketing plan. Since there are lead times for these services, enroll and provide your information well in advance of each campaign’s start date.

Tip # 17: Set Up Your Amazon Author Page

If you already have one, update it to reflect your new book and any new information about you. If you don’t have one yet, this is a mission-critical process. Setting up and maintaining your Amazon Author Page deserves more space than I have here; for now, these are the best articles I’ve read so far.

Tip # 18: Acquire Your Book’s Master Design Files

When you sign a contract with your book designer, make sure that they give you copies of the final master design files at the end of the project. It’s your book, so these files are yours too.

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Write. Publish. Market.

These three processes overlap in important ways. For example, the tone you use in publicity copy is a powerful aspect of your marketing plan. Your PR documents reflect who you are as a writer and the nature of your book, and this is how your readers get to know you. This article offers helpful steps for navigating the process of self-publishing your book. Best wishes on your creative journey!

Lee Hudspeth is a poet, writer, musician and fellow human being. Incandescent Visions is his first book of poetry. He is the co-author of ten nonfiction books in the field of Information Technology. He has written articles for professional journals like PC Computing and Office Computing. He is the author of over one hundred articles in the online magazine The Naked PC, which he co-founded and co-published. He lives in Southern California with his wife, two sons and their cat. Find out more about Lee, his books and his music at LeeHudspeth.com.

Copyright © 2020 by Lee Hudspeth. All Rights Reserved.

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