5 Steps to Easily Publish Your Own Book

aroundknowledge.co.id – How to Publish Your Own Book – Are you ready to take your writing skills to the next level? Writing a book is one of the most important forms of validation. Especially if it manages to get a place or two on the bestseller list.

But many writers are intimidated and indecisive by all the hoops they have to jump through to work with publishers. There's a lot to deal with, from sacrificing work to negotiating terms to balancing brokers.

I have good news for you. There are many opportunities for success as a self-published author. Of course, this road still needs improvement. You must be well studied, determined, and ready to work.

In this article, we'll outline everything you need to do if you want to know how to self-publish a book.

Do Market Research on Books

As with most things, if you want to self-publish a book, you will need to do some market research. This process involves studying the work of other authors, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, identifying untapped areas, and building the ideal audience.

You may scoff at the idea of ​​doing research, but understanding your audience early on will make selling your book easier down the road. When doing market research for books:

• Identify your genre. Genre describes more than just a book category. Aspects such as story structure, style, and language can all vary depending on the genre of the book. For example, a children's book might describe an extravagant costume as “beautiful and captivating,” whereas a murder mystery might be described as “dazzling and enchanting.” Understanding the specifics of a genre can give you a better idea of ​​how to approach writing for your audience.
• Find your market niche. When researching genres, look for topics, storylines, or areas of interest that haven't been covered by the authors, but have been requested by fans. Opinions on discussion boards or review sites provide insight into what is most desirable among readers.
• Study your competitors. Competitive analysis is the study of the strategies used by others doing the same job as you. Look at bestseller lists or popular book clubs to see how other authors have succeeded. This might include aspects such as the kinds of values ​​they present or how they differentiate themselves from other writers.

Manuscript Revision

Editing a manuscript can be the most difficult part for a novice writer. You may never see your work completely finished and you can easily lose yourself in an endless cycle of rewrites and additions.

However, self-publishing doesn't give you access to a team of expert proofreaders like you get through an agency. This means that the main editor will always be you. Follow these steps to ensure your book looks polished and polished, like it came from a major publisher.

Reading Scripts

Read your first draft as if you were part of your target audience before sharing it with others. Looking back on everything can be intimidating, but reading from cover to cover will help you see the whole you've created from a new perspective. You can then refine or adapt your work based on the results.

Have the Audience Read Your Script.

Look for online bulletin boards or review sites for those willing to read the raw manuscript and provide an unbiased report. These people are often known as “beta readers” and hang out on forums like My Writers Circle and Absolute Write Water Cooler.

Find someone who is a fan of your chosen genre and ask them to give you feedback. The goal of this step isn't to correct mechanical errors or typos, but to get a feel for the overall use of the book.

Hire Freelance Editors

This step should always be the last step in the self-publishing process for the manuscript revision section. Because you don't want to pay someone else to find small mistakes that you can fix yourself.

Once you and at least one beta reader have reviewed your work, you can forward it to an editor for professional review. Reedsy is a great source of editorial talent specializing in a variety of genres, while Upwork is great for hiring editors on a budget. Hire freelance editors to edit your manuscript professionally.

Create an Attractive Book Cover

There's a saying don't judge a book by its cover, but most people do. Your cover is what creates your perception in physical stores, marketplaces, online stores, and anywhere else your book sells.

Whether you design your own cover or hire freelancers, you should consider the following:

Is the Text Clear?

Make sure the frontal image grabs attention first, but doesn't obscure other important elements (like your book title and name). Titles should be clear and attractive, and not chosen based on graphics or color. Solid characters in simple fonts always beat colorful and incomprehensible scripts.

Is the Design Consistent?

Design consistency has a lot to do with the back cover and spine. It may not show up in the thumbnails, but the actual book sequence reveals the back cover design. Many readers are attracted by how the spine looks on the bookshelf. So, to keep your design consistent, follow the same aesthetic as the front cover.

How Clear is the Cover Image?

Keep it simple if you're using a graphic, such as a photo or artwork. Potential buyers may take immediate offense if your cover contains images that are too complex, colorful, or confusing. It's also important to consider how your image will look when rendering.

If you plan to sell your book online, the cover image should render comfortably in thumbnail size without losing its fidelity.

You can hire a designer to create a physical cover using freelance resources like Reedsy and Upwork. Explore the portfolio of work of all potential candidates to help you find the artist that best fits your ideal vision. Prefer the DIY route? Tools like Canva, Fotor, and Visme are great options for bringing your cover ideas to life.

Choose a Self Publishing Platform

We've reached the point where every element of a book can be turned into a physical product and distributed to retail and wholesale stores. This is where you need to start thinking about the self-publishing platform you'll be using from draft to final deployment. There are several ways to do this.

Self Publishing with Print on Demand

If you don't have space to store multiple copies of the book, consider the print-on-demand route. This includes using third-party publishers to print and ship books at the point of sale.

Print on Demand is the ideal choice for independent publishers. You can outsource the production and distribution of your products to third parties, saving time and money.

Amazon Self-Publishing with Kindle Direct Publishing

Amazon's own publishing platform, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), allows users to print books on demand at the point of sale. KDP's interface is easy to navigate, and Amazon even recommends books to readers interested in the publishing genre.

How much does it cost to use PPK?

KDP performs print-on-demand fulfillment. This means you'll only be billed once the book is sold. Paperbacks sold on Amazon Marketplace using KDP are subject to a 60% royalty rate, so you will receive 40% of the book's list price.

Printing costs (which may vary depending on the number of pages and paper type) are also deducted from earnings. Amazon has a print-cost and royalty calculator that you can use to estimate the final amount of royalties you'll receive.

One downside to using KDP is that there are exclusivity provisions for e-books. In other words, once you sell your e-book on Amazon via KDP, you can't sell it anywhere else.

In-Store Sales with Shopify and Lulu

Lulu is a self-publishing platform that provides tools to print and distribute your own ebooks and paperbacks. The platform offers a wide range of page types, bindings, and sizes providing multiple options for developing covers and manuscripts into physical items.

Lulu is ideal for Shopify entrepreneurs looking to self-publish books. With the Lulu Direct app in your Shopify store, you can print and ship your books at the point of sale, automating key aspects of your supply chain.

Format your book

Book format is the way text, pages, covers, and chapters are laid out before printing begins. You can fully edit your manuscript, but please check the following format.

• Page height and width (called trim)
• Text font, font size, and line spacing
• The foreword of a book (anything that appears before the story begins, such as title page, author page, publication information, table of contents, etc.)
• Back section (appendices, index, bibliography, etc.) everything that comes after the story)

In addition to these elements, books must have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN). This is a 13-digit code that serves as a universal reference number for your book across platforms. The ISBN is very important for independent publishers because it also serves as proof of ownership of the book's content.

You can get a free ISBN for your book through Kindle Direct Publishing. If you use another self-publishing platform that we don't provide, you can request a universal ISBN via myidentifiers.com.