STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO SELF-PUBLISHING
These steps will take you through the basics of indie publishing from idea to "I did it!"
Not all of the steps have to be done in exactly this order, but this is a good general map to follow.
Not all of the steps have to be done in exactly this order, but this is a good general map to follow.
Step #1
Pick a Book Idea
Getting started writing a book can be difficult. You may have a spiral-bound notebook overflowing with ideas, or you may have a half-baked idea written on the back of a napkin. Whatever the case, pick the idea that you are the most excited about, the most passionate about, and the one you can't stop daydreaming about. Nothing will stall a writing project faster than forcing a book idea upon yourself just to get a book written. Been there, done that. It's not pretty. If you don't have an idea yet, then get a notebook or open a new document on your phone or laptop for specifically that purpose. Whenever inspiration strikes, or a question of "What if ...?" pops in your mind, record it. Then, you'll have plenty of pages to leaf through when you're thinking of writing your next book.
Step #2
Brainstorm
The idea is picked, but where do you go from here? As we all learned in elementary school, we brainstorm. Have a cool character name? Jot it down. Have an idea for a plot twist? Add it to your notes. Found some cool facts on a website that you need to include in your book? Print it out! Write down anything and everything you want included in your book or think you might possibly want included in your book. It doesn't matter if these notes are neatly typed in a document or scribbled in orange Sharpie on the pages of a Batman notebook, just get them down in a way that will be easy for you to read later when you organize everything. Write down the good ideas alongside the poor ones. Let yourself be free to explore any and all options for your book or story. Anything is possible at this point, it's all potential book fodder, so get all the information out of your brain and into some visual form where you can refer to it as you complete the next step.
Step #3
Outline
Whether you have a 150-point outline that rivals the length of War and Peace or have a short list of bullet points on a tiny index card, you need some sort of plan of how your book or story is going to start and where it's going to end up. If you don't have any sort of plan or organization at all, it will take far longer to get through the next step, so even if you can't plan everything to the nth degree, at least have some idea of where you're headed. If you need help organizing and outlining, there are plenty of resources to point you in the right direction on the "Resources" page.
Step #4
Write the Rough Draft
Now we're cooking! Time to start writing! Once you have your idea and have fleshed it out and formulated a plan of attack, it's time to start writing! Don't worry if your first draft is absolutely terrible! (Trade secret: It's supposed to be!) You'll overuse words and phrases, use the wrong character name by mistake, and skip chapter fourteen entirely, but that's okay! The key is to write as consistently as possible, even if it's just a few hundred words every day to keep up your momentum. Resist the urge to revise chapter one seven million times before going on to chapter two. We'll revise it all later (three times, in fact), so give yourself permission to make this a "sloppy copy" and just get it all written down for now. As a wise writer once said, the rough draft is just putting sand in the sandbox. We'll build the castles later.
Step #5
Revise
Okay, now that the rough draft is done, it's time to go at it with a hammer and a chisel and chip away until we find the beauty underneath all that rubble. Some people call this type of revision the "self-edit" because you're reading through your own draft and tweaking, changing, deleting, adding, and reshaping the text to be less of a mangled mess. This is the time where you read for any plot holes or mistakes as well. Did you say Susie was standing up and then suddenly she was swimming in the pool? Time to fix that. Did you say Johnny was at the tennis courts on the day he was scheduled to be on a plane? Fix that too. But also take note of any tired words and phrases you tend to overuse. This will be different for everyone, but my characters typically smile and nod their heads off. If you are struggling with using the same old words and need ideas to freshen up your writing, check out the Indie Authors Resources series that can give you some new words and phrases to work with.
Step #6
Share Your Work
Now for the scary part: letting somebody else read your book! (Preferably a handful of somebodies, often called "beta readers.") How do you pick the right people to read your book? Some writers belong to author critique groups where manuscripts can be swapped and analyzed. If you have access to a group like that, great! If not, choose about 4 or 5 readers who can read your book in one month, who will give you honest feedback, who won't withhold constructive criticism, and who are acquainted with your book's genre. Don't choose readers who will only tell you your book is wonderful. We've all seen the cringy "singer" belting out an off-key tune on American Idol because their friends were too afraid to say they couldn't sing. Don't let that happen to you and your book. To come out as a lump of pure gold, your manuscript needs to be subject to the fires of critique and criticism before publication. Yes, it's painful and anxiety-inducing, but it's better to have a critique partner say, "I think this part needs work" now than for a reader to leave you a very public one-star review later.
Step #7
Revise Again
Once all of your pre-readers have finished slicing your book to ribbons, it's time to start taking their notes and fixing the problem areas. This is your second revision, so it should go faster this time. If someone gave you feedback you vehemently disagree with, simply discard it. It's your book, after all, and you're the one in charge! Once all the notes and comments have been dealt with or ignored, it's time for the next step.
Step #8
Hire an Editor
Yes, you read that right. HIRE an editor. As in, this is one of the only steps where you actually have to dish out some money. Friends and critique partners are useful, but a professional editor is absolutely unavoidable if you want to produce a quality book. The only time you can get away with not hiring an editor in my opinion is if your book is a short work of non-fiction on a topic where you are more of an expert than any editor you could hire. (And maybe a short children's picture book where the emphasis is more on the illustrations than the one line of text on each page.) But if you write novel-length fiction: HIRE. AN. EDITOR. The type of editing you need here is called "content editing," so ask around and find a good content editor. Don't faint from the sticker shock. Editors are more expensive than you might think, but when they whittle your work into a beautiful masterpiece, it will all be worth it in the end!
Step #9
Revise Yet Again
Take your editor's notes and work through them. This is your third revision, and it should be more nit-picky now with no gapping plot holes. Just tweaking here and there and adding more pizzazz, emotion, power, and strength to your already solid manuscript.
Step #10
Proofread
If your hired editor didn't proofread (or really even if they did), it's time to find some friends and family and librarians and English teachers who are willing to scour your work for typos and grammatical errors. This is the time you can give your story to absolutely anyone who wants to try to hunt for mistakes. (If you have trouble getting people to agree to read your entire book, spread out the work! Ask a larger group of people to each read a chapter or two and split it up that way so it's not as intimidating.) Finding errors now will be much less painful than finding them after your book's been on the market for five years! To keep costs low, I usually hold a proofreading contest where I give away a prize for the person who finds the most mistakes in my book. That way, everyone is motivated to find as many mistakes as they can, and I only have to spend money on one fun prize.
Step #11
Format
This step can be hired out if you'd like to keep all of your hair in your head, but if you're cheap like me and don't mind pulling out a few strands, you can make your book look professional by formatting it yourself. If you're formatting a Kindle book for Amazon, the Kindle Create app is a user-friendly way to make your book look great. Paperback or hardcover books are much more intense to format, but it can be done! Just be sure to put in page numbers and make sure your chapter headings are all consistent with their font choice and font size. Look through some of the books on your shelf that are the same genre as your book and take notes on what the pages and fonts and margins look like. Keep things as simple as you can with 12-point Times New Roman font for the majority of the book if at all possible. If you want to go crazy with headers and no page number on the first page of each chapter with a little chapter flourish or graphic to go with the chapter title, go ahead. Just don't bite off more than you can chew here, or you're apt to get stuck in this step for a very long time and end up having to hire a professional formatter to untangle the mess.
Step #12
Cover
Most authors think they can make their own book covers and no one will be able to tell they made it themselves. And most of those authors are wrong. The only other step I recommend spending a good chunk of money on is this one. Hire someone who has experience making book covers in your genre. (This does not mean someone who is artistic or spectacular at drawing or painting or designing logos. It means someone who has experience making book covers in your genre.) Your book cover is essentially THE thing that will make a reader decide to take a chance on an indie author no one has ever heard of. Your cover has absolute power to completely derail your book sales if done poorly. (Notice by the use of bold print and underlines how passionate I am about this topic!) If you've never opened a graphic design program before, then please trust me and don't try to make your own cover. Everyone and his brother will be able to tell you made it. I can spot a self-made or poorly made cover in a split second, and most readers will just pass right on by a book without a professional, genre-driven cover. Don't let this happen to you! (If you want to ignore everything I just said and try to make your own cover, then don't ignore this: Find ten books on Amazon in your genre that are selling well, have lots of good reviews, and were published in the last five years, and make your book cover look like it fits in with those. What colors are on the cover? What kind of image? Cartoon? Photograph? Illustration? What type of font? Sans-serif? Serif? Script? If you think you can make a cover on your own that looks just as good as those ten best-selling books, then go ahead and attempt it. But if your sales are sparse for three months, hire a cover designer and try again.)
Step #13
Proof
You're almost there! Upload your book's interior files and cover files to your preferred self-publishing website and look over the proofs. If you're publishing a paperback or hardcover book, order a physical proof in the mail so you can make sure nothing vital (like the title or your name) gets cut off in the book-trimming process. Sometimes colors look different on the computer screen than they do on a physical book copy too, so order a physical proof and look it all over and make any changes necessary after a thorough examination.
Step #14
Publish
Phew! There you have it! You went from idea to "I did it!" Click that big ole PUBLISH button and celebrate! You are officially an indie author!
Step #15
Market
Marketing really should be steps 1 through 15, because it's that consuming and important. Before you even begin writing your book, you should set up an online platform: a regular email newsletter, a website, and social media accounts to let people in on your journey to authorship. Your fans and future fans need to find you and follow you every step of the way. And once you have a book actually out there, you really need people to know about it so they can find it, buy it, read it, and let all of their friends know about it. Ask anyone who has read your book to post a review wherever it's sold and give away free review copies to anyone who wants to give an honest review for you. Reviews are a great way for others to find your book. If you haven't done so before publication, create a platform for yourself online: make a website and social media pages so people can find you. Marketing is ongoing and multi-faceted, and you can find some resources on how to market on the "Resources" page. Ideally, marketing begins months (or even years) before you release your book into the world, but don't fret if you didn't get anything done beforehand, especially if this is your first book and you don't have a huge following online. All of that can come with time, effort, persistence, and patience.
Step #16
Repeat
Go back to step one and repeat the process for your next book! Having lots of published books helps readers find you, and each book helps you sell your other books! Best wishes and contact me if you have any further questions about the self-publishing process!
