Self-Publishing 101

A Guide to Putting your Book on the Market

If you have ever thought about self-publishing but don’t know how to get started or where to look for resources, you’re in the right place. This article will jumpstart your self-publishing journey and teach you what you need to know to get started.

What is self-publishing?

Advantages of self-publishing

When you self-publish, you retain full creative freedom over your project, ensuring that your final vision is preserved throughout the whole of the production. 

You also have the freedom of working on your own timeline, giving you far more flexibility and allowing you to go at your own pace, especially if this is your first-time self-publishing. 

Finally, when you self-publish, you retain complete ownership and any royalties you will make when your book debuts. You don’t have to pay editors or a publishing company, and you have personal access to all the resources that will help you profit from your work.

How to self-publish in 2023

Self-publishing in 2023 is a lot easier than you might think. With there being more and more free (and paid) services and tools being shared every year, it is easier than it has ever been for authors to produce professional work on their own. 

What you need

Before you look into publishing or even designing your book’s visuals, you’ll want to have a complete (or nearly complete) draft. The majority of books published and sold digitally and physically are listed as pre-orders before they are even finished. If you are writing your book without the help of a ghostwriter, you can do this on your own time, and then begin the production process yourself. If you do decide to work with a ghostwriter, you will have assistance and can be as much or as little involved as you like.

 

Editing can be a long and tedious process that will involve proofreading, formatting, and potentially getting feedback from test readers. You can also outsource this part to a ghostwriting or editing company. There are plenty of resources in this realm online, such as websites like Fiverr.com, or ChristianGhostwriting.com.  

 

Designing your book, much like editing, can be complicated. You can do as much or as little work for it by yourself as you’d like. Websites like the previously mentioned Fiverr.com, Adobe’s Behance.net, and Reedsy.com all provide numerous options for designers you can hire to take care of the whole process for you.

 

Now hiring professionals for these important tasks can become pricey, and the cost can fluctuate depending on certain factors. The reality of self-publishing is that you can spend as much or as little as you want. You can even spend zero if you’re willing to learn the tools and do it yourself. It’s all very dependent on you and your expectations. Be aware of this as you go forward with self-publishing your book.

Where to Publish

There are many options for places to self-publish your work, and navigating them can be tricky. You will want to consider your audience and who you are trying to reach. While each platform has numerous readers, there will be places your readers are more likely to find you. You will also want to decide whether or not to publish digitally, physically, or both. Let’s take a look at some of the most common and easiest places to self-publish in 2023, as well as some of the pros and cons of each.

Barnes & Noble Press 

“A free, fast, and easy-to-use self-publishing service that enables you to publish and sell print or ebooks directly to our millions of readers”– Barnes & Noble Press is a website that allows authors to publish their work on the Nook platform. This platform gives millions of readers access to your book. It also allows you to print physical hardcover copies for personal use, but unfortunately not to sell. 

Kindle KDP & Kindle Vella

Kindle Direct Publishing has been one of the most popular publishing platforms for a long time that is widely used by authors and indie authors alike. Kindle Vella is a relatively new branch of KDP, which features serialized books and audiobooks as a subscription, releasing a chapter at a time. Kindle allows you to sell both digital and physical copies of your books, and you are automatically paid royalties on each sale.

Apple Books

Apple Books’ tools for authors publish strictly to Apple books.  It provides high-quality writing and design tools that are relatively simple to understand compared to some other similar (more outdated) websites. Apple Books is available on more than just Apple devices, but its reader base is predominantly Apple users. 

Google Play

Much like Apple Books, Google Play provides nice and simple tools for self-publishing authors, as well as a huge reader base across the globe. In addition, Google Play provides comprehensive tools for more than just production, including promotion and marketing. It’s one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for self-published authors in 2023.

Kobo (Rakuten)

Kobo is predominantly a non-US market that can provide access to your book to countless readers who might not use the other platforms listed. It provides helpful tools for promoting and profiting off of your book, and is a rapidly growing platform for self-publishing authors.

Marketing

When you self-publish, you’ll want to market your book well in order to reach the largest audience you can. Once again, you can hire a marketing agency, or you can find help on Fiverr.com and Upwork.com. Or, you can do it yourself. Social media and targeted advertising are the best methods to spread your book, and there are countless resources dedicated specifically to this. The most important things when it comes to marketing your self-published book are branding and creating a following for yourself and your work.

How ChristianGhostwriting can Help 

ChristianGhostwriting.com offers several services that will help you along your self-publishing journey. The services include completely writing your book, assisting you with writing your book, and mentoring you through the process of writing your book.

Conclusion

While it may be scary at first, self-publishing is a great way to publish your book in 2023. It can be a difficult and labor-intensive process depending on your experience and how much you want to put into your publication. However, there are more resources than ever before to make this process as easy and painless as possible making it an even more rewarding experience.