How to Publish a Book

I recently ran into a friend who is moving mountains with grace during a difficult time. When I asked her what she was up to and how she had been, she grinned and said, "I'm doing big girl things. Living my best life."

Exploring the James River for the very first time just the other day.

I love that, and to be honest, I'm adopting it as my new motto.

A few of you have reached out saying that you enjoyed my post, "Comfortable Being Uncomfortable," and I can't tell you how happy I am to hear from you. In keeping with the theme of doing big girl things, today's blog post is the beginning of an exploration into what I've learned about how to self-publish based on my experience so far.

1. Write a book.

Here is an old post on outlining, one on writing, and another one on the subject.

Optional step:

Query Agents and Editors. This path to publication is still a lucrative option for a lot of genres, but from what I've learned from recent research, trends, and talking to author friends with agents, romance doesn't seem to be the most sought after. Women's fiction, fantasy, and young adult seem to be getting the most attention. If your book tells the story of a group of people who have been marginalized, this also is a great route to go. Full disclosure, I have queried three books and decided to make a go of the indie author route, formerly known as self-publishing. For what you gain in control, you also gain added responsibilities. Agents and publishers do a lot of the following steps for authors, so without them, more falls on the author's shoulders. For me the past few months have felt like, to quote my day job, building the plane while flying it.

2. Get an editor, and if you can a cover designer.

This step is where a lot of people start to feel out of their depth, and I was no exception until my best friend found and recommended Reedsy. Best. Discovery. Ever. It's like Yelp meets Etsy, for writers. You can find editors, proofreaders, interior designers, and cover designers. Reedsy allows you to reach out and get a quote, check reviews, and acts as a third party for contracts and payment.

3. Publish. (Two choices below.)

Option 1: Publish on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and iBooks

You might be asking yourself, how do I do that? Go here for Amazon, here for Barnes and Nobel, here for Kobo, and here for iBooks.

Option 2: Publish on Amazon and Ingram Spark or Draft to Digital or others

Why Amazon again? A recent study found that 85% of all ebooks are sold on Amazon and over half of the print books. Amazon also has a three-step program for publishing your work, that took me doing it for the first time less than an hour. So what about that other ones? Ingram Spark will distribute your book everywhere else for a start-up fee and a cut of your royalty payments. Draft2Digital is the same service but a different company. They take out the tedious work of having to launch your books individually on the other platforms. Here's a great article on the pros and cons. And here’s a great article on how to use Amazon in conjunction with Ingram Spark.

Bonus steps:

Launch a website yourself or hire someone to build it for you (Fiverr is excellent for this), create a social media following, and join a local writer's group. If you want to buy an ISBN (it’s nice, but not always required. It is required for Ingram Spark), go here.

Looking back at it, it doesn’t seem that intimidating. Maybe one day I'll be reading your book!

Onward!

Kathryn

PS- pre-order and cover release are coming soon! Stay tuned...