How To Self-Publish Your Own Book in 8 Steps – Easiest Guide for 2024

Every writer dreams of becoming a bestselling author one day. Decades ago, this dream was nearly impossible to achieve as traditional publishing houses only chose selected content. The few lucky ones who did get the attention of a big publishing house still had to negotiate for months for their profit share and work direction. Today, authors can skip this process by writing, editing, publishing, marketing, and selling their own books.

Self-publishing has shifted the way books were published. It allows authors to be in control of their work and gain hefty profits. Continue reading this blog to know how to self-publish a book.

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

Self-publishing offers many benefits to authors compared to traditional publishing. For example:

Also Read: Self-Publishing VS Traditional Publishing – A Detailed Comparision

1. No Literary Agents 

Self-publishing eliminates the need for a literary agent. This allows authors more opportunities to excel, giving unrepresented voices a chance to share their talent worldwide.  

2. Greater Profits

Working with a traditional publisher means they’ll take their cut. On the other hand, self-publishing not only gives you complete authorship but also guarantees higher margins. Authors earn more with each book they sell by self-publishing their work.

3. Complete Control

Self-published authors are entirely in control of their work. They get to make decisions regarding the editing, publishing, and marketing aspects of their content.

4. Enhanced Quality

Traditionally published authors have access to high-quality printing. They also have connections with large book distributors in the world and get high exposure for their work. Thanks to advanced technology, even self-published authors can now enjoy high-quality printing. They can sell their book in one of the largest e-stores in the world i.e., Amazon.

Self-Publish Your Book in 8 Simple Steps

Now that you’ve learned the benefits of self-publishing, here’s how to publish a book yourself in 8 simple steps:

1. Write a Book That Will Sell

As obvious as it may sound, authors shouldn’t overlook the writing process when self-publishing their work. Produce high-quality and unique content so it can be marketed among the best-selling novels in the literary industry. Remember, your work must be good enough to ensure that your target audience will buy it.

2. Be Professional at Editing

Assess your work rigorously to ensure it is up to the mark. Review and make edits so that there are no plot holes, grammatical errors, typos, and mistakes in your book. A poorly edited book can put off your readers. Therefore, be professional at editing and rereading your content several times before finalizing your manuscript.

3. Create an Attractive Book Design

A book design plays a crucial role in strengthening its promotion. The two types of book designs are book cover design and interior book design.

A professionally published book must have an exotic interior design. This includes formatting your content to make it look readable. Use hyphens, headings, tables, graphs, etc., wherever necessary to make your book’s interior appealing.

A well-thought-out cover design also enables the readers to know what your book is about. Therefore, hire experienced designers and include the right colors, texts, images, and descriptions to make your book cover eye-catching and interesting.

4. Draft a Well-Structured Book Metadata

Book metadata includes all the informational content for your book, such as its title, back cover content, author name, trim size, subtitle, barcode, etc. Here’s how you can structure your book metadata properly:

Book Title

• Make the book title unique and explanatory to let the readers know what your book is about.
• Make the title memorable. You may include catchy phrases or puns to imprint your book’s name on your audience’s name.
• Search for interesting book names on the internet to get an idea. Searching on Google will also help authors know whether their book title is strong enough to attract more audience or not.

Book Description

• The book description goes on the back side of your cover. It describes what your book is about and interests the audience in reading it.
• Keep the description short. Don’t reveal too much of what your book has in store for the readers.
• The book description shouldn’t exceed 200 words.
• Avoid time-sensitive phrases like “releasing soon,” or “coming soon.”
• Ensure that the last line of your book description ends with a question. This appeals to the reader to buy your book and find out the answer to the mystery being discussed.

ISBN

The International Standard Book Number is an identification number recognized internationally. A book can only be available for sale if it has an ISBN. Without an ISBN, only the author will be allowed to order a copy of their book. Self-publishing authors can consult professional book writing agencies to get a free ISBN. Gnome Book Writing is a reliable and reputable book writing agency that offers excellent writing, editing, and publishing services at affordable rates. Contact them today to make your book available for sale.

BISAC Codes

BISAC codes identify the theme, topic, and genre of your book. While your audience might not use the BISAC code to search for your book, booksellers and retailers will use it to ensure your content fits in the right category or shelf online and in the bookstore respectively.

5. Choose a Reliable Publishing Platform

While there are various self-publishing companies out there, hardly any can match the quality of services offered by Gnome Book Writing. Thus, the best way to self-publish a book is by hiring Gnome Book Writing. Here’s why:

• Gnome book writing offers 24-hour customer support to its clientele.
• We utilize free and top-notch publishing resources and tools
• Gnome book writing provides authors with affordable marketing strategies
• Discounted rates
• Unlimited revision
• Publishes books on one of the most reliable and biggest e-stores: Amazon Kindle.

6. Choose Your Distribution Channel

Decide how you’re going to share your content with the world. The book distribution process usually took months and even years for self-published authors. They had to edit, design, and print the books before they were made available in bookstores or online. Fortunately, self-published authors can now expedite the book distribution process by hiring professional book publishing companies online.

Gnome Book Writing will ensure your book reaches different schools, libraries, retailers, bookstores, and e-commerce companies like Waterstones, Indigo, Barnes & Noble, Foyles, Amazon, and other platforms.

Gnome book writing has served several authors over the years, allowing them to connect with the literary industry and make their content available to the world without exceeding budget. By choosing us, you’re ensuring your book will reach a global audience efficiently.

7. Market Your Book on Different Platforms

While writing, editing, and publishing a book can take most of your time, self-published authors must not overlook the significance of book marketing. Marketing your content on different platforms can allow you to reach a maximum number of the target audience. While this is one of the final phases of publishing a book yourself, it is also one of the most crucial ones. Thus, we suggest you develop a proper marketing scheme using different media channels to ensure the world learns about your latest release. Here are some tactics that you can use to market your book:

Author Website

Consider yourself a brand and develop an attractive and informative website that provides updates about your book. A website enables authors to connect with their target audience and learn about their feedback and interests. It allows your readers to learn about your book events and avail discounts if any.

Social Media Websites

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., are some great social media platforms to advertise your book. These applications have billions of users and can help authors get their target audience’s attention quickly and efficiently. While there are several platforms, you only have to create a page on a couple of social channels to promote your work. Remember to use the right channel to market your book. For instance, marketing techniques for a suspense novel won’t work as well on LinkedIn as they would on Facebook or Instagram. On the other hand, promoting a book that talks about entrepreneurship or employee work ethics are likely to make great sales through LinkedIn than on any other platform. 

Conduct Read Events

Launch a book publishing party or a reading event to connect with your audience. Author events will help you think outside of the box and get to know your audience’s perception and take on your story.

8. Launch Your Book

Launching your book may be the final step toward becoming a bestselling author. However, authors should still consider certain things before their book’s launch. For instance,

• Authors need to make sure Amazon’s sale channel works properly. This means that if you’ve published a book on KDP or a different channel synced with Amazon, you need to ensure beforehand that you’re able to receive payments via these mediums. Make a test purchase and see if you’re able to receive the amount for your book.
• Set up an author website where all your social media content will lead to. Users will find it easier to find everything about your book on a single website and connect with you for interviews and Q&A sessions.

The Overall Cost of Self-Publishing a Book

The overall publishing cost of a book varies depending on your budget, book size,  services hired, and marketing strategies utilized. Here are some areas that you might have to hire professional services for:

1. Book Editors

Hiring book editors to review your book can be costly depending on the following factors:

Manuscript Quality

Book editing costs more if your manuscript demands extensive editing. Some manuscripts are more professional and ready to publish and, thus, are less costly to edit.

Genre

The cost of editing a book also depends on its genre. For example, fiction and research content require more editing than nonfiction and autobiographies.

Experience

Hiring experienced and professional editors will cost you more than acquiring amateur services. However, the more experience an editor has the better your book will come out. Thus, consider book editing services as an investment that will bring profitable returns.

Book editing also depends on the types of editing you acquire. For example:

• Developmental editing costs $45-55 per hour.
• Basic copyediting and proofreading cost ranges from $30-40 per hour.
• Line Editing requires $40-60 per hour. 

2. Cost of Interior Design

Otherwise known as formatting, your book’s interior design makes it more readable and understandable. Thus, invest in high-quality book interior design services to generate remarkable revenue. According to a survey:

• 17% of authors pay $500 or less for book formatting
• 47% of individuals pay between $500-1000 for their book’s interior design
• 19% are willing to pay up to $1500 for book formatting services
• 16% of authors spend more than $1500 on book interior design services

Thus, the price you pay for book formatting depends greatly on the number of graphs, tables, images, etc., used in your book.

3. Cover Design Charges

The cost of designing a book cover varies, depending on your designer’s experience and expertise. Those who wish to publish books both online and in hardcopy must hire services that can create two versions of the book cover design. Thus, based on your book’s overall layout, colors, text, and images, your book’s cover design may cost you at least $500 or more.

4. Cost of Publishing

The publishing charges depend greatly on whether you’re purchasing an ISBN or getting a free one. With Gnome Book Writing, you can avail cost-effective book publishing services. Purchasing an ISBN usually costs around $85. At Gnome Book Writing, we suggest authors purchase their own ISBNs to own their work and be able to have publishing rights.

You might also have to buy a barcode if you wish to include your book in reputable bookstores. You can buy a barcode from the same place you got your ISBN.

5. Print and Shipping Charges

Printing and shipping a book costs based on the following factors:

• Interior paper and color
• Trim size
• Page count
• Binding type
• Lamination type
• Quantity
• Shipping address

6. Marketing

Determine your marketing budget while you’re planning your book publishing budget. Investing in good marketing strategies can help you reach out to your target audience and gain hefty profits. Thus, hire experts to market the book for you on different platforms to boost sales. 

Conclusion

We hope this blog helped you learn how to self-publish a book. To ensure you hire the right editing, publishing, and marketing services, contact Gnome Book Writing today. We have expert writers on board who can help you write, edit, and publish content at affordable rates. For more details, call us today!