7 Steps to Self-Publishing Your Book!

*This post will briefly list the steps to take in order to self-publish a book. This is for the sake of simplicity (because each of these steps could be described for hours)!

The steps are as follows (and aren't necessarily in chronological order; some can be done at the same time):

1. Finish writing your book

• I suppose you could pay someone to do this, such as a ghostwriter or ghostwriters.

2. Format your book using a word processor

• You could use Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Adobe InDesign (like I did), or a number of other word processors at your disposal. (Be sure to look up tutorials; YouTube is an amazing resource!) You could also pay someone to do this for you, such as through UpWork or Fiverr.

3. Get a book cover

• This could mean that you create the cover yourself, or that you find an artist on a site like Fiverr who can make one for you.

4. Figure out how your going to publish your book

• As an ebook, paperback, hardback, or as all three. The steps to publish an ebook vs. a print copy look a little different, but both involve uploading digital files.

5. Figure out where your going to publish your book

• Amazon only? Or simultaneously through Amazon and other retailers, such as Google Play, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo? Not every one of these retailers offers an option for paper- or hardbacks.

• There are companies, like Smashwords, called aggregators. If you upload your files to an aggregator's book publishing platform, it can distribute your book through multiple retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble, from just that single upload.
  There's a give and take from publishing through an aggregator. You'll likely earn less royalties (because not only does the retailer (i.e. Amazon) need to make money, but so does the aggregator (Smashwords)). However, you won't necessarily have to make an account with every retailer through which you publish your book. These are just one example on the list of pros and cons.

• Where you publish your book is a personal choice and definitely requires one's fair share of research.

6. Create your author account(s) on the retailer site(s) through which you want to publish your book

• Creating an account on these sites will be a little different from one another. One site may take longer to finalize your account and information than another. Be prepared to wait days for some, possibly weeks.

7. Upload your files and metadata!

• Your finished ebook/print file; your book cover file.

• During the upload process, you'll input your book's information: title, date of publication, ISBNs (if necessary), book synopsis, price, and other metadata. Metadata is any information that a search engine, specifically the retailer's search engine, uses to find your book; this includes the book's genre and keywords. Keywords work like metadata. They are additional words or phrases that can help potential readers find your book. An example keyword for a post-apocalyptic novel could be "lone survivor" or "survival horror thriller." Keywords do not have to be grammatically correct.

6 optional (but recommended) steps, depending on your goals for self-publishing:

1. Acquire an ISBN for every version (ebook, paperback, hardback, and audiobook) of your book

• An International Standard Book Number is a specific number attributed to each version of your book. You own this number. You have to pay to get this number (in the U.S., through Bowker; do not buy your ISBN from anywhere else if you're in the U.S.). Some retailers (like Amazon) offer a free ISBN (Amazon calls it an ASIN), but that number can only work for that retailer, not throughout the entire world.

• If you make a new edition of any version of your book, you'll have to get a new ISBN for that new edition. The old ISBN will still be active for the older edition.

2. Get barcodes for your print versions of your book

• They are not required for every retailer (you'll have to research this), but are definitely required if you'd like for your book to end up in physical, brick-and-mortar bookstores and libraries. Barcodes can be supplied through multiple sources, but perhaps the most reliable option is to buy them from Bowker's Identifier Services. Since you've already gotten your ISBNs through Bowker, it may be best to get your barcodes through them as well.

3. If you want your book in libraries, get an LCCN (if you're in the U.S.)

• The Library of Congress Control Number is a specific serial number attributed to your book. Unlike the ISBN, you get only one LCCN no matter how many different versions of your book you have (however, you will need a new LCCN for each new edition of your book).

• Also unlike the ISBN (which is used throughout the world), this number is for U.S. libraries to use to find your book in the national databases and can be used for how libraries organize their books on their shelves. An LCCN is not required for your book to be in bookstores (I got confirmation on this from the Library of Congress itself). And an LCCN costs you nothing. You simply apply for it when you're ready for your book to be printed and supplied to libraries.

4. Get a copyright for your book

• In the U.S., once you write a book, even if it's just the first few words of a book, you own the copyright of that book. A copyright literally means the right to copy the body of work (such as the right to write it, copy it, and distribute it). The intellectual and creative rights are yours, and you don't need to register for a copyright under the U.S. copyright office in order to publish a book. Your book is automatically protected under copyright law.

• However, without that registered copyright with the U.S. copyright office, it'll make any legal actions against infringement much more difficult, time-consuming, and costly—because you have to prove that you own the intellectual rights of your book. Without a registered copyright, the U.S. legal system has to check, double-check, and triple-check that you are indeed the one who owns the copyright to your book. I don't know all the ins and outs of this process, but already having a copyright registered through the U.S. copyright office allows for the legal system to simply look at your copyright registration and move forward from there.

• The U.S. Copyright Office is the only organization in the U.S. through which you can register for a copyright (copyright.gov). There's a cost to register for a copyright and you'll have to wait several weeks to receive your registration.

• You only need one copyright registration to protect all versions of your book (ebook, print, and audiobook). You will need a new copyright for each new edition of your book.

5. Tell people about your book!

• This can include telling your friends and family, creating a Facebook Page, creating an account on Twitter or Instagram (among other social media platforms), invest in advertisement (such as Amazon Ads), start a book review campaign (such as through BookSprout), or booking interviews with podcasts. There are a ton of ways to spread the word about your book!

• It may be best to continue to promote your book even months or years after its published, but use your best judgment on how you will do this (you may have already spent hundreds of dollars already on just getting your book out into the world).

6. Encourage readers to rate and review your book!

• Reviews are very important for potential readers to decide whether or not to invest time and money into your book.

As stated above, this list is a glance of what self-publishing a book may require. This process may look a little different from one author to another, especially depending on their individual goals, but generally speaking this is what it takes. Since this list is brief, additional research will certainly be required of you.

If your thinking seriously of self-publishing your book, I will say that it isn't as easy as you might think (it wasn't for me). It required a ton of research and patience. But if you keep pushing forward, I know you'll make it. There's nothing that can put a smile on an author's face quite like knowing that your book is out there, that people are reading it, and that they're enjoying it. And once you self-publish for the first time, you'll be so much better equipped for how to do it the next time (unless you decide that the process is bollocks, that it's traditional publishing from there on).

I wish you the best experience possible! :)

R. A. W.
9/1/2022