An Overview of the Publishing Process
The basic steps involved in self-publishing your book
The book is written. You’ve typed The End.
Now what?
I’m going to briefly cover the steps involved with getting your book from words on the screen to a published tome. Some of these steps need to be done in order. For example, you have to complete the interior design before you can format the print cover. However, you can begin designing the cover (or have a designer do it for you, which is recommended) at any time.
Similarly, you can begin marketing your book as soon as possible, and I believe you should, even during the writing phase.
Let’s start at the beginning.
Edit
You’ve got your manuscript. Now it’s time to edit it.
This is a multi-step process that includes reviewing your own manuscript for basics like grammar and spelling, as well as a more detailed review for the structure and flow.
Copy editing catches those homonyms, spelling and grammatical errors, and capitalization and punctuation inconsistencies. And believe me, there are always some!
Line editing is more focused on word choice and questions of style.
You’ll also want to have a small team of people you trust read the book. They’re reading for flow, inconsistencies, and whether they even like it. Called Beta Readers, you don’t need many. Too many cooks in the kitchen and all. I’ve found 3 to 4 to be a good number.
While you’re asking trusted people to be your beta readers, you can build up your ARC Team. ARC stands for Advanced Reader Copy. These are people who will receive a “free” advanced copy of your book in exchange for a review. We go into that more in the Marketing module.
Format
Now it’s time to format it.
Formatting the interior of your book includes several decisions. There’s the information you’ll include in the front and the back of the book as well as design considerations.
Decisions you’ll need to make include font choice, paper color, whether you'll have images, and so many more.
You can format the book yourself. Software like Vellum for Mac and Atticus for all platforms are options, as is Word and, for those who are design savvy, InDesign. They have varying levels of difficulty.
You can also format the book using the publishing platforms.
Formatting for e-book is slightly different than for print.
We go into all of that in Formatting.
Cover
Once your book is formatted, you’ll have the final page count, so you can then begin formatting your cover. This is assuming you want a print edition.
If you do want a print edition, you’ll need to decide if you want both paperback and hardback.
You’ll also need to decide the trim size, which is the size of the book. For example, most trade paperbacks are 5x8, 5.5x8.5 or 6x9.
Publish
You’ve got your interior and your cover. You’ve got your book! Now it’s time to upload it to the various publishing platforms. We’re focusing on POD, or Print On Demand, platforms. These platforms don’t require big print runs, so they’re perfect for authors who don’t need a thousand copies of their book at a time.
There are many publishing platforms from which to choose. Nearly every author will want to make their book available on Amazon, so you’ll upload to their publishing platform, which is KDP, or Kindle Direct Publishing.
If you want to be in bookstores, libraries, etc., you’ll also want to upload your book to Ingram.
Side note: you need different covers for KDP and Ingram, so choosing whether or not to publish on both platforms is a decision you’ll need to make before having your cover designed.
Once your book is uploaded, you’ll order a proof copy. If it comes from Amazon, it will have a band across the cover that says “Not for resale.”
Your book comes in the mail. It looks great! Now go ahead and click Publish!
It then takes a few days for the publishing platform to approve your book, and the process varies by platform.
E-books are generally faster. On Amazon, you can also set up a pre-order for your e-book. This is not possible with print. However, you can set up a pre-order for print with IngramSpark.
Once your e-book is ready to go, you’ll want to send it to your ARC team. That way they can be ready to leave their review once the book is live.
Congratulations! You’re book’s published! Now what?
Market
If you’ve promised print copies to your ARC team, you’ll ship those out. If they’ve agreed to receive an e-book, you’ll remind them to leave their reviews. Gently. Amazon is persnickety about “bribing” readers for reviews. I’ve seen it recommended to price your e-book at 99 cents the first day so your ARC team can buy the book and then have the Verified Purchase badge. This does make an impact on your rankings and on what other potential readers think about the veracity of your reviews.
Throughout this process, you’ve been promoting your book. Maybe you’ve shared teasers or behind-the-scenes glimpses on social media. Hopefully you’ve created a reader magnet, a.k.a. something readers can download for free. That builds your email list, which you can then contact regularly to build excitement for your book.
Maybe you’ve set up book signings, or scheduled a launch party.
There are so many ways to market your book. While those are beyond the scope of this course, we’ve got a ton of them in the Marketing section.
As I said in my Welcome, there are a lot of steps to publishing your own books, and it can seem overwhelming. This course breaks down each of these steps to make it easy for you.
Enough preface. Let’s get into the nitty gritty and get your book published!