10 tips for self-publishing your book

The third part of my short series of posts about the process of self-publication moves on to the actual process of publication.

This can be an absolute minefield. There are many people out there who are willing to take your money, but not produce a good book. Of course, you will have minimised this by your exhaustive editing (ahem!) – any problems about that, see my earlier post. The biggest risk with self-publishing is cost: all the upfront expenses are yours. Tread carefully through the many organisations clamouring for your business. Anything you can do yourself will be cheaper, but if you want to make sales it needs to be as professional as possible.

For example, if you are a graphic designer, please go ahead and design your front cover. It will, quite possibly, be excellent. However, as most of us are not as talented as these people, my first recommendation would be to employ a cover designer. I used designforwriters.com and have never regretted a penny of what I spent.

So here are my tips for successful publication!

Are you sure you’re ready? Try editing again…
Do try for an agent or publisher first. You never know what advice you will get back, nor whether you will be one of the lucky few who is taken on straight away.
Despite how the saying goes, everyone judges a book by its cover. At least first. The cover is what makes a customer pick the book up in the bookshop and look at it. Even more so online. It is worth investing in an eye-catching cover.
Publishing options are many and varied, with a vast range of costs to you (in both finance and time). Assess honestly how computer literate you are before committing to setting the layout yourself. Similarly, decide whether you can afford the time and patience that it requires.
Print on demand minimises your initial outlay, but tends to increase your cost per book. If you are having a print-run just for you, be realistic about how many friends and family are likely to buy a paper copy. Whilst it would be lovely to sell 1000 in the first week, the chances are you don’t have that many relatives to bully into buying the book.
Don’t forget the rise and rise of the ebook market. If you are aiming for sales you will be foolish to ignore their popularity. Again, if you don’t feel you are computer literate enough to set your ebook out yourself, use the expertise of others.
How’s that editing going? Are you sure it’s perfect?
In assessing the costs of different publishing options, don’t forget that you will give some (if not many!) of your books away. Some will be given for reviews, some as competition prizes, some will be damaged by people looking at them. And don’t forget that your parents/spouse/children will deserve a copy as recompense for all that time you spent writing and ignoring them.
Before pressing ‘go’ have a final check through for spelling and layout errors. Then send it to a proofreader – yes, this may be another cost that you could save, but it is another third-party who hasn’t read it before and I can pretty much guarantee that they will come up with some obvious errors that you could have avoided!
Set a publishing / book launch date and GO FOR IT!

What are your tips and experiences of publishing a book?

7 tips for writing your book

7 tips for editing your book