How to Self-Publish a Novel: 5 First-Steps for Your Self Publishing Journey
Bella Rose Emmorey
book editor, rogue behaviorist, digital marketer, writer, brand builder, plant aunt, and cheese enthusiast.
There are a hundred little steps that can go into self-publishing a book, but not all of them are necessary. It’s actually a pretty simple process. Let's scrape back to the absolute fundamentals of self-publishing.
Once you $ finish your book$ and have something quality to work with, the next steps are fairly simple. That doesn’t mean it can be done quickly, or that each step is easy. You can think of each step as a phase of the process. Each phase takes a different amount of time, but you have to move through them all at some point.
Bookmark this page and come back to it as you move through the self-publishing process.
For the sake of not giving you the too-obvious, we’re going to skip the "write a good book" portion of self-publishing. You can publish a piece of crap if you really want to. Some people even $ self-publish blank books$ (disguised as journals). But that doesn’t mean you’ll be successful and sell copies.
So if that’s what you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered with the steps to self-publish.
1. Decide where to self-publish
You’ve heard of Amazon, and it’s probably the first option you think of when you hear the term "self-publish," but they’re not the only ones.
You can also self-publish through these options:
- IngramSpark
- Lulu Publishing
- PublishDrive
- Barnes & Noble Press
- Google Play Books (ebooks and audiobooks only)
- Apple Books (Ebook and audiobook only)
- Kobo
- Yourself (truly producing, printing, and selling the book yourself from your own website - we don’t really recommend this since you’d also have to handle all distribution and shipping, plus you can't utilize the massive site traffic from other options)
You might publish through one option and distribute through another. For example, if you publish through Lulu, it can be distributed to Barnes & Noble and Amazon. If you publish on Amazon, it can also be listed on Barnes & Noble.
To know which is best for you, look at where the most opportunity is for buyers in your country. Usually, Amazon will be the best place, but make sure to do your own research.
Once you’ve decided where to publish, create your account and read about their terms & services. You can also watch or read their tutorial for publishing on that platform.
2. Get the final files ready
Once you know where to publish, look up which file formats you need. This will be easy to find when you go to add a book, or you can type this into your Google search bar:
site:ChosenWebsite.com book file format
Here’s an example for Amazon:
site:amazon.com book file format
This will show the articles and webpages that have this information only on the website you’re publishing through, so you know the information is accurate for that platform.
Once you have a list of the file types you need, you can export your fully edited manuscript to the appropriate format. If you use $ NovelPad’s writing software$ to write and edit your drafts, this step is super easy and allows you to export both ebook and paperback options.
You need your final files before you hire a cover designer, because they will need to know your page count to create a cover in the proper dimensions. More on that in the next step.
3. Cover designs
You’ll need a book cover file for every version of your book you have online: Paperback, hardcover, audiobook, Kindle. Some of these have different size requirements, so do your research again to confirm what sizes you need—your designer will need this information.
There are few options for cover designs when you self-publish your novel.
Hiring a Designer
It’s recommended to hire a cover designer who has experience with book covers. Cover design is a unique skill, different from general graphic design or illustration. Your book’s cover should align with your genre’s expectations and current trends, while still standing out from others like it, and that requires both skill and industry knowledge.
There are many places where you can hire a designer. Doing a Google search will give you thousands of options. If you don’t have much to spend on a cover (as they can range from $300-$1200+), you can use freelancers at places like Fiverr or Upwork—just make sure you can see their portfolio first.
Once hired, you’ll send them the dimension you need, image file types and sizes, in addition to how many pages the book will be (which is why you need the final format first) so they can make the spine the proper width.
Tips for working with a book cover designer:
- Be clear about the elements that represent your book
- Make sure they do genre research or have experience with covers in your genre
- Send example covers you really like for the tone and mood you want
- Send all your feedback at one time, so it counts as 1 revision (many designers will allot 3-5 revisions to the original cover they submit to you before charging for more edits)
- Use screenshots and arrows to dictate precisely where on the image you’re talking about to revise (you can use something like Photoshop, Canva, or Microsoft Paint to highlight and comment on certain parts of the image)
- Be patient. Art is a process that can take a long time to achieve a quality result. Make sure you allow enough time in your book production schedule for cover revisions.
Buying a Pre-Made Cover
Some artists take a different route and make book covers for self-published authors easily accessible with pre-made covers. Authors can browse a cover library in their genre to choose an existing cover to customize with their name and information.
Here are some examples of websites that offer pre-made covers:
While these covers are typically significantly cheaper than paying a designer for something custom, they lack specificity for your own book. But who knows! You could potentially find something that fits your book perfectly without edits.
And remember: just because a cover looks pretty and you love it, doesn’t mean it will perform well in its genre for the readers—the people you want to buy the book. Do your $ cover research$ !
Making Your Own Cover
There are very, very few times an author should make their own book cover. If you have experience in digital design and you’ve done the research for what will work in your genre, then you might take a stab at it.
If you think you can just use a stock photo on Canva and add a text overlay with your title, think again. These covers usually turn out to look poor quality, and we all know that people do judge books by their covers—especially self-published books.
Many authors also run into issues with copyrights if using a stock photo without reviewing the terms of use for those images.
Be careful if you want to do it yourself, and do your research!
4. Upload & price your book
Every upload process is different depending on the website. Follow the same Google search strategy we mentioned earlier for this next process. Here’s an example:
Site:amazon.com upload book
Follow each step carefully—don’t try to rush through the upload process. Most of the steps that may seem unimportant are the most important. Not all of the places you can self-publish will have every step, but most do.
Here are the areas you’ll have to fill in:
- Title: your full book title, including “Book #” for series
- Description: Here’s where you want to pull people into your book. Don’t just write the book’s blurb here—research what’s working in your genre to include that information.
- Book Price: look at what’s common in your genre and take into consideration how much you want to make from each book by reading the royalty terms ahead of time
- Categories and/or keywords: THE most important part—choose the categories that best suit your book, and if you use Amazon, contact them to add up to 10 categories to your book (they will only allow 3 unless you contact them).
- Book cover files: make sure the preview looks accurate and you’re not receiving any errors
And of course, don’t forget to set up your author profile with all your social platform links, a link to your site, and an exciting bio—a taste of what your books will offer.
5. Order proof copies
It’s time to review your book as it’s listed. Don’t just upload and hit "publish" as soon as it’s been approved. You’ll want to go through the experience as if you were a reader for the first time, just to double check all the work, file types, and versions.
If you’re going through Amazon, you can order proof copies at$ print cost$ . These will show up within a couple of days and you can review (and read) the book in full.
A few things to check for ordering print copies when you self-publish:
- Look for any shifting of images on the cover
- Check for words or paragraphs getting cut off on the pages
- Look at any unique formatting in your book (images, indented elements, etc.) to make sure they’re as intended
- Check all the title pages, copyright pages, and author information for accuracy
- Don’t forget the back cover!
If you find any issues, determine if it’s from the uploading (choosing the wrong file type), or if it’s a problem that needs to be addressed with the designer or formatter. Let them know the issue if that’s the case, and they can fix it. You’ll just have to re-upload and order another proof copy.
Depending on shipping times, allot at least 3 weeks before self-publishing for proof reviewing just in case something is off that could take time to fix.
Self-publishing isn’t a difficult process, it just has a lot of moving parts you want to time right in order to save some headaches. These are the base steps you need to do it yourself!
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