What Does Self-publishing A Book Involve?
- Rhian MacGillivray
- Mar 10
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 10
You know I’m self-publishing my first novel in May, but what exactly does that involve? This post gives an overview of the process of self-publishing a book.
Whether you’re curious about the process, or are an author looking to self-publish yourself, read on to find out more!
Why I’m self-publishing
The goalposts have shifted. Initially, I was writing for myself and the goal was to write THE END on my manuscript. Then I thought it would be nice to hold a physical copy of my book in my hands.
But after a year slowly querying literary agents with no success, I’ve decided to self-publish so other people can enjoy my book and get to know Mark, Josh and Sadie Turner as well as I do.
The cost of self-publishing a book
An author can spend as much or as little as they like when self-publishing a book. From absolutely nothing to a princely sum. There are other writers, editors and designers out there pushing their services for editing, proofreading, cover design and marketing services, but if you want to hire each specialist, you can be talking about spending thousands.
That’s just not an option for some (me included) when writing is simply a hobby, or when you’re starting from a place of zero sales. Maybe in the future it’s something I’d consider if I develop a decent platform and have a certain amount of sales from books. For example, I’d really love to hire a professional editor, but for now they’re beyond my reach financially.
For me, if you’re operating on a tight budget, the most important thing when it comes to self-publishing (other than writing the book, of course!) is how much TIME you’re willing to spend on researching the hell out of every step in the process, not how much MONEY you’re willing to put into it.
How and where to self-publish
There are many options when it comes to choosing where to self-publish. The most well-known one is Amazon’s KDP, which offers a print-on-demand service. This lets you publish hardback, paperback, digital and audio versions of your book if you like, and the website offers lots of helpful videos, how-to guides and articles explaining their platform.
Ingram Spark is another favourite among indie authors, especially for people looking to get their books into American stores like Barnes and Noble.
For digital versions of a book, there’s the Google Play Store, Apple Books, Kobo and more.
Draft2Digital is a book distribution platform that allows authors to centralise their distribution. They’ll ensure your book is available on all the platforms you choose to sell on, meaning you don’t have to create separate accounts on each platform to do so.
Formatting a book for publication
Once you have a finished and edited manuscript, it’s time for formatting or typesetting. Again, you can pay someone to do this for you if you like.
Now, I have to be honest and say I thought this part was going to be far more difficult than it was, but I followed Amazon KDP’s guide and it turned out quite well, with a few additions and tweaks from my side to get things looking the way I wanted.
So make sure you research, research, research. Read Amazon’s guides. Watch YouTube videos. Read articles and blogs. The information is out there, you just need to find it.
Book cover design
For many authors, whether self-published or traditionally published, this is the most exciting part! If you’re self-publishing and can’t afford a cover designer (like me), know there are many ways cover design can go wrong or look unprofessional.
It’s a case of looking at other covers in your genre. What stands out? What do you like? What don’t you like? Why do they work? Then play around with ideas of your own using tools like Canva.
My two final cover design choices are sitting on Canva right now while I decide which one to choose.
ISBNs
An ISBN is an International Standard Book Number. Each country has its own agency that assigns these numbers, and if you’re self-publishing a book it can be worth investing in one.
If you publish a paperback version of a novel on Amazon KDP, for example, Amazon will assign a free ISBN if you choose, but then if you publish your paperback on another platform that also assigns free ISBNs, your book will have different ISBNs depending on where it’s printed, even thought its content is the same.
Having your own ISBN simplifies things, although bear in mind that an ISBN is only valid for one format. So if you want to publish both a hardback and a paperback version of your book, you’ll need a separate ISBN for each version.
Marketing your book – and yourself!
Many authors are introverts by nature, which should come as no surprise given the solitary nature of writing. So once you write the book and have to think about telling the world about it, nerves can set in.
I’ve been sitting on The Cards We’re Dealt for over a year as a fully finished book. The idea of people reading words I’ve written is both exciting and terrifying! And marketing on social media can feel like shouting into the void at times.
In any case, if you’re an author looking to self-publish a book, I’d suggest checking out the social media feeds of traditionally published authors to see what their marketing team has had them post about in the run-up to publication.
Treat your own book’s publication like a big deal. Devise a campaign with blog posts, social media posts, giveaways, sneak peeks, a cover reveal, and more to build interest.
And don’t forget to talk about yourself and your interests. After all, your brand is YOU, and your books are your products. If people connect with you, they’ll be interested in reading what you’ve produced.
Author events
As yet, I have no experience of author events, but I’m hoping that will change in the future once I’ve published my novel. I’d like to look into holding author events at indie book stores, contacting book bloggers to organise a blog tour, perhaps organise something at local libraries, and contact reading groups to see if any would be interested in my book and an online session with me.
There are plenty of ways to promote your book in-person, but it’s about laying the groundwork first: making those contacts far in advance, well before you finish writing your book, even!
If I do any author events I’ll be sure to provide updates and write more blog posts offering my insights and tips to fellow authors!
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