In the last few months, several people have asked me about self-publishing. Each time my mind goes “Eek!” because I’ve spent more than five years learning how to self-publish. It’s not something that can be taught in five minutes.
However, the requests have prompted me to begin what is likely to be a continually expanding article on the topic. This is not designed to be a university course but rather a signpost pointing you in the right direction.
What is self-publishing?
Self-publishing is the process where an author project-manages their book from planning, to writing, through editing, layout … to being available in multiple formats (print, ebook, large print, audio …) in order to reach their readers.
It is very important to differentiate self-publishing from vanity publishing (no company will call themselves a ‘vanity’ press. They will usually call themself ‘hybrid’). This article explains the different kinds of publishing.
First things first – ensuring a good book
Once your book is written, the long editing process begins. Expect the editing to take longer than the writing.
With a first book, you might need double editing – structural editing and later line editing is needed. Between every stage, you will be editing in response to editors’ and beta readers’ (first readers) comments.
I finish my manuscript using an online google document where proofreaders work together to catch typos …
I then reread the entire manuscript out loud and catch even more errors.
MAJOR DECISION – Wide vs Kindle Unlimited
This is for EBOOKS only.
Kindle Unlimited means you are exclusive to Amazon. You will have two streams of income – book sales and page reads.
Implications of KU
* You cannot have any KU books as reader magnets to give to subscribers, in giveaways, or to give away to reviewers.
It also means that you are training your readers to expect your books to be available for ‘free’ (actually they are not free but somehow KU feels free).
I am wide by philosophy. It’s important to me that my books are available to readers all around the world via a wide variety of retailers. I am also not a supporter of monopolies, believing that eventually, they harm everybody.
And I want my readers to be willing to buy books because they see the value in them. This happens more easily outside Amazon.
One more issue comes with collections. If you want to do an ebook collection of at least three books, the top price you can get in Amazon (and still receive the 70% royalty rather than 35%) is $9.99 or Aus $12.99. So what I do is only sell books 1-3 collection on Amazon and then all three collections are available outside Amazon including books 4-6 and Books 1-6.
WIDE
The easiest way to do is to use a distributor and the best is D2D (which now includes Smashwords). D2D will distribute to B and N, Kobo, Apple, and various library companies like Scribd, Overdrive …
You can also go directly to many of these: I go direct with Kobo and added Google Play (which you can’t go via a distributor to reach).
US authors – should go direct with B and N but for the rest of us, this is really difficult because of how B and N does its payouts (the threshold is too low).
MAJOR DECISION – Standalone or Series?
If you are writing non-fiction books, they are usually standalone titles but it is worth thinking if you can make them a group of linked books. It is far easier to market and advertise linked books because if a reader has enjoyed one, they are more likely to look for more (you’d also put something in the back pages of one book to alert them to others in the series).
I have written a long post on why we should write in series here.
MONEY TRANSFER
Like most things, it is easy to be a US author as all these companies are happy to send money directly into US accounts.
For the rest of us, you need an intermediary virtual bank account. Payoneer used to be good but is now charging a fee for every amount coming in (and Amazon does a different deposit for every country you’ve made sales).
Recently, WISE has been most highly recommended.
ISBNs
Thorpe-Bowker – is the only legitimate company to sell these and you only need to buy ISBNs and not the bar codes (bar codes can be generated for free).
You need a different ISBN for each FORMAT (not each company you distribute by). That is one ISBN for audio; one for Large Print; one for print; one for ebook; one for hardback.
Several of the companies will give you a free ISBN but you cannot use it on any other company (i.e. a free Amazon ISBN can only be used on Amazon).
Each country has vastly different prices – the US is far more expensive/ISBN. Canada and the Philippines are free.
I buy mine ten at a time but you can buy singles, tens, or a hundred, with big savings. Tens are suggested for new authors.
The number shows the authors country’, special number … and they are registered centrally with T-B.
UPLOADING EBOOKS
This is free everywhere and the company will lead you through the process. The biggest hassle is doing the finance part of it but at least you no longer have to register for a US tax number. Usually each company will require you to renew the forms every three years.
The two main places for print books are Amazon (KDP) and Ingram Spark/Lightning Source. Ingram requires a US$50/book upload and then $25 for each correction.
If you are going to publish more than one book in a year, then it will be worth paying the membership fee for Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI) or Christian Indie Publishers Association – as they give you 5 free codes a month (not to be shared with anyone).
Ingram gives you access to libraries and certain bookstores. although some of them you might have to let them know about your books and how to order.
You can also use a Print on Demand (POD) company or a printer to do print runs. POD will usually be the same price/book no matter how many you order, whereas a printer will be cheaper the more you order – 100 or 200 or 400, 500. Very few people now risk these larger print runs. I do, but I do lots of seminars where it is easy to sell books.
DIRECT SALES
Down the track a little way, you might decide to set up your own online store. I have started with PayHip, as it doesn’t cost anything to set up. WooCommerce is another popular one and once your store gets going you might choose to go with Shopify. It has a monthly fee but also seems to function as a website (so you can stop paying for a separate website).
Some other helpful articles:
Where should I spend my time at this stage of my writing journey?
Hi Christine, Thanks for sharing. It’s good to have a place to direct local authors who have self/indie publishing questions. We appreciate your support of our writing community. 😊
it is good to be able to give back.
That’s a very useful whistle-stop tour of self-publishing – you could probably write an entire article on each point.
Thank you for the tip about Wise, as that’s something I’m going to have to think about soon.