All You Need to Know About Self-publishing Your eBook

If you’re an aspiring writer researching on how to publish your eBook, the first step is to weigh all your publishing options. Self-publishing is becoming a popular choice for writers and authors all around the world, all thanks to technology.

Learning how to self-publish your eBook and getting your ideas to the world is now easier than it has ever been. 

Here’s everything that you need to know about self-publishing your eBook –

Self-publishing refers to the process of publishing a book as an author, without the use of a traditional publishing house or company.

In this case, an author writes a book and manages the entire publishing process, including editing, designing, and formatting without any help from a traditional publishing company. 

Authors who publish their eBooks on their own, typically enjoy complete creative control, full autonomy over the publishing process and much higher book royalty rates.

To be able to self-publish and maintain full rights to the book, an author needs to bear his/her own expense using a self-publishing platform.

These days, many of the authors are turning to self-publishing platforms such as Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, Smashwords and more.

A self-publishing platform is essentially a medium for authors to create their eBooks and reach their target audiences. It can provide many or all of the following services, either free or for a fee –

• Easy conversion of manuscripts to eBook formats
• Various templates, tools or services to help authors with formatting their books for production (print or electronic) and making them more interactive
• Editing and proofreading services
• Cover, interior design and layout services
• Dedicated marketing services
• Making the book available to distribution channels such as online book sites and bookstores

There are several advantages that the self-publishing route offers to the authors. Some of these are listed below –

• Your Timeline

Authors who publish their eBooks on their own can get their book to market much quicker compared to the traditional publishing process.

• Complete Creative Control

With the self-publishing option, you enjoy complete creative control in terms of how you want your book to be designed, edited, and formatted.

• Better Earning Potential

Unlike low traditional publishing rates, royalty on self-publishing platforms such as Amazon is significantly higher.

• 100% Ownership of Rights

When it comes to traditional publishing, authors generally have to part away with the rights to reprint, film adaptations and merchandising. On the contrary, the independent route of self-publishing ensures that you remain in full control.

The costs to self-publish a book generally vary since the author oversees all aspects of the process. Among the factors that contribute to how much it costs to self-publish a book include –

• The length of your book
• Book cover design
• Getting the book edited
• Different promotional ads/materials you want to utilize

Most of the companies or self-publishing platforms do not charge any fee for basic services such as format conversion, providing templates or publishing. Instead, they take a commission on the sales of books which range anywhere from 10% to 70% of the sale amount.

As they offer the retail platform to the authors, they cut their fees before paying the rest to the author. 

Another cost-related advantage of self-publishing is royalties ranging from 35% to 90%, which is way more financially rewarding compared to the traditional publishing route, where royalties are limited to a meagre 7% to 15%.

Many of the self-publishing platforms also provide detailed trackers and dashboards in an author’s account to help them keep track of their sales and royalty numbers.

New writers often get overwhelmed with the abundance of information about the process of self-publishing, how much it’ll cost, how to do it right, and more.

In this section, we’ll discuss the simple steps that you need to follow to self publish your eBook –

• Write your book

The very first thing you need to do is to plan your first draft depending on what kind of book you’re writing. Do thorough research on the topic before you begin, sketch out characters, settings and map the plot.

• Develop a routine

One of the biggest challenges for writers is to find the time to write -especially those who have multiple commitments such as a job and family obligations. To make sure you don’t lose interest or momentum in the writing process, establish a dedicated writing routine that works with your schedule.

• Edit your manuscript

Editing is a very broad area that requires writers to do everything from rewriting their first draft to the final proofread before the book launch. 

When you’re done with ironing out the story and characters (in case of fiction) or sharing the manuscript with a focus group and re-writing it based on feedback (in case of non-fiction), get a fresh perspective to get your manuscript edited, polished, and proofread again.

• Work on designing the cover and formatting the interior

For self-published authors, the importance of a book cover for sales or attracting readers on retailers like the Kindle store is immense. Make sure the design is attractive and well-thought-out, and the words are formatted on every single page.

• Self-publish as an eBook

The simplest solution to publish your eBook is to use an epublishing platform that lets you upload your eBook and list it for free. Readers then have the option to buy the eBook or have a print version created for them at the click of a button.

• Price your book right and form a launch team

One of the key decisions when it comes to self-publishing a book is how to price it. Give it due consideration and then launch your team of people who are dedicated to helping make your book successful.

Self-publishing is an area that requires tough work to get it right but is well worth the efforts. If you aim to self-publish a bestseller, then you need a detailed and step-by-step system to follow and take action.

The above guide will help you realize your dream of becoming a successful author and also make you understand how attainable self-publishing is.