How to Self-Publish for Beginners

Overview

You have a great idea for a book and have decided to self-publish. Self-publishing can be a psychologically and financially rewarding experience. With the ability to work directly with your layout, design and editing team, you can get your book to market quickly with complete creative control. Though all the profits from book sales go into your pocket, there may be considerable upfront costs to publish and market your new book.

The Self-Publishing Process

Step 1

Consider your budget and determine how much of your money you wish to tie up in books, where you would store them and how they would be shipped. A great option for self-publishing that requires little up-front cost for inventory and alleviates the burden of storing and shipping books is print-on-demand (POD). Each book is printed and shipped by the POD publisher as the book is ordered; most can supply you with an ISBN number as well.

Step 2

Decide if you want your book to be soft or hardcover and the size of the finished product. Most new authors choose a standard trade paperback size, which is 5.25 by 8.25 inches high. POD publishers and book printers will provide you with specific layout and prepress instructions based on your book's finished size.

Step 3

Sketch out a design for your book cover and hire a graphic designer to prepare the cover artwork unless you are skilled with graphic design and layout yourself. Provide your designer with the back cover promotional copy you wish to use as well. Alternatively, many POD publishers and book printers have cover templates available; all you would have to do is provide a professional author head shot photograph and your cover copy.

Step 4

Import your finished word processing document into a professional layout program like Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress or Corel VENTURA for a more polished look. Format the book to your publisher's specifications, adding desired graphics and artistic embellishments.

Step 5

Upload your completed files to your publisher. In just a few weeks, you will have your book in hand.