Before I self-published my first book, I really didn’t think too hard about what the process would be like. Amazon makes it sound so easy. Just upload your book to our website and voila! You’re a published author. And yes, on one hand, it is that easy. On the other hand, if you want your book to sell and get the attention of readers, it’s not that easy. Not at all.
So if you’ve ever wondered what exactly goes into self-publishing a book, here’s a look at the process.
Edits
There are a lot of rounds of editing that need to go into a book before it’s released to the world. I hire a developmental editor (who looks at the entire story as a whole and gives feedback on plot and character development), a copy editor (who checks spelling and grammar), and a proofreader (who looks for any errors big and small). Then, when I’m formatting my book, I do a final round of edits to see if any mistakes got past me and the other editors.
Cover
Every book needs a cover, and fiction books especially need covers that will grab the attention of a potential reader. Some writers are lucky enough to have the artistic skills needed to design a great cover. I am not one of them, so I have to pay someone to do it for me. I’ve been lucky enough to work with great cover designers over the years who come up with the perfect image for my story.
Formatting
Once all the edits are done, it’s time to format. Some writers also outsource this task, and maybe one day I will, but I actually like formatting. Is it a bit tedious? Sure, but it’s also thrilling to see your book actually look like a book instead of a Word document. I upload my manuscript into the formatting software and then spend usually a week carefully reading through it, looking for any issues.
Uploading
When I’m all done formatting my book, I head over to Amazon and upload it there. If you’re publishing an e-book and a paperback, you have to do two separate uploads. I was full of nerves the first time I went through the process, but now that I’ve done it four times, it’s gotten a lot easier. After all the correct information is entered, I don’t hit Publish, believe it or not. I order a preview copy of the paperback to be sent to me so I can look through it and make sure for a final time that everything looks okay.
Publish
After I receive the paperback in the mail and flip through it, if something’s wrong, I go back into Amazon and change what needs to be changed. Then I finally hit that Publish button. But guess what? The book isn’t published right then. Amazon has to go through and approve everything. This typically takes a day, sometimes two. When the book is finally live, Amazon sends an email telling me it’s available to the world.