Self-publishing is becoming an increasingly popular option for independent authors who want to promote their books without having to rely upon a traditional publishing house. Traditional publishing contracts hard to land. You also give up a large portion of control to the publisher in terms of ownership rights. Self-publishing allows you to retain full control over the rights to your work. With self-publishing, you can make your book available to the public sooner than traditional publishing.
Steps to Self-Publishing Success
With all of the benefits that indie publishing offers, it’s easy to see why many authors are circumventing traditional routes altogether and bootstrapping their way to publishing glory. If you are ready to venture into the world of indie publishing, ChatEbooks lists down some simple steps you can take to position yourself for success.
Learn to Multi-Task
Undertaking a self-publishing project means that you will wear many hats. In addition to writing your book, you will need to proofread, edit and design your book cover as well. Or hire someone to do it for you. Double-check your title to make sure that it will grab your readers’ attention; this small but very significant step can mean the difference between someone buying your book or passing it by.
Get an ISBN number
This 10 or 13-digit code is commonly used to identify your book. There are several self-publishing sites that can provide this number for you. But, if you’re going to go it alone, you can buy one directly from ISBN at this link: [http://www.isbn.org/buyISBNs]. Be aware that one ISBN number will cost you $125. If you want to acquire multiple ISBNs for other works, you can buy 10 for $295. Having an ISBN number will put your work into the Bowker database. This is a primary source of information for bookstores looking to pick up new titles for retailing.
Choose what type of publishing method you want to use
If you’re on a shoestring budget, keeping your book in a strictly electronic format is your best option. It is the most cost-effective way to publish your work. But if you’re able to invest in printing physical copies of your book, you need to have a good feel for how many copies of your book you’re expecting to sell so that you won’t end up with excess inventory. A more economical way to go is to choose some type of print-on-demand (POD) service. This allows you to print your books as the orders come in. There are several POD providers out there to choose from. These include Xlibris [http://www.xlibris.com/], Lulu [http://www.lulu.com/] and CreateSpace [http://www.createspace.com/].
Market Your Book
Now comes the fun part. The rest of your time should be spent on advertising and marketing your book. It is best to do this through as many different promotional channels as possible. You can publish press releases, promote the book to various distributors, purchase online advertising space on popular reading community websites, develop a website around your book, submit your book to influential reviewers, join online forums for indie publishing authors, etc. Open up as many promotional avenues as possible to give your book the type of exposure it deserves.
Although self-published authors live in an era of unprecedented opportunity, you still must be willing to hustle and work hard in order to make your book stand out from the crowd. Apply diligence to the above steps, and you will be well on your way to self-publishing success.
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