Part 1: What Are the Steps to Self-Publishing?
- Jackie
- Jan 24
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 13
You've done it! You've finished the first draft of your brand new book! You've decided to self-publish because you want to retain creative control over every aspect of your book, and you don't want to wait on the traditional publishing timeline. You understand there's upfront costs to self-publishing, but you'll get a much higher royalty rate so you don't mind.
But what actually are the steps to getting self-published?
Self-Edits
The first thing you need to do is self edit. This is where you go through your entire manuscript in several stages, looking for any errors you can fix yourself.
The first stage involves high level things like plot holes, slow spots, inconsistent characterization, and any other problems with the story itself. This stage can take multiple drafts to finish as you should only focus on one problem at a time.
The second stage is to look at the actual words, sentences, and paragraphs you're using. Should that paragraph actually be earlier in the chapter? Is that sentence unnecessarily long? Is there a stronger word you could use instead? This can usually be done in a single final draft.
The final stage is to look over spelling, grammar, punctuation, and all the other small, fiddly things that make your book look professional. This can be done on your final draft.
Beta Reader(s)
Once you've edited your manuscript to the best of your ability, the next step is to send your book to beta readers. These are people who are familiar with your genre and can tell you anything you weren't able to see in your self-edits. They can also tell you if your book meets reader and genre expectations.
To learn about the different kinds of beta readers, you can read my blog post Should You Pay for a Beta Reader?
Editing
After getting your manuscript back from your beta readers, the next step is to hire editors. All four levels of editing are recommended, although some of them can be combined, such as line and copy editing or copy editing and proofreading.
This post will only cover the basics of each kind of editing, so if you'd like a more detailed look into any of them, you can read my blog post What Are the Different Types of Fiction Editing?
Developmental Editing
Also called substantive or structural editing, developmental editing looks at all the high level, big picture parts of your story. This level of editing only deals with what story you're telling, not the details of how it's written.
Line Editing
Line editing looks at how your story is written. This level of editing deals with paragraphs, sentences, and word choice.
Copy Editing
Copy editing looks at the minutiae of your manuscript. This level of editing deals with readability, clarity, accuracy, and grammar.
Proofreading
Proofreading looks at your manuscript on a technical level. This level of editing deals with anything missed by the copy editor in regards to grammar as well as formatting issues.
After getting your manuscript fully edited, you need to turn it into an actual sellable book. The next three steps can be done in any order you choose or even at the same time, as long as they're all done before you upload your book to a platform.
Cover Design
If you want your book to look professional, it needs to have a professionally designed cover. Unless you are an artist and understand what makes a good cover, you shouldn't do it yourself. Instead, you should hire someone who specializes in cover design for your genre.
The most common—and arguably best—choice is also the most expensive. This involves hiring someone to design a bespoke front and back cover for you to your exact specifications.
The other option is to buy a premade cover. These are covers that designers have already made with a particular genre in mind and cannot be altered beyond adding your name and book title. The upside to this option is these covers are significantly cheaper than bespoke covers, so they're a good option if you're low on funds.
Formatting
Formatting is the way the inside of your book looks. It includes things like page margins, fonts, spacing, chapter headers, and page numbers. It's what makes your book look like a book and not a Word document or PDF.
There are several options for how to format your book.
One option is to hire a professional formatter. This is a good option if you have things like unique section break designs or elaborate chapter headers. It's also a good option if you're nervous about doing it yourself or just don't want to worry about it.
Another option is to do it yourself. There are several book formatting programs available, but the most well-known are Atticus and Vellum. This is a good option if your book has a simple format or you want to save on the cost of a formatter.
The final option is to do it yourself within the platform you'll be using to publish. This can be a good option if funds are tight since it's a free part of using that platform. However, not all platforms have this option, and if you plan to publish through multiple platforms, you'll have to do it for each platform separately.
ISBNs
ISBNs, or International Standard Book Numbers, are a unique set of numbers that identify a book and allow it to be sold. Each version of a book requires its own ISBN, so if you want to sell ebook, paperback, and hardcover versions of your book, you will need three different ISBNs.
In Canada, ISBNs are free. They are available through Library and Archives Canada, a part of the Government of Canada.
In the United States, ISBNs are $125 USD each. They are available through the US ISBN Agency, Bowker, and can be purchased in bulk for a discount.
If you publish an ebook exclusively through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), you don't need an ISBN. They assign you an ASIN for free. However, if you'd like to publish your ebook outside of Amazon or sell paperback and/or hardcover copies, you will need an ISBN.
Now that you've finished all of the other steps, the only thing left is to actually publish your book!
Publishing
In order to publish your book, you need to decide what platform you want to distribute your book through. There are two main options: book retailers and aggregators.
Book retailers are places like Amazon (KDP), Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. They are all free to publish with, but your book will only be available through their service. However, you can publish your book through all of them at once unless you enrol in the KDP Select program.
Aggregators are platforms that will distribute your book across many book retailers for you. This option is ideal if you feel overwhelmed by the number of retailers you'd need to independently upload to or if you're worried about missing out on a retailer.
The one downside to an aggregator is they will either cost money upfront or will take a percentage of your sales. There are several aggregators out there, but the most well-known and trusted are Draft2Digital and IngramSpark.
In summary, there are a lot of steps required to become a self-published author—and a lot of upfront costs too. But if you want total creative control, a faster publishing timeline, and higher royalties, self-publishing is the route for you.
Did this post change your mind about self-publishing in some way? Let me know in the comments or on social media (Facebook or Instagram)!
Happy writing!
Further Reading:
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