10 Steps to Publishing Your Own Book this Year

AD* | If you have a head full of ideas and a creative mind, one of the things which you may have considered trying out this year is publishing your own book.

Writing and publishing a book is a huge challenge and it is something which can take months or even years to complete... just look at how long it has taken George R. R. Martin to finish the last books in his Song Of Ice And Fire series!

Writing and publishing a book is a huge job and one which will take time and effort. So, what better time to start than now?


1. Choose a Topic

Writing a book is a very personal thing and as much as you might have an initial idea of what to write, the book will come from your soul when it really comes down to it. It is important for you to choose a topic which is close to your heart and one which you feel you can write and write about for a long time. Choose something you genuinely enjoy and something exciting. Remember that a book is your creation and there are no rules, you can go in whichever direction you want and include whatever and whoever you want.

2. Write Your Book

Writing a book is a very different thing to writing an article and a blog. You have to understand how things will be structured within your book to grab the attention of people around you and you need to understand how to engage and excite people. Make sure that you take the time out to write your book in sections and remember that you don’t have to write it in order. If there is a certain scene which takes your fancy one day and you can picture it clear as day, write it down before you forget. There’s no rule to writing a book so just go with the flow and see where it takes you.

3. Edit Your Book

By the time you finish writing your book, you will have to go through and reread it many times to ensure that it is good enough to go off and be published. Writing a book is a long process and a lot of the time when you go back through to edit it, you might find new ways to get a point across or see a different way to help a sentence flow. Let yourself make changes organically and be natural with it all. Make sure you also get a few family members and friends to read the book and give you their opinion on it.

4. Create a Title

In all honesty, one of the hardest things for you to do when writing a book is come up with a title. A title needs to grab attention and also make sense to the story, and often it can be difficult to find that word or phrase which encapsulates everything you have created. Make sure you take the time to think about your title and consider all of the words you could use. Ask your friends and family to help you come up with something which fits the book and will also capture the attention of the audience.

5. Design Your Cover

There are two ways you can go about this. You can either choose to use a photograph or you can design a graphic cover which is simple and has some unique elements. Designing a book cover is important because people will see the cover and this will either make them want to explore or move on to the next item on the shelf. Be sure if you choose to have a photograph that you take your own photos and don’t use stock photos. Your book needs to look like a piece of art and a creation of its own.

6. Format it

Once a book is written it will need to be taken and formatted so that the pages look great and the design is simple and in keeping with the tone of the book. You can do this yourself if you like however it might be a lot easier to get someone else to do it for you. Asking a pro to format your book will save you a job and the book will end up looking both stunning and professional.

7. Upload it to Kindle

If you want to publish a book through a publisher, you can use this Jericho guide to literary agents which will allow you to see how to choose the right agent to publish your book. However, if you want to self-publish, you can do this easily through Amazon. Amazon Kindle is one of the most popular book platforms in the world and publishing on here can be a great thing. When you want to publish a book and start selling right away, uploading it here couldn’t be easier.

8. Publish to Print

If you want to print your books, various services are available which will allow you to make paper versions of your book. When editing, make sure that the format is right for print as different formatting may be required for physical books as opposed to ebooks.

9. Promote it

Once your book is ready and on sale, you can promote it like crazy. You can use all of your social media channels to promote the book, tell all of your friends and family and make sure to ask them to share the link with you. You can also think about sharing your book for free with bloggers who will share a review of the book with their audience and help you gain some more customers.

10. Start On the Next One

Now that you have one book under your belt, you best get started on another! If you want to be a successful author it is important for you to spend time creating new books all the time and be sure that you are always thinking of new and exciting ideas.

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Have you ever considered self-publishing? Let me know in the comments below!