Over the past couple of years, I went back and forth about how to publish my next book. I really thought that I would go the traditional route of publishing…outline the book, write a few chapters, write a proposal, and shop the book to agents. I was far down that path when I changed my mind again and decided to go the self publishing route.
I talk about why I decided to invest in a self publishing school – Why I Joined the Self-Publishing School – but the purpose of this blog post is to share with you some of the resources I used to self publish Foster and Adoptive Parenting: Authentic Stories that Will Inspire and Encourage Parenting with Connection.
Self publishing a book is a little like building your own house. As the general contractor, you make all the decisions and sub-contract out the work you don’t want to do yourself, or don’t know how to do.
It helps if you first know all of the steps when you are the “general contractor”, and that is where the Self Publishing school helped me out tremendously.
Here are 9 Specific Resources that I used to self publish my book:
- Self Publishing School*. Again, I went into detail why I chose to invest in the Self Publishing School (SPS) in a previous blog. Briefly, SPS helped me decide on the specific book topic, how to mind map the content which led to the outline, and SPS provided step-by-step guidance and support.
- Scrivener*. This is a writing tool that once you get the hang of it helps you to keep your book organized much more easily than a word document.
- Upwork. This is a website where you can search for all kinds of freelancers. I used Upwork to find an editor. It’s a simple process. Post the job you want to fill. Wait for responses. Select your top few choices. Ask them to give you a sample of their work. In my case, I gave them a page to edit. (I made sure that it had things to edit). Finally make your choice and agree on specifics of the job.
- Happy Self Publishing*. I used Happy Self Publishing for the cover design of my book. They also provide everything from A to Z to publish your book if you want to have it done in one place.
- Wild Word Formatting. Jen Henderson, owner of Wild Word Formatting, was recommended to me through SPS. I liked the personal touch that she gave. I didn’t feel like I was just a number in a queue.
- TCK Publishing. This is another full service publishing company. I used one simple, free tool on their site. It’s called the Amazon Book Sales Calculator. This tool helps you select the categories for your book on Amazon.
- Fiverr. This is another site, like Upwork, where you can post or search for free lancers to do all kinds of work. Many of the “gigs” are only $5! I purchased two gigs to help increase the visibility of my book in search engines.
- Social Media. I lumped all of these together, but I mainly used Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I also posted on LinkedIn. On Facebook, I participate in groups that pertain to the genre of my book, writing/author groups, and blogger groups. I also have a Facebook Author page, and I created a launch team Facebook group specifically for this book.
- Kindle Direct Publishing. Yes, there are other ebook distributors. iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo are the closest competitors to Amazon. But it’s really not that close. So for now I am focused on Amazon (Kindle) because about 3/4 of all ebooks sold are through Amazon.
I could go into greater detail on how I utilized each of these resources, but space doesn’t allow that in just one blog post. However, I am happy to dialogue with you in more detail if you have questions.
My objective is to help all of you who have considered writing that book that is inside of you, but just don’t know where to begin. I hope this information helps you to at least have an idea of what to do. Make 2017 the year you write and publish your book!
*affiliate links
[divider top=”no”]You can get a Kindle version of my new book—Foster and Adoptive Parenting: Authentic Stories that Will Inspire and Encourage Parenting with Connection on Amazon.
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