Uncover the Mystery of Self-Publishing: A Step-by-Step Guide by Kathy Shanks

The topic of self-publishing is often a source of confusion for aspiring authors and journal creators. Questions such as “How do I format my book?” or “What should I include on the cover?” are common. To clarify the process, let’s break down self-publishing and eliminate its mystery.

The journey to publishing a book or journal involves a multitude of choices, ranging from small details like author photos to larger considerations like distribution. Navigating this process can become overwhelming if one tries to make all the decisions alone. The decisions you make on day one, can cause an effect you don’t want on launch day, so it’s important to make ‘informed’ decisions. The solution is to seek help from the right people. The most common conversation starter I hear from people at events is, “I want to publish a book one day.” My response is always, “why ‘one day’ and why not now? What is holding you back?” The first step to avoiding overwhelm, is to get an overview of what’s coming.

Writing: The Foundation of Your Book

It’s time to bring your words to life. But where do you start? For some this comes easily, and others will procrastinate constantly. The key is to get started. Did you know, you can hire someone to create a book outline for you to get you started? If you’re struggling with the writing process, consider working with a book coach or ghostwriter who can guide you through the entire writing process. 

Editing: The Fine-Tuning Stage

Editing is one of the most important stages of self-publishing. There are three types of editing to consider: structural, copy/line, and proofreading. A structural edit will provide you with feedback on how to improve your book’s structure, character development, and readability. A copy/line edit will focus on correcting your punctuation, language, sentence structure, and spelling. The final proofread will give you one last chance to catch any errors before you move on to the next stage.

Book Cover: The Face of Your Book

The book cover is the first thing a reader will see, so it’s important to make a good impression. This is an exciting stage of the self-publishing process and many self-publishers opt to work with a professional book cover designer. A great cover will not only grab the reader’s attention and attract the right audience, but will also help you market your book and generate buzz before it’s even released. 

Formatting: The Professional Touch

Your manuscript is ready, and now it’s time to format it for both ebook and print publication. This stage requires a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of industry standards. By formatting your book professionally, you’ll ensure that it’s easy to read and will stand out among other self-published works.

Optimization: The Secret to Boosting Your Book’s Reach

Optimization is often an overlooked step in the self-publishing process, but it’s critical to the success of your book. At this stage, we help our clients find keywords that are in high demand and low competition, and use them in your book’s title, cover, description, and tagline. This will help ensure that your book reaches the right audience and that people understand what your book is about at a glance. The goal here is to actually SELL your book. Many authors focus on the book creation, but forget this critical step – just putting your book on Amazon, does not make it a best seller… it MUST reach your audience as well!

Book Launch: Get Your Book Out into the World

Your book is ready for its launch! Our process is to combine wholesale printing, with on-demand printing to ensure you can supply your warm market with books directly, sell them on social media, whilst also ensuring your book is online worldwide. With print-on-demand, you can self-publish your book without having to spend thousands of dollars on printing. When a reader orders your book online, it will be printed and shipped directly to them, and you’ll receive a royalty for each sale. The launch of your book is an exciting time, and there are many strategies you can use to maximise its potential and reach a wider audience.

Reviews: Keep Your Book in the Spotlight

Don’t stop at launch! To keep your book in the spotlight, it’s important to build reviews. This requires time, commitment, and a quality book. When you have a high-quality book and positive reviews, it becomes easier to reach a wider audience and make more sales.

Amazon Advertising: Monetize Your Commitment

We strongly suggest establishing a campaign through Amazon advertising. Taking advantage of Amazon’s highly effective advertising platform is a crucial step in monetizing your efforts. Expertise is necessary to make the most of this, but we’re here to help you get started or manage your account for you.

Self-publishing can be done entirely independently, but it does require you to acquire new skills along the way. My advice for all authors is to concentrate on the tasks that you enjoy. You’ll be able to complete those quickly. For any tasks you struggle with, seek assistance. Don’t spend years trying to figure out the publishing process when you could enlist the help of others and get your book published, allowing you to focus on writing your next one.

Book a 30-minute free consult with us, and let’s see how we can help your book dream come true, www.turtlepublishing.com.au.

Case Study

If you dream of becoming an author but are hesitant to take the plunge, I suggest participating in an anthology project. We run at least one anthology per year and plan to have two projects this year. 

When you participate in an anthology, you get the whole team behind you. You have extra help throughout the writing, editing, publishing process AND you have multiple authors talking about and promoting your book. It’s a great way to get started.

Our latest project is “Overcome and Succeed with Gratitude.” This inspiring anthology features 10 incredible women sharing their personal journeys of losing and finding gratitude. From heartwarming to heart-wrenching, these stories will touch your soul. And the best part? These women also share their journaling methods for practising gratitude daily. Get your copy now and experience the power of gratitude! 

Being part of these projects is a fantastic opportunity for us to work with new writers and help them turn their story into a chapter. Our past contributors have been amazed by what they can achieve and many initially felt intimidated.

To learn more about this book and the talented authors involved, mark your calendars for our online book launch event on 3 March 2023 – https://fb.me/e/2hOpZSyKf