You’ve decided to become an independent (indie) author (yay!) but now you’re probably wondering exactly how to self-publish your book.

It’s never been easier to self-publish – believe me, I know, having worked in the industry since its infancy in the mid-1990s – BUT with ease of use also comes options. 

And too many options often lead to information overload and overwhelm, which can stall your book’s launch into the world.

To help you cut through all the noise, I’m going to share a high-level overview of the general 5-step self-publishing process.

How to Self-Publish Your Book in 5 Steps

While it would seem that the only thing you need to do to self-publish a book is to hit an “upload” button, there are actually 5 critical steps to self-publishing.

#1 Complete a quality manuscript capable of competing with traditionally published books on the market.

This means that your book is not only professionally edited and designed (both interior formatting and book cover), but it also contains all the appropriate front and back matter components in the proper order, and incorporates hi-resolution images or illustrations.

#2 Treat your authorship as a business.

We’re talking finances, taxes, and legal considerations here.

Before you ever make a dime, and preferably before you invest in any outside services, you should, at a minimum, open a separate bank account for your book business.

Regardless of whether or not you create a formal, legal business entity such as an LLC, you want to separate your book’s income and expenses from your personal bank account.

This will be super helpful come tax time. And yes, you will be taxed on any income you make from your book itself or related to your book (such as public speaking income).

It’s worth noting that as a self-published author, all legal ramifications will fall on you. So be sure you obtain any necessary reprint permissions, be open and honest about any AI usage in your book, and be careful how you speak about others – you want to avoid defamation and libel lawsuits.

#3 Conduct research to make important pre-publication decisions

Research other books on the market in your genre. What’s the predominant size, format, cover design style, coloring, price, etc. You want to strike a balance of fitting in enough so readers know your book is the kind they like to read while also standing out enough from the competition so your book is selected over theirs.

You also need to determine whether you’ll assign an ASIN or an ISBN, distribute wide or exclusive, how much of a wholesale discount you’ll offer, and what keywords and categories you’ll use.

#4 Publish your manuscript

This involves

• Selecting the right print-on-demand (POD) company for you
• Creating an author account with that POD
• Uploading your files
• Ordering a proof copy
• Releasing your book to the world

#5 Market your book

Although I list this as the last step, it’s actually something you should be working on all through steps 1-4. This includes building your author platform and determining how you’ll actually sell your books.

At a minimum, you need:

• a website
• an email service provider (ESP)
• a lead magnet (something of value for the potential reader in exchange for their email address)
• a marketing plan

There’s so much involved in marketing that I devote 3 entire sections to it in my free Self-Publishing Checklist. This checklist breaks down everything I shared with you here into more detail and offers much information. You’ll definitely want to download my free Self-Publishing Checklist.

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