How Self Publishers Can Publish Books on Their Own

Many prospective self publishers go to Lulu, iUniverse, and other online sites that advertise themselves as an easy way to self publish a book. But many people don't realize that they can self publish their own books and keep more power over the process by doing everything themselves.

Unfortunately, while some online publishing sites will require little effort on your part, you are required to price your book higher than usual in order to break a profit, and you may sometimes find that sales are slack for a variety of reasons. Who is really willing to pay $20-$25 for a thin paperback book?

Here is one of the quickest guides you'll ever read regarding self publishing a book. Hopefully this will help the thousands of self publishers publishing books on their own.

The process of self-publishing a book is pretty straightforward when you think about it. Here are the basic steps:

1) Write/Edit your book in Word or Works. Many authors have already written their book by the time they come looking for this information, but what many authors don't understand is the importance of hiring a highly qualified book editor and proofreader (sometimes different people) to make sure that the book is on point. Sometimes you need one or two other sets of eyes to really make sure that you haven't missed anything.

2) Have the book typeset into a format that can be produced by a book printer. Once the final edited version of your book is complete, the next step is having it formatted and transported into a PDF. You will sometimes be lucky to find an editor who can also typset your completed book.

3) Have a cover designed that can be produced by a book printer. The final piece of your production process is a professional cover designed by a professional cover designer. The three most important aspects of a good cover design are the front main picture, the title you chose, and the back cover text. The last two points are completely up to you, unless you hire someone to write your title and back cover for you.

4) Print the book. Finally, when you have a PDF and TIF file (or any of the other acceptable formats that printers can use), you will have to find a printer within your budget to produce your books. There are several sources online you can use to get quotes for book printing.

5) Publicize Your Book. Before you even receive your finished books in hand, it's time to start publicizing your book. You should have developed some type of raw marketing plan for your book by now and a budget of money to put toward your marketing and advertising plan. Many authors first seek reviews to publicize their books, some do press releases, some cold call bookstores and distributors, and others use more traditional advertising methods to see if they can get some attention for their books.

6) Sell Your Book. Once you have your book in hand, it's time to start "hustling." If you have a mailing list of people who are ready to buy your book, make sure they know that the book is here. You will probably want to start telling everyone you know that you have book out. Carry a few copies of your book with you at all times in case you run into someone who might be interested in supporting your cause. Price your book reasonably; what would you be willing to pay if someone approached you with their book? Finally, you will want to start filling any orders you receive from your work appealing to bookstores and distributors.

Of course, there are some other steps that you need to follow in order to self-publish a book, such as getting your ISBN, barcode, and copyrighting your work, but these six steps are the core of self-publishing a book. Don't try to find the cheapest service providers, find the BEST. Once your book is done and printed it will cost you so much more to get it fixed if it wasn't done right the first time. If you need help, don't ever hesitate to ask questions and hire the people (within reason) who can help you get to the next level with your newly published book.