How to Self-publish Your Own Novel

Anyone who introduces themselves as a writer has no doubt heard this statement many times. There's a common misconception in the general public that writing is easy and anyone can do it. There's a story I once heard about a surgeon who told the late, great playwright, George Bernard Shaw that when he retires, he plans to write. Shaw, demonstrating the wit present in his work, is rumored to have responded with, "when I retire, I plan to operate on people."

If you've made the leap to become a writer, then congratulations -- you're either extremely stupid or certifiably insane (or maybe both). On the bright side, you're in good company. My fellow writers are among the most entertaining people I've ever had the opportunity to know. But don't kid yourself -- it's not all about banging out a few pages a day and then spending the rest of your time drinking/smoking/snorting/absorbing rectally yourself into oblivion. It's a lot of hard work and unless you're lucky enough to have the CEO of a publishing house sitting at your table every year at family gatherings, actually writing your novel is probably the easiest step of the process.

Writing a novel can be a very time-consuming process. Pounding out that first draft can take as little as a month or as long as ten years. It's all up to you and depends on how much time you can commit to the project. I wrote my novel, Fallen, in a month. It's not always simple, though. I've been writing my current novel for almost a year and I still haven't passed the halfway point.

Once you finish that first draft, the hard work has just begun. Now it's revision time. What I like to do is print out the complete manuscript and set aside a few hours. I then go through it word by word and start editing. Beyond just spelling and grammar, though. I also go through and make notes in the margins for things I wanted to alter, sections I wanted to add more to, or sections I just wanted to outright delete. Once that's done, I go back to my computer and make the necessary changes. It's entirely up to you whether you want to go through further revisions, which in reality isn't a bad idea at all, especially if you don't have an editor.

Speaking of editors (how's that for a transition?), that's the next step in the process. I recommend finding yourself an editor. Some of the POD services out there such as Lulu or CreateSpace offer editing services (we'll talk about those more in a moment) and you can always find an editor through any number of networking sites such as Craigslist or MySpace. The catch here is that in the case of hiring an editor, it's possible you'll have to pay them (and with the POD services, you will have to pay). What I did, and what I recommend if you have the option, is to have a friend edit your book. This is important, so pay close attention: this does not mean have another writer edit your book! I'll repeat: THIS DOES NOT MEAN HAVE ANOTHER WRITER EDIT YOUR BOOK! Writers are great, but sometimes, their knowledge of the English language is downright pathetic. Writing and editing are two very different disciplines. Yes, there are writers out there who also have very good editing skills, but they're not always very common. Your best bet when getting a friend to edit your book is to ask a friend who has some background in editing. Anyone who possesses or is pursuing at least a bachelors degree in English is a good bet.

At this point, some of you might be asking, "Perry, do I really need an editor?" My answer is no, you don't need an editor -- but it's definitely helpful. If you decide to edit the book yourself, then do yourself a favor and join some online writing groups, send them copies of your manuscript, and get feedback. It's important to have at least one additional set of eyes go over your book. And don't dismiss your harsh critics -- sometimes, their insight can be the most valuable. But don't let trolls get you down, either. There's no such thing as an impartial critique -- everyone has a bias and you have to take this into account with the comments you receive. If you're writing a sci-fi action-thriller and you ask someone who only reads romance novels what they thought of your book, chances are it won't be their cup of tea.

So now you've gotten your manuscript back from your editor, it's time for another revision. Go back to your favorite word processing program, make the changes, and now is the time to make a decision. If you want to go through further revisions, go right ahead, just don't fall into what I like to call the revision trap. That's when your book is in a constant state of revision and you're never satisfied with the end result. Your novel won't be perfect and unless you've got an ego the size of a small planet, chances are you'll always find something about your work that just completely pisses you off. Just remember that it's okay to not be completely satisfied -- some of the best writers I've ever met cannot stand to read their own work.

Once you have a manuscript you feel is ready for publication, there are a few different routes to take, and everything I've discussed up to this point is a cakewalk compared to the next part and no matter what path you take, none of them will be easy. The first is the most obvious: submit your manuscript to a publisher but unfortunately, that's easier said than done. Many publishers won't even look at a submission unless it's from an agent and the ones that do are most-likely swamped with submissions. The second route is to find an agent. The Association of Artists' Representatives is a great place to start your search. Another good spot is to go to your local bookstore or library and pick up a copy of the latest Writer's Marketplace. It can be very pricey, so I recommend checking the library first. But avoid any agents who charge a "reading fee" -- no ethical agent engages in this practice and you're setting yourself up to be involved in a scam. Whenever you contact an agent or a publisher, be sure to follow their submission guidelines to the letter! Typically, the average agent will ask for the first three chapters or the first fifty pages of the manuscript (whichever is shorter) and a cover letter that includes the description of the book and your background information. But this can vary from agent to agent -- some agents request the full manuscript, some just want the first 10-15 pages. Writing the cover letter is the key to getting an agent to recognize you, so hit the web and look for information on writing good cover letters. Remember, your job is to sell yourself and your product and avoid a form letter.

Now, let's say every agent and publisher you've submitted your book to has responded with a rejection letter. So what do you do? This is where the self-publishing route comes in and this is also an extremely difficult task. First you have to decide how you're going to publish it. There are a lot of services out there which will do a lot of the work for you, such as iUniverse, but these frequently charge very high prices, anywhere from $600 to $3000. And if you're like me, you won't have this kind of cash just lying around. There are also some very shady businesses out there, along the lines of the infamous PublishAmerica, who will rip you off -- check out the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., they have a section on their website called Writer Beware. Use good judgment, check out online writer forums, and remember the age-old adage: if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

There is another option, but it will be hard work. Two POD (print on demand) sites have sprung up lately, one is Lulu and the other is CreateSpace. Both offer similar packages -- no start-up fees, no minimum orders, and you get to keep all the rights. I've never used CreateSpace but I have used Lulu and I was very pleased with the final product -- they have quick delivery and their product is very professional. The downside to Lulu and CreateSpace is they don't do anything other than publish the book and collect their share of the profits. They do offer services such as editing, formatting, cover design, marketing, etc. -- but these cost extra. If you can do all these things yourself or you know someone who can, I recommend asking them for help.

For the sake of this article, I'm going to assume you have no one to help you and you have to do everything yourself. That means you have to format your book for publication. Lulu offers tutorials for how to do this with Microsoft Word and their forums are filled with people who can give you help on laying out your book. I use Adobe InDesign to format my book because it gives me the most freedom in how I want the novel to look. However, just about every Adobe product has a large learning curve and also costs a pretty penny. There's a lot of open source software available these days that can be downloaded for free, and many of these programs are just as good as the overpriced "professional" programs. Wikipedia may not be the most reliable source of information, but it does provide a very good list of open source software.

Cover design is another thing to consider. I'm not sure about CreateSpace, but Lulu provides a generic cover designer that gives you template images. If you can, design your own cover. Again, I use an Adobe product, this time Photoshop and again, it has a large learning curve and is quite pricey. Also again, check out the above Wikipedia link for a list of open source alternatives. What will your cover have? That depends on what your book is about. Fallen involves a lot of Biblical elements, like heaven, hell, angels, demons, etc. So for the cover image, I altered an old painting of Paradise Lost in Photoshop, putting it through a number of filters until it gave me an effect I liked and I designed a logo for the book, slapped my name on it, and wrote up a description for the back cover. Maybe you just want some sort of pattern on the cover, maybe you want a photograph, maybe you just want plain text. That's fine -- in the end, it's your book and your decision.

Once you've uploaded all your files to your POD service of choice, you have another decision to make -- how much will your book cost? Both charge a basic assembling fee, around $3-4 per book and both charge $0.02 per black and white page. What you set your cover price will determine how much money you make in royalties but beware that the higher your price, the less chance your book has of moving a lot of copies. You could be the next Hemingway, but no one will know if you're asking $22 for a 250-page paperback. Do your research -- go to your local bookstores and find books that are in the same genre as yours and are of similar length. Fallen is a sci-fi/fantasy book with horror elements and clocks in at about 250 pages. After doing some research at my local Borders, I decided a reasonable cover price was $14.

If you want your book to appear on Amazon.com or have it available for people to order through bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble, you'll need an ISBN. If you decided to go with Lulu, you'll need to purchase a distribution package that assigns an ISBN to your book. If you don't purchase a distribution package, your book will only be available for sale through Lulu's website. So it's in your best interests to purchase a distribution package. The "Published by Lulu" package costs around $100 and lists Lulu as the publisher of your book. This is what I recommend and it's the package I chose. Apparently, CreateSpace automatically assigns your book an ISBN for no additional charge, so they may end up becoming the POD service of choice. However, since I've yet to experiment with them, I can't comment on their final product.

For Lulu, when you set your list price you can either set how much you want your royalty per book to be or you can just set the list price. If you just choose how much you want for royalties, bear in mind that your price will be marked up everywhere outside of Lulu. The reason is the distributors get a percentage of the sale price. So unless you want your book to cost $20 on Amazon, set the overall list price at $14. You won't make as much money from the distributors, but your book has a chance of selling more copies. And let's be honest -- if you're in writing for the money, you should consider a career change. I recommend prostitution -- both involve whoring yourself out, but one is a tad more tasteful (I'll let you be the judge of which one that is).

Also a quick note: your book will not be found on the shelves of Borders or Barnes & Noble. The only way someone can buy it through these stores is by specifically requesting it. The reason for this is because POD services only print copies when there are orders placed. The books are not returnable to the publisher. so the stores won't take a chance on them. In other words, you have to market your book to get the word out. And that's what we'll talk about now.

Unless you've somehow published a book equipped with artificial intelligence (and programmed it to be particularly good at marketing), your novel will not sell itself. You'll have to market it on your own. Again, both Lulu and CreateSpace offer services you can purchase for marketing if you wish. Use the web to your advantage -- MySpace, Craigslist, eBay, etc. Look up podcasts that specifically discuss books -- especially books in your genre. E-mail those podcast hosts/producers and ask them if they'd be willing to interview you or just talk about your book on their show. If you can afford to, purchase copies of your books and send them out to different places to review. Websites, college newspapers, local newspapers, etc. College newspapers are especially a good market -- I worked as an editor for a student newspaper in college and I'll tell you, we love free shit. Do other classic marketing tricks -- design postcards and either mail them out or leave them in a local coffee shop or restaurant or bookstore. Hand them out at concerts or clubs or just on the street. You have lots of options to market yourself cheaply and effectively, so get started!