It used to be when someone wrote a book, you would have to jump through hoops to get a publisher interested in your book. When I first started writing decades ago, that was how it was. I sent my first book out to publishers, but they said I needed an agent and I had no idea what I was doing. My hopes to publish were quickly squashed when I received rejection letter after rejection letter. I threw my unpublished book on a shelf for 10 years and didn’t touch it. Fast forward to nowadays and the publishing industry has suddenly changed.
The answer to the question is YES! You can definitely publish your own book. In fact, you can be in charge of the entire process from beginning to end. It’s easy and empowering, and just as good as traditional publishers. It’s called self-publishing your book as an independent. That’s what people mean when they say, indie author.
It took me a while to muster up the courage to self-publish my own books, but once I did, I realized it wasn’t as hard as I thought. Below are some points to consider if you want to become an indie author.
IS MY BOOK GOOD ENOUGH?
The biggest hurdle is self-doubt. We all struggle with this one no matter how long we’ve been writing. I remember writing my first book, wondering if I had done it right. Was there a certain style I should be following, or a certain method I should follow?
You hear so much garbage out there in the writing industry and it can be confusing. Firstly, writing is an art. PERIOD! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Your art is just as good as the next persons.
Don’t let other so-called successful authors ruin your dream. I fell victim to this. I’d join forums and chat with other authors, and they would tell me I was doing this wrong and that wrong. Just STOP! BREATHE! You are an author because you write. Your writing is an art, and nobody can dictate YOUR art to you! NOBODY!
So, going forward, write what you love and love what you write. The rest will fall into place no matter what you decide to do with it. You might just want to publish your book just because you want to hold it in your hands for a keepsake. Maybe you write poems and you would like to pass them down to your grandchildren, but you want it to look professional. By all means, self-publish.
It doesn’t have to be about the money.
And then there are many who want to make a living as an author. AND YOU CAN! Yes, even as a self-published indie author. Do the best you can to polish your work. Proofread, edit, and make your book look professional.
Some indie authors hire professional editors and proofreaders, but you don’t have to. I didn’t. I couldn’t afford to pay someone thousands of dollars when I was just starting out. That was ridiculous!
Just download software that helps, like Grammarly, and Microsoft Word. I use those and they help me polish my manuscripts. People give up before even starting because they worry that it won’t be good enough. Don’t do that. Push forward, generate confidence, and put one foot in front of the other.
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
PUSHING PAST FEAR
Most of it is fear! Yes, as mentioned above, we fear we our book won’t be good enough. We fear we won’t have enough time. We fear people will give one-star reviews. Blah, blah, blah.
That’s self-sabotage. We fear that we won’t succeed, and we fear we will. So, we write 50 pages and then quit. We quit because we are afraid.
Well, my friend, how badly do you want this? Writing is hard, but it’s also rewarding. It has to be your passion or it will quickly become a burden. If it’s all about the money, stop right now.
But if you decide to write no matter if you make a dime or not, you’ve got some gold to work with. That means this is your dream. Writing has always been my dream, and in 2012 I saw my dream come true. I self-published my first book. I can’t tell you enough how amazing that feeling was. There is nothing like it.
Push past the fear and JUST DO IT!
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
TAKING THE FIRST STEP
Sometimes all we have to do is take the first step and the ball with start moving. If something’s stuck in your head for so long and you never take action, you can convince yourself that you are a writer.
But unless you actually put pen to paper, or start typing the words, you are not a writer…yet! Get your story out of your head and just start. Sometimes that might mean carving out some extra time in the morning before work to write a few chapters.
Sometimes that might mean writing on your day off and saying no to a family outing. It is what it is. If you want to be a writer, you have to do the work, and doing the work requires taking the first step.
And once you do, you can set a plan of action to publish your book. That’s exciting! Get excited about it. Tell other people. Tell your family so they know you are working toward a goal and don’t want to be bothered when you’re writing.
Take the first step toward publishing. It’s not as hard as you think.
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
SETTING UP A PLAN
When I started writing my first novel, I didn’t have a plan. I’m one of those writers that like to write by the seat of my pants. I love that! But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about planning out how you will complete your novel and publish it.
As I said, my first book sat on my shelf for 10 long years before I did anything with it. Why? Because I gave up. More importantly, I didn’t have a plan of action. What I should have done is look into alternative publishing options at that time.
Finally, after 10 years went by and I hadn’t written anything else, I stumbled upon self-publishing by accident. The world wide web was relatively new and I started to explore it. I started to wonder if I could just do it all myself.
Before this, self-publishing meant you would have to shovel a tone of money out and somehow print it all yourself. I envisioned an entire garage full of thousands of dollars of my self-printed books sitting stagnant not selling.
But nowadays, as the internet grew, ebooks started popping up. “What is this?” I asked myself when I first stumbled upon it. And from that day forward my life as a writer changed forever.
There was hope for me again. Opportunity! The stuff that makes dreams come true. There is an opportunity for you too. Just reach out and grab it. Set up a plan of action and go for it!
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
TIME MANAGEMENT
Ah yes, time management. The stuff that enables dreams to come true. Doing the hard work is never possible unless you manage your time properly. That’s hard in an age where there are so many distractions.
We’re on our iPad’s, surfing the internet, playing games. We’re binge-watching Netflix and distracted with Facebook. You know I’m right. All these things are keeping us from our dreams.
We have to adopt time management.
I’ve written 300-page novels just by squeezing out an hour or two before work every day. I have a challenging, stressful job that tires me out by the end of the day. I usually have nothing left when I get home so I knew I couldn’t create my art at the end of the day. Creating art takes brain power. I realized I had to do it at the beginning of my day if I wanted to do my best work.
That meant getting up at the crack of dawn before anyone else was up, to type out my story. On my days off, I wrote all day long. I considered it a second job. On my days off, I told myself I had to be at work (my writing job) by 9 a.m. and I would finish work by 5 p.m.
I kept this plan up until I finished my book. I did this several times over, going on to publish two complete series and a number of other books as well. It really was amazing that I got so many novels written just by piecing together bits of time.
It can be done!
And once you have the first draft, you’re on your way to self-publishing because now you have a manuscript to work with. You can use that same time management technique to edit, proofread, and polish your novel.
Don’t get caught up in this step though. Many people I know reconstruct their entire book, spending years changing this word around, and redoing stuff that doesn’t even matter. Just proofread, make sure there are no mistakes, and get your work published.
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
COST ANALYSIS
Um… you don’t have to spend a dime!
I’ve talked to so many so-called professional indie authors who say you MUST do this and you MUST do that, and you have to have a budget for editing, and a budget for book covers, and a budget for marketing. NONSENSE! You can do whatever you want.
I made all my own book covers, and I also made some for friends. Teach yourself how to do it, and do it! It’s not that hard. I also do my own editing and proofreading and marketing too. So what! I can do whatever I want with my art, and so can you.
Book platforms market FOR you so you don’t have to worry about that anyway. Some authors do their own marketing, paying a small fortune for Facebook adds, but you don’t have to do any of that if you don’t want to. Sometimes it’s just a matter of luck, visibility, and the right meta-data that brings sales. Sometimes no matter what you do, sales go up and down, fluctuating at random. That’s normal.
But you don’t have to spend money to be successful!
Some authors say that you’ll get one-star reviews if you don’t pay for professional editing. Who cares! I don’t need validation from a mean person anyway. There are bound to be those negative people who will dislike your book and pick it apart no matter what you do. I have many one star reviews, but I also have many five star reviews. I don’t let it bother me.
An author has to have thick skin right out of the gate. Do what you want. Be in charge of your own art. In the end, it’s your legacy. My mother died shortly after she completed her third book series. I helped her with editing and book covers and self-publishing. Her books are amazing by the way, and you can take a look at them by going to Author Margaret Afseth.
But they are her legacy. I’m so thankful I helped her self-publish them. They will forever be published and ready for people to download and purchase in ebook and paperback form. I know she is smiling down from heaven, happy that people are enjoying her stories.
You don’t have to spend a dime to self-publish unless you want to. Some don’t want to bother with cover art, or proofreading, and hand it over to someone else to do. Hire someone if you like or get a friend to read it over for free. But it’s your choice what you do.
You don’t have to spend money to publish your own book unless you want to. It’s all up to you. That’s the beauty of self-publishing. You are in charge of your own art.
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
CHOOSING THE PLATFORM
There are really only two main platforms worth mentioning here, and that is Amazon and Smashwords. They are both free. You can read my article about the difference between the two by going to the link, KDP vs Smashwords.
But in short, Amazon is the leading contender. Once your manuscript is formatted correctly for uploading, all you have to do is upload it. It goes through a process to prepare for ebook reading and then gives you a notification that your book is live. Then, enjoy book sales.
You can also make a print version through Amazon called Create Space. It’s nice to have a paper copy to sell and hold in your hands. That gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment, plus you can show people you ARE a real author!
If you choose Smashwords, they work the same way with uploads. They distribute to other online stores like Apple and Kobo and Barnes & Nobel to name a few. Some like the wide distribution it offers, and some like exclusivity through Amazon. I like Amazon, but I’ve done both.
Formatting can be learned by reading the free guide available for download through Amazon and Smashwords. It’s pretty easy, but it does take some technical skills. If you don’t want to do your own formatting, you can buy software like, Vellum, that do it all for you within minutes. It’s handy but it’s expensive.
In the end, whatever publishing platform you choose doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you self-publish your work and get it out there. Don’t wait until it’s perfect, because it never will be. That’s just an excuse anyway.
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
FOLLOWING THROUGH
Often times, writers come up with a plan, write the book and set out to self-publish. They get everything ready, and then they tap out. That’s because they let fear, worry, and self-doubt consume them.
I have even seen writers self-publish their first book, and then take it down because of rejections. Remember I told you there are always going to be those people that criticize your book. It’s inevitable. Have thick skin!
But some writers can’t handle the rejection. They give up way too soon and let someone else dictate their success and failures. Whatever you do, follow through with your self-publishing plans. It will be worth it in the end. Not only will you be proud of yourself, but your friends and family will be as well.
Follow through, publish that novel, and don’t let anyone destroy your dream!
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
AVOIDING NAYSAYERS
As mentioned above, there will always be naysayers. Stay away from them. They are the negative people in your life that just want to destroy you because you are succeeding.
There are people who want to keep you down. They don’t like to see you achieve your dreams because they were unable to achieve their own. Really, they are unhappy people and they will drag you down.
It sounds mean but you need to avoid those people. At the very least, spend as little time as possible around them. If they continuously tell you your book is garbage, or you’ll never get anywhere, or self-publishing is a joke, cut them loose.
You don’t need negative people in your life destroying your dreams. Protect yourself AND your dreams!
If naysayers come by way of comments on Amazon, then just don’t bother reading the reviews. I know it’s not easy, but if you stumble because of one-star reviews, then just don’t read them.
Nobody says you have to read your own reviews. And remember, there will always be good and bad ones. Take a look at some of the best sellers on Amazon. They ALL have negative one-star reviews. Because it’s NORMAL!
So, charge forward, don’t listen to the naysayers, and keep on going!
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
CELEBRATING SUCCESS
Don’t forget to celebrate! I remember when my first book was published, I jumped all over the house screaming, “I did it! I did it!” And I was all alone in the house at the time, jumping around like a crazy person.
But… it was one of the best days of my life. I was SO proud of myself. The sense of accomplishment is an amazing thing. I mustered up the courage to put my work out there, came up with a plan to self-publish, and put it into action.
When my mother’s first book got published, we took her out to celebrate. We all dressed up and delivered roses to her table. It was quite something. She was 70 years old at the time. She was so proud of herself. A great memory!
You can do that too. Just put one foot forward and keep going little by little until you reach your goal. It’s an absolutely amazing feeling when you accomplish your goals. There is nothing like it!
You can do that too! Be the author you’ve always wanted to be even if that means sacrificing time, and pushing yourself until you drop. If writing is your passion, then DO IT! Stay positive and don’t listen to the negative people out there. Plan for success!
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!
RINSE AND REPEAT
When you achieve success, no matter how you want to define it, rinse and repeat the process. You know the formula, and all you have to do is the same thing you just did. Write, write, write!
Plan for another book, another sequel, another block of time to write that story kicking around in your head. Dreams are achieved not by those who sit idle and fear the outcome, but by those who push forward against all odds and carve out their own paths.
Carve out your own path! Be daring! Be invincible!
Make time for your art and be the writer of your dreams, whatever that means for you. We’re all different and fall into different categories, genres, and lifestyles. But we all create!
Create that masterpiece, and when you figure out how, keep doing it over and over again. Before you know it, you will have a legacy to pass down to your loved ones. YOUR BOOKS!
You can do this! You CAN publish your own book!