Tips For Independent Authors Who Self Publish

According to a Forbes article there are between 600,000 and 1,000,000 books published in the United States every year and UNESCO, the United Nations Educations, Scientific and Cultural Organization says 2.2 million books are published worldwide annually.

Self-publishing, according to Bowker, increased by 287% between 2006 and 2012. Bowker is the official U.S. ISBN agency.

While there are thousands of independent writers who never see even one sale from a book there are exciting success stories from independent authors who self-publish.

The goal here is that we want you to be a success story!

We will outline tips on how you can submit your book to self-publish and how you can then market your book.

To do that you cannot just write a book with a generic title and cover and then just sit and wait. Your job is not over when you finish writing a book. There are writer groups where I hear people say things like, “a good book will sell itself, you shouldn’t have to advertise and market it.” That’s just crazy talk. All, and I mean all of the successful authors market their books. And remember that no one will know if your book is good or not if they don’t even know it exists. And then they will not know if it is good or not if your title and cover does not entice them to actually read it. Your potential readers have to know your book is out there and when they see it they have to want to read the synopsis and then feel compelled to buy and read the book.

Another ‘excuse’ I hear is “but I don’t know how to do that”. Whatever “that” is. Don’t let that stop you. If you are going to be an independent author who self publishes you will have to learn new things and take the initiative. You will have to be open to reading, following instructions and doing new things you may have never done before. When someone says, “but I don’t know how to submit a book to kdp Amazon” It immediately tells you this person does not take self-initiative to get things done. You must have faith in yourself that you can read the instructions and figure it out. Remember, you are the one saying you want to get this book published. The real truth is that people like this don’t know if they are capable of uploading a book to kdp or not because they have not tried. Please know that you can absolutely do it!

A large majority of my tips will equate solely to publishing on kdp Amazon. However the marketing tips and most of the formating would be applicable to everyone regardless of your chosen self-publishing platform.

Google it, ask someone for the kdp help pages link or go to Amazon and scroll down to the bottom of the page in the black area and under the column marked “MAKE MONEY WITH US” click on the link that says “Self-Publish with Us”. Start reading. Follow directions, and then if there is something you do not understand ask for help.

I personally use kdp. It is free to use. Amazon in and of itself is a premier marketplace. Millions upon millions of people already buy their books at Amazon. My book is not just available at Amazon.us but also many other countries and I see sales in 4-8 other countries every single month. All of this is free to the author who uses their self-publishing platform known as kdp. I can choose to get an ISBN at no charge assigned to my paperback edition. They offer up to 70% royalty and the author's paperback copies are generally around $2.15 depending on the size of your book. It is also very easy to “gift” someone an Ebook through Amazon if you want to run contest or give-a-ways from your web site, blog or facebook page.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

• Read through the kdp help pages. I have included some links below. Be sure to pay attention to the left column (within the help pages) with links to specific topics and you can also do a search within the help pages.

• Download the Word Doc template from the help pages. I have elaborated on this more below with a link.

• Be sure your word document is a customized size of 6x9 for ebook and paperback edition. After you download the template: In Word> PAGE LAYOUT> SIZE

• Start writing or copy and paste what you have written into the template. I suggest saving the template for future use. Once you have downloaded the template do a SAVE AS> name it something like yourbooktitle.kindle and once you have finished writing the kindle you can then do another SAVE AS> name it something like yourbooktitle.paperback and then format to suit a paperback book to publish. Be sure all of your doc’s are 6x9 before you start writing.

• Do not copy and paste pictures into your manuscript. If you want to include a picture the picture should be on your computer and then you insert it into the manuscript.

• The kdp submission instructions are very user friendly. You can do this yourself with little help from others, if any. If you do upload your manuscript to kdp and there is an error with the formatting you will see a list of those errors on the kdp Amazon site. You fix the errors in your original Word document and re-upload. No worries. Kdp offers a proofing link where you can see what your book looks like in different formats such as a phone or on a kindle and then for the paperback, how it is layed out in your paperback. Take the time to look at each and every page in case you see where there may be too much space between paragraphs, or a new page is starting too low on the page. Be sure all of the page numbers match up with your table of contents. Things like that.

Start by downloading the Word Doc template with sample content: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834230

Once downloaded choose the file with your chosen language: English. Then choose what the paperback size will be. Choose ‘enable editing’ at the top of your newly opened word doc.

Bookstores and libraries have a strong preference for 6x9 so if at all possible choose that size for your paperback.

Type your book in this template. Save often. You can insert pictures (do not paste pictures in the book) always insert a picture that has been saved on your hardrive.

Before you begin writing in your downloaded word template document go to PAGE LAYOUT (in your word document) and customize your SIZE to the standard 6x9. Unless you have a special reason to size your paperback edition a different size this is the standard size that libraries and other stores prefer.

Strive to build a book that has at least 100 pages so that you have a spine for the title and author on the paperback edition. There are cases where the spine is not needed because you have no expectation of the booklet (no spine) ending up in a library or bookstore on the shelf. But usually you will want your book to be a desirable book on the shelf of a library or book store.

DON' SETTLE FOR A GENERIC COVER.

Check out covers of bestsellers in your genre to get an idea of how to design your cover.

The first mistake I see independent authors make is a very generic cover. You can do better. I promise you that YOU CAN DO BETTER. Don’t settle for that generic cover. We eat and buy with our eyes first; not the title. You can have a masterful title and turn potential customers off with your generic cover. There are many sites that offer royalty free pictures you can use. You can also take your own photos.

The program I use to make my covers is MS Publisher but there are many.

Use the exact same title and cover for your Ebook and your paperback.

MARKETING AND ADVERTISING YOUR BOOK.

Check out the library in your community for book signing opportunities. Many have what they call Local Author Events once a year and it is usually free but you can sell your books there. You can pre-sale your paperbacks on channels like facebook and the buyer can pick it up at the book signing event. I love these annual events and do very well.

You can offer an online book signing where-in you offer to sign a specific number for the one day only sale when purchased direct from you. You will sign each paperback before mailing to your buyer.

Did you know facebook offers a safe way to send and receive money right there in the app? No one has to disclose their bank account info, it’s free and it goes straight to your bank account. You find this button in the same vicinity as the video chat or call button.

Create an Authors Page on facebook: Here is the URL to my own fb author’s page so you can see what it looks like. It is not a group that people have to join. Use the SHOP NOW link available to you on this page to link readers to your books product page on Amazon or your Amazon authors page. If you do not use Amazon link it to your blog or web site where they can purchase your book. https://www.facebook.com/author.paula.c.henderson/

Create your Amazon Author page: Once you have done this you can claim each of your books as you publish them. While your book will be available on Amazon you must claim it through your Amazon Author page if you want it listed as one of your books on your Amazon Author page. This is very simple when you actually do it. It will all make sense. Taking advantage of all the Amazon Author Page offers can be very advantageous. Once you have at least one book up for sale on Amazon you can go to set up your Authors page (aka Author Central). Here are some tips:

Amazon refers to it as ‘Author Central’ and here is a link to the kdp help pages which includes a link to Author Central.

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200644310

Take note of the TABS at the top which include: You will want to add content to the author page and the books tabs.

• Author Page : this is where you can write a little something about yourself under "biography". You can also add recent blog posts, photos and videos.

• Books : this is the tab you need to visit every time you publish a new book. Click the tab marked Add more books to add your ebook edition and then again to add your paperback edition. Although your book will already be on the Amazon site and available for sale, this will add it to your Authors Page.

• Sales Info : this tab shows you sales data and statistics for your books.

• Customer Reviews : this accumulate all of the reviews for all of your books in one place. It allows you to sort newest reviews and highest or lowest rating reviews.

If you are not getting any sales consider republishing the same book with a different title and cover. I have done this and it has worked. I then unpublished the original book.

In between books you can also write articles. Depending on your topic you could write an article about your books topic and then refer readers to your book for further reading.

Have someone you know go to your local libraries web site and put in a request for your book. Generally the library will purchase the book and stock it on the shelves. Pretty easy. Do not just mail your book to a library. They will not stock a book in that manner. Most libraries have a form on their web site where a person can request they acquire a book so long as the person making the request is a library card holder.

When you have published your first book start writing your next book after a brief break if you need it but continue to write with the goal of getting another book out within a designated time. During your breaks and times of writers block work on marketing and advertising the last book you wrote.

Inquire with your local craft fairs if you can rent a booth. I have never been told no when I have asked in my area.

Depending on your books topic you can create a flyer to send around to churches or assisted living homes, schools, etc. . . and offer to give a talk about the topic matter and you will give them a portion of sales from your table that you will be setting up.

Many coffee shops and Hallmark stores are very open to allowing local writers do book signing or book release parties. Just call and ask for the manager.

Good luck to each and every one of you. Writing is a craft, selling the book is a business.

Paula C. Henderson