Learn How To Spread Your Message By Self- Publishing a Book!
Everyone has a story to share, and there are many ways to share it. Recently, I have been contacted by many aspiring authors curious about how to get their message out in a book, so if that is you, this blog post is for you.
When I was four and five years old, I used to write books on notebook paper, and write on the front “Author: Tiffany Gills, Illustrator: Tiffany Gills”, but as I grew older, I lost sight of my young vision. With older age and “domestication”, my vision of being an author and illustrator grew further and further away from being tangible. I had the opportunity to see many writers who were unsuccessful and unpublished, but I had never met an author that was successful.
At age 26, I had an amazing supervisor, Dawn Ivey-Cochran, who watched my interests well enough to note that I was enjoying my school papers. She said, “Sgt Domena, if you are enjoying writing your papers, why don’t you consider publishing?”. What she said, turned a light bulb on, and began my studying and exploring with publishing.
I had friends that paid for vanity publishers (publishers that say that you are “Self-publishing by making you pay for their service), and I had studied the process of traditional publishing. When I came upon the actual self-publishing process, I was EXCITED! Learning to self-publish was liberating for me, and I want the same thing for you! These are the steps that I take when self-publishing my book:
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Meditate on the topic that God wants to use to pour into others
Sometimes, you will learn about topics that you are knowledgeable about from others approaching you. Pay attention to the recurring questions that you are receiving; it may be a hint for what you can make your content about.
Also, take quiet time, blank your thoughts, and allow God to pour a message into you.
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Make a proposal for yourself
How do you want people to be changed after reading your work? What content is required to offer them that transformation? Who is your target audience? How old are they? Male or female? What is their buying motive? Think specifically about who you are writing for, and create your content for them.
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Begin to collect content into a template
Arial, 12, Justified Alignment (not left or right) is the basis of the beginning formatting. Remember to insert a title page, preface, introduction, Table of Contents, Then Chapters. The easiest way to format chapter headings is to use headings in Microsoft Word.
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Find the platforms that you will use to publish
IngramSpark, Createspace, Smashwords, and Kindle are the most prominent platforms for distribution of self-published books. Set up your account, your profile, upload your documents, and you can even use their cover creators to make your own cover. I do caution you on making your own cover because many consumers judge based on the cover. If you do not feel like you are artistically inclined, I suggest that you hire someone to create your cover on Fiverr, Odesk, or Elance or learn how to create your own thru Udemy. Additionally, when using the over creators, you will find that the templates are limited, so you can find others whose covers look closely related to yours. Ensure that your book presentation is appealing to your target audience!
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Find reviewers
Accountability partners are the best, but pay for reviewers if you need to! Have someone read the content to ensure that you are telling your stories with enough depth. You want to ensure that your book content is embracing the entirety of why you are the subject matter expert on this topic. For example, a friend of mine is an author who wrote about the marriage covenant. Readers would wonder, how is a single woman qualified to write about marriage, but her plethora of experience in pastoral counseling, coaching, and observing marriage conflicts gave her ALOT of wisdom about principles to base a marriage upon. If her stories were not in her book, her readers would have a difficult time connecting to her message.
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Draft, draft, and final draft
Continue to tweak errors, wrong tenses, indents, and everything else to ensure high quality presentation inside of the book. Do not feel ashamed of repeating the drafting process many times; it is sometimes necessary.
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Copyright
Go to www.copyright.gov to fill out your copyright application, send them a digital or physical copy of your book, and receive your copyright certificate.
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Market your launch date
Prepare your followers for your book arrival. I cannot recall the exact book or article, but it said that 80% of your marketing should be done before your product hits the market. Marketing is the MOST crucial part of your author career. Plan speaking engagements, get others to spread the word, set up an affiliate program, do pre-launch giveaways, schedule interviews on radio shows, etc.
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Launch! Maintain the marketing momentum
The author journey is not over once you have published; it has just begun. It is your responsibility as an author to either market the book or hire a person who will. You receive the message, and you should ensure that it reaches the audience that it was intended for.
I have attached a video that I have done on self-publishing with Createspace (though at this point I do not primarily use Createspace) to give you more information. If you want an expert at self-publishing to walk alongside you and show you the ins and outs of the business, check out my self-publishing services. I do not only publish it, but I teach you how. CLICK HERE to check it out now!
Additional Resources:
Joanna Penn on Self-Publishing and Hybrid Authors – Forbes
25 Mar 2013 … Joanna Penn, author and writer of the The Creative Penn writing and publishing advice website, spoke to a meeting of Women In Publishing …
Joanna Penn talks about her background as an author and introduces you to the free resources you can access on the site in text, audio and video format, …
Why Every Entrepreneur Should Self-Publish a Book | TechCrunch
28 Jan 2012 … Although the jury is still out on my self-published books, “How to be the Luckiest Man Alive” and “I Was Blind But Now I See” I can tell you these …
Self-publishing – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main article: E-book … is possible to create E-books with no up-front or per-book costs, E-book publishing …
Self-publishing | Books | The Guardian
Research shows median income for all authors is now below $5,000, though ‘ hybrid’ authors who use both traditional and self-publishing are doing best.