6 tips for publishing your book and selling it online
In 2012, romance novelist Colleen Hoover self-published her first book online for her mother.
Today, she’s become the author of one of the most pre-ordered books in the history of publication. And she’s not alone; many self-published writers found an audience by publishing books by themselves.
You can also enter this booming market and kickstart your literary career by selling your books online. Just a few simple steps are involved in the process of becoming a self-published author.
There’s a huge market in the United States for all genres among an audience of all ages. From comic books to science fiction – everything can be printed, published, and sold online. And this is how would-be writers can do it now:
- Write a book
Your journey to becoming a successful self-published writer begins with writing something. You may have a half-written manuscript placed somewhere in your drawer, or you’re planning to pen down a decent story right now.
Just remember that the book-writing process should involve these steps:
- Determine your genre and decide what kind of book you wish to write. For instance, you can choose from self-help, romance, and science fiction, among other genres.
- Now, search for the bestsellers in your genre to inspire yourself. That’s how you learn about what your target audience likes to read.
- Evaluate these bestsellers by noticing the pace, length, characters, cover design, and several other factors.
- Use these factors to learn what’s missing in this genre and how you can write a unique book.
- Find an even smaller subsection of your target audience or what we call a “niche.”
- Find a platform
Choose a reliable self-publishing platform to help you with the book. Look for high-quality, affordable options. You can easily find professional book printing and publishing services online.
You can select from a wide range of paper and binding options to make the book look as appealing as you imagined.
For instance, some popular binding options offered by major self-publishing sites involve wire-o, plastic coil, saddle stitch, and even perfect binding, among other options.
- Market the book
A much-neglected tip involves marketing the book. You can’t expect readers to stumble upon a book you have written all by themselves. It may have happened a decade ago when digital self-publishing platforms weren’t that famous.
However, you need to market your book today in these ways:
- Share samples of your book online (the first chapter, for instance) to get people hooked.
- Collaborate with Instagram influencers to advertise your book on social media
- Ask your friends and family members to review your book positively online
- Put Facebook ads while encouraging readers on Twitter and Reddit
- Make podcasts and write blogs about your upcoming book
- Design the cover
You may have heard, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but most readers won’t care about this wise saying. People judge the book not by its content but by whether it looks visually appealing or not.
A solution involves hiring professional designers to create a gorgeous cover design for the book. Some people would like to self-design a cover, so they should use tools such as Canva to accelerate their creative endeavors. A strong cover design will encourage more onlookers to purchase it now.
- Format the book
Writing a book doesn’t make it ready for publishing straight away. Instead, you should format it and make it presentable as an official document.
There are many things to consider here, such as getting an ISBN, but some major publishing platforms can give your book a free ISBN immediately. However, formatting your book is something you can handle on your own easily. You have to add these:
- Half-title page
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Dedication page
- Table of contents page
- Chapter title page
- Bibliography page
- References page
- Author biography page
- Index pages
- Create ebook files
There’s a misconception among people about print books being less popular than digital ones. But a survey shows that 7% of people read ebooks exclusively. On the other hand, 37% of Americans read print books only.
So, you should consider creating digital versions of your book in these formats:
- PDS:- PDFs are popular among laymen but not the best available option for a self-published writer. They’re good if you’re publishing a graphically-detailed book.
- EPUB:- This version has become the most recommended today because of its seamless flow, and that’s why digital publishers prefer it.
- MOBI:- This version isn’t supported by major publishing companies, so it can be ignored.
Conclusion
Summing up the content of this article, self-publishing isn’t difficult for emerging writers anymore. It will start with you penning down a book and choosing the right book printing platform.
Next, edit the story’s first draft, after which you will design a cover for the finished manuscript.
Don’t forget to format it along with creating digital versions of the book. Then you should start marketing the ebook to convince people to buy it.
With a solid foundation in technology, backed by a BIT degree, Lucas Noah has carved a niche for himself in the world of content creation and digital storytelling. Currently lending his expertise to Creative Outrank LLC and Oceana Express LLC, Lucas has become a... Read more