What I Learned
Deciding to write a novel is a monstrous task in and of itself. Deciding to self-publish my own novel…while working full-time as a senior manager…while being a full-time mom with part-time childcare…I took on more than I could swallow. There were moments when I almost gave up, but I kept on going and educating myself about all aspects of self-publishing. I was determined to see this through, even if my attempt wasn’t successful. I still don’t know if I have a future as a publisher, but I know I will keep on writing no matter what.
The internet is full of information on how to write a book and self-publish, but I faced some roadblocks when looking up certain things like how to get a total page count. In this blog post, I share my experience using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), which I highly recommend for debut authors and self-publishers, as well as some tips and a Google Sheet I built to help me keep track of my progress and sales of my book.
Why use KDP?
It’s a one-stop-shop for all your publishing needs. And it’s completely free! There are no start-up fees or costs. Submit, publish, and start making money.
KDP provides an intuitive platform that allows you to begin setting up your publication before your manuscript and cover art are ready. You can choose to use their free ISBN and barcodes, which saves you some expenses. I suggest visiting YouTube to check the many videos out there explaining the pros and cons of using KDP to publish your book.
After you publish your book, KDP offers paid marketing options as well as free promotions. The free promotions include Kindle Countdown Deals (available 30 days after your publication date, if the price remains unchanged during this time) and Free Book Promotion.
You can also nominate your eBooks for Kindle Deals and Prime Reading. If you enroll in KDP Select, your eBook will be available to Kindle Unlimited readers, and you will receive a percentage of royalties based on the number of pages read. Enrolling in KDP Select limits you to only publishing your eBook with KDP, but you can expand your market if you also publish a physical book.
Do you need an editor?
Probably…but it’s expensive to hire an editor and unrealistic if you don’t have a large budget for your first attempt at self-publishing. I sure didn’t. Writing became a hobby for me a few years ago, and I only decided to self-publish when I learned about KDP.
I used reedsy.com to get quotes from editors. The one that got back to me quoted the job at $1,100. After researching, this is a pretty reasonable price, but not something I could fit in my measly budget. So instead, I signed up for Grammarly Premium. It’s $144 for a whole year, totally worth it! I love this app because you can use it with Google Docs, which I used to write my manuscript. It also allows you to set goals for audience, formality, domain, tone, and intent.
My last suggestion on editing is to read, read, read and re-read your book. I can’t remember how many times I’ve read through A Life Unplanned. After reading through it and finding only a handful of typos, I had felt like it was perfect enough to submit for publication.
Cover Art
I hired a professional graphic designer through reedsy.com. People do judge a book by its cover, so yours needs to stand out against the thousands of listings available in the Kindle Store. It was less than what the editor quoted me but still a hefty price. Absolutely worth it though!
One thing to note, it takes longer to finalize the cover for the paperback and hardcover editions. So if you want to publish them all at once, plan ahead and get your cover art finalized before you set a launch date. When I found out I would have to wait two more weeks for the paperback, I was too anxious and impatient to wait. I launched my eBook right away. There are quite a lot of readers out there that prefer to read from a physical book, so I recommend publishing both versions. I don’t think it necessarily matters if you launch them on different dates.
The one SUPER IMPORTANT thing to note about paperback and hardcover editions, you need the page count for the interior of your book before your designer can even start working on the cover. Even one page difference affects the size of the spine.
It’s a little tricky to get the page count on KDP, but I found a hack that worked for me. After you upload your manuscript, you will need the cover art uploaded to open the preview, showing you the page count. Just upload some random picture and save it. As long as you don’t move on to the next page and click publish, you’re all good!
Spreadsheet Time
I blame my current day job on my obsession with all things Google Sheets and data. But it’s honestly the best way for me to organize not only data sets but also everyday life. I have used Google Sheets to help plan my wedding, pregnancy, travels in Europe, meals, and now, publishing.
My Publishing Dashboard has helped me stay on top of deadlines and keep track of the many to-do items involved in self-publishing. Click the link above for a free template. Once you open the link, you will be prompted to make a copy. You’ll need a Google account in order to copy the Google Sheet to your Google Drive. No one else will have access to your own copy. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about how to get your copy and/or how to use the dashboard.
What’s included?
Current WIP: deadlines and to-do checklist
My Sites & Profiles: list of all your sites with links
Publishing Progress: includes an example of a published novel and a new entry
Analytics: dashboard that automatically updates using the data tab
Data: fill this out with your sales reports
Book Launch
Hitting that publish button doesn’t mean you have to launch your book right away. It can take up to three days before your book is ready to buy on Amazon. This is for both eBook and physical editions. Though I couldn’t find a straight enough answer on how quickly paperback books send out to customers, it seems to be a print-to-order system. Friends of mine said they received their paperback copy within a week of ordering soon after I published it.
I’m in no way an expert in marketing and social media. Even after researching how to market a book, I’m still in the dark on this one. One thing I wish I had done differently was plan out my book launch. I started planning it after publishing my book, not knowing when it would be ready to buy. My advice, wait for the confirmation email that your book is available in the Kindle Store. Then set your book launch date, giving yourself enough time to create content and set up promotions to bring in more readers.
Thanks for reading!
I hope this post was helpful and offered different ideas on how to approach your project. I would love to hear from fellow self-published authors. What platform did you use? Did you hire an editor and/or cover designer? What do you wish you had done differently?
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