If you are a member of Christian Book Academy, you are familiar with the concept of a self-publishing checklist. I don’t know about you, but I love checklists. Checklists can help you stay on task. What are the steps you need to consider when putting together a self-publishing checklist?
A self-publishing checklist starts with the writing of your book to the marketing of your book. In this blog post, I am going to walk you through the steps that you need to include in your self publishing checklist to ensure the success of your book. There is much to consider when writing a book. By having a checklist in hand, you will know what you need to do, and you will finish with confidence knowing you fulfilled those requirements.
Editing
The beginning stage of your writing can be a lengthy process, but a very important part of this is when you decide what your topic will be, make out your outline, and gather your content.
It will require days of editing and days of writing. The process may seem daunting as you work towards your goal of so many words and chapters. Once your manuscript is complete, you will spend time once again editing, proofreading, and if you feel so inclined, sending it out to a professional editor. There is, however, a second option to a professional editor, and that is taking a class on Udemy taught by a professional editor to master the skill of editing yourself.
It’s your book, so it’s up to you how you want to proceed with the editing stage. Whether you do it yourself or hire someone, a second pair of eyes doesn’t hurt. As long as you have peace and feel confident that you put your best work out there. Once you refine your manuscript, it is ready for publication.
Final Product
At this stage, you have your polished manuscript and need to make some key decisions, such as what to include in the front and back matter. Here are some examples of the front matter content you will want to consider: Title page, Copyright, and Content. For the back matter: Author page, Also By page, a page that lists your other published books, maybe even a glossary if necessary. There’s also the back cover, which is your sales pitch for your book. The next step for consideration is an ISBN number. You can utilize Amazon’s free ISBN if you are listing your book on Amazon KDP. Just know that there are limitations associated with Amazon’s free ISBN. Such as only being able to list your book with them. If you are fine with that, then proceed. If not, I suggest purchasing an ISBN. You do have the option of purchasing them in bulk, with no expiration dates, through myidentifiers.com.
Once you have all that done, you can plan out your cover design. You could do it yourself; however, keep in mind you will need certain knowledge and tools to proceed, or you could hire someone to do the cover for you. Make sure it is someone who is knowledgeable about cover design.
Distribution
The last step on your self-publishing checklist is distribution. Here is where you will do research on which platform you want to sell your book on. For example, Amazon KDP, Draft2Digital, and IngramSpark, to name a few. You are going to need to think about keywords and categories. If you were searching for your book, what kind of words would you look for to find it? Think of three categories that would best fit your book. Spend ample time on this, for this is how people will find your book. The next step you want to check off your self-publishing checklist is the book format and price of your book.
A listed book doesn’t mean you finished your work. You will want to work on your Author Profile, do a shout-out on your social media accounts, and start considering your marketing strategy. You will want to be vigilant in marketing your book. One way of marketing would be to put out blog posts catering to your book and social media pins that match. Maybe consider some marketing classes. For example, Christian Book Academy has a compass approach to marketing. Each direction caters to your personality and the extent of marketing you want to do. I highly suggest becoming a member of Christian Book Academy. The classes won’t only walk you through the writing of your book but will also walk you through marketing your book.
About the Author
Author Bio: EO Writes has written and published three books. Getting Unstuck: A Guide to Self-Publishing is her most recently published book. She hopes to release her podcast “Tea Time with Lizzy” this Fall. You can reach her at https://www.eowrites.com. She has been married for 27 years. When she is not writing, she and her husband enjoy traveling throughout the United States on their Harley.
“Never judge a book by its cover. What you find inside the pages might surprise you.”
Leave a Reply