In part one of our series we went over one way to self-publish your book, with printed copies. So today we’ll focus on your options for the eBook route, or electronic publishing.
We’ll start out with some general, steadfast rules for anyone interested in self-publishing, in print or online. In the end, which route you choose will be up to you, and either way know that you’re signing up for some major work.
But when you’re feeling overwhelmed or a little disheartened, just remember what author Philip Unwin said: “The long-lived books of tomorrow are concealed somewhere amongst the so-far unpublished manuscripts of today.”
So get cracking on that manuscript!
Getting Started
1) Determine your goal. Decide who you want to read your book and how many copies you’ll need. Do you want just enough to hand out to co-workers, family, and friends, or are you going for a larger audience? Of course you’ll have to decide whether you even want printed copies, but that’s coming up…
2) Make sure you’re not repeating something. Take a look around at different books in your genre to make sure A) you haven’t just come up with something that is already on the market, and B) how books similar to yours are selling. If you’ve written the latest and greatest Fiction about a family of cats, for example, but the market is not responding to Fictions about families of cats, well, you might want to re-think your story, or at least how you present it to people.
3) Determine your format. Okay, now you decide: hardcover, softcover, or eBook. Hardcover and softcover are your typical printed books. EBooks are online only and can be downloaded on peoples’ computers, tablets, phones, or eReaders. So here’s the lowdown on your options:
- Printed books are slower to reach the market. It can take weeks or months until they become available to major book resellers
- EBooks books have a huge variety of formats
- Either way, if you’re a self-published author, you’ll need to be ONLINE to promote, promote, promote, and then promote some more, because with self-publishing, you are essentially a one-man team.
If you go with eBook option…
We’ll go over the two options that seem to be the most widely used, the easiest, and generally most beneficial to authors (they both offer their authors up to 70% in royalties.) Those options are Amazon’s Kindle and the iBookStore.
How to Publish with Amazon’s Kindle
1) Sign up at KDP.amazon.com. Here you can use the same username and password you ordinarily use with Amazon, or you can create a new one.
2) Add your title.
3) Add your book’s information (author name, subtitle, genre, etc.)
4) Add your book files. Here you’ll upload your book file and your cover art. Kindle accepts PRC formatted files, and if you’ve never heard of it, don’t worry. Just check out the Kindle formatting guide and they’ll walk you through it.
5) Establish your price, distribution rights, and royalty level.
*A Tip on Price from CNET’s David Carnoy, an eBooker himself: “You should sell your e-book for less than $4.99. Most successful e-book authors are finding the greatest success in the $0.99-to-$2.99 range.”
Royalty Options: 35% royalty or 70% royalty. The 35% applies to titles under $2.99 and the 70% applies to books between $2.99 and $9.99
6) Wait for publication. That’s it: you’ve published a book in 5 steps. Now you just have to wait, usually a couple of days, and then there it will be available to the public in the Kindle bookstore.
How to Publish to the iBookStore
According to eBooker and CNET reporter, David Carnoy, getting your book into the iBookStore is becoming increasingly important, with the rise in the iPad’s popularity.
1) Create an Account. Click here to create an account with the iBookStore in order to upload your books. Read over the initial requirements, make sure you can meet them, and proceed.
2) Enter your basic information. In this next step you’ll need to enter your first and last name and your Apple ID and password (the same one you use for app downloads, iTunes, etc.) If you don’t have an iTunes account, click here to create one.
3) Enter more basic information. Here you’ll enter information like your name, address, and tax ID number (which is your social security number.) They’ll need this because the revenue you get from selling books is a bit different than the revenue you get selling apps or other things online.
4) Upload your Book. The tool they use to help you in uploading your book is called iTunes Producer, an app produced by Apple. According to eBook-writer Dragos Roua, the process is very simple and easy to follow
5) Enter your book’s information. This will include title, subtitle, genre, etc. Easy peezy.
6) Wait for review. Once you’ve submitted your book to the iBookStore, Apple will review it. According to Dragos Roua, this process can take some time (for him about 2 weeks), but once it is done, barring any complications or big red flags, your book will be published and ready for purchase in the iBookStore.
*With the iBookStore, you will make 70% of the royalties and Apple will make 30%.
And that’s it! For more on self-publishing, in print or online, check out this great article with 25 things you need to know. Happy writing, everyone!
Have you written a book, or are you interested in doing so? What are your thoughts on self-publishing?
Sources: SelfPublishingResources.com, SelfPublishingAdvisor.com, WritersServices.com, Dragosroua.com, Reviews.cnet.com
