Self-Publishing Master Checklist
There were a lot of steps to self-publishing my book, and while there are a lot of articles and videos that explain things and help a newbie author along, I never found a master checklist of must-do or should-do activities.
Enter my self-publishing master checklist for new authors. Yes, it’s long, but if you jump into self-publishing with an idea of everything you need to do, it will be a smoother process. I’ve broken these into divisions as well. I’ve added some explanations, but I plan on doing at least one blog post per section detailing actions or suggestions that might be helpful. Please leave comments if there is anything you'd like to make sure I cover.
Note: I am adding links to the blog articles for each topic as they are written. Eventually, this master checklist will have everything you need for a basic introduction to self-publishing.
Write your first draft.
Self-edit and rewrite as needed.
Critique partners (CPs) – read manuscript and offer advice.
Edit and rewrite if needed based on CP advice.
Beta readers
Edit and rewrite if needed based on beta reader feedback.
Developmental edit (please note that this can take the place of critique partners and/or beta readers).
Copy and Line edit. This is the most important edit your manuscript can get as an independent author. This edit makes sure the grammar, punctuation, and sentence flow are nearly perfect. When people complain about poorly edited indie books, they are usually talking about this kind of editing.
Proofreading. You’ll want to get your formatted manuscript proofread before you publish. I made the mistake of getting my manuscript proofread before I formatted it, and I accidentally added a couple of typos during formatting. I will make sure all future proofreaders receive the formatted version from now on.
Get a cover for your book. I encourage you to use a professional service unless you have experience in graphic design or artistry. That said, I have seen some nice author-made covers in Canva-Pro.
Get chapter headers for your book. You can use pre-installed images in your formatting software, or you can create your own, or you can purchase header art. This is not as important as the cover image, so as long as the chapters look nice, you’re good. I designed my chapter headers in Canva-Pro.
Get maps for your book if needed. You can hire an artist to draw them, or draw or design them yourself. I used Inkarnate to design my world. While it’s not fancy, Inkarnate did help me craft a map I was proud to include in my book.
You can hire someone to format your manuscript for you, or you can learn how to do it yourself. I used Atticus, and I will explain how I formatted my novel using that program.
Prepare all your front and back matter including: copyright page, title page, acknowledgements, content/trigger warnings, table of contents, and dedication.
Legal Stuff
Decide if you want to use your real name or a pen name.
As a self-employed author, you can do business as a sole proprietor or you can register a small business for your writing. Sole proprietors use their social security numbers for business tax purposes, while an LLC will use an EIN.
Be careful with copyright. Don’t use images you find online for cover art. Make sure any advertising art is within your right to use. This is where Canva-Pro or having an artist design your cover can help protect you.
Publishing
Decide if you want to publish wide (on a variety of sites like Kobo, B&N, Apple, Google Books, etc.) or just with Amazon. If you enter your book into kindle unlimited, your contract states that the ebook version must only be available on Amazon. You can still be on Amazon if you go wide, you just can’t be in kindle unlimited.
You can upload your formatted book either into an aggregator like IngramSpark, or you can upload them onto each platform. I’ll go over the pros and cons of each.
Make sure you upload early enough to work out any kinks in the process so you don’t have to push your publication date back.
Marketing
Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) are essential to getting early reviews when you publish.
Decide what social media platforms you want to use for self-marketing.
Get an author website if at all possible. It makes you look legit, and it is helpful for direct sales if you decide to do those.
Email campaigns. A monthly newsletter is a great way to build your contact list and touch base regularly.
Look into alternate self-marketing tools like text alerts. (I haven’t tried this yet.)
Advertising. Select one or more ways to advertise. These can be budget friendly, so don’t worry that you have to spend a ton right away.
Wrap-Up
It was so hard to keep these in bullet points and not expand on each. But the goal here is to provide a checklist to help guide you through the self-publishing process. I will go into more detail with each bullet point in future articles.
Happy writing!
1 Comment