Timeline of a Self-Published Book
There is a lot that goes into writing a book. Then, after you finish writing the book, there’s still a million more things to do! I hope this post will help you stay on track and take all the necessary steps to publish your book. This is a longer post than normal, so buckle-up!
At the bottom is a downloadable graphic to sum up the whole process. If you’re still confused about what you should be doing next, feel free to email me!
1. Writing
First, you have to write the book. Until that’s done, none of this matters. Go do that, then come back! If you’re struggling with motivation, check out this post! If you need a book coach to help you get a first draft, let me know! I might have some recommendations!
2. Marketing
What? So soon? Yep. You want to start marketing right away! Get a following going; it makes it so much easier to sell when you’re published. Second thing: find out where your genre readers hang out and post about your book there. If you know a group on Goodreads that’s all about great Medieval fantasy books, post about your Medieval fantasy book there!
That’s all I got for you. I don’t do book marketing, so I know very little about it. But Yvonne Divita wrote a guest post about book marketing here! Subscribe to get notifications about new posts.
3. Self-Edit Your Book
Make sure everything is how you want it. You’ll want to go through your book multiple times and, possibly, rewrite the entire book several times. Here is a blog post to get you started in line editing your book! Do as much self-editing as possible—until you have done all you can on your own.
4. Beta Readers and Critique Partners
Beta readers give you feedback on your manuscript from the reader’s perspective. These are really helpful in finding glaring issues in plot, characters, or someone’s general interest in your book after you’ve already rewritten your book and edited it as much as you can.
Try to find beta readers that normally read your specific genre. If you get feedback from a romance-loving reader that they all-around hate your thriller book, don’t feel too bad about it. If someone hates your book and does normally read your genre, they might just be grumpy. Try to get at least eight people to give you feedback on your book. If all eight people hate it, maybe it’s time to look at your book again and figure out why they hate it . . .
Beta readers can be hired, or you can swap stories with other writers for free. Some writers like to get a critique partner to bounce ideas off of—you help each other out for free. Keep in mind that free readers may result in unhelpful feedback. Search Facebook for some great groups to find beta readers and critique partners.
5. Sensitivity Readers
These are very specific beta readers. People generally use sensitivity readers if they are writing about something that they haven’t experienced themselves that could come off as offensive, inaccurate, or ignorant. People also use sensitivity readers to help them embody a character that does not represent themselves.
For example, if an Asian female is writing about a Mexican male, she might need a sensitivity reader to make sure she got everything right. Sensitivity readers make sure that everything about the character is accurate and that nothing in your book could be construed as offensive.
This isn’t just about demographics though; it can also address experiences. If someone is writing about military life but has never experienced it, they could ask someone that has been in the military to read it. Or ask someone in a wheelchair to read your book about someone in a wheelchair. Or ask a chef to read your book about a chef. Sensitivity readers are really about making sure your book is accurate and respectful to everyone reading it.
Just like alpha and beta readers, these readers might be free. You should be able to find them in the same areas that you found alpha and beta readers because they are the same thing, just more specific.
You can go through multiple rounds of readers and self-editing until you’re ready to move on to the next step: hiring freelancers.
6. Developmental Editors, Line Editors, and Copy Editors
These are so important! Do not skip them! Many authors think self-editing and beta readers are enough to have a polished book. No! Hire a trained professional to help you out. These people live for making books better. Let them help you. If you don’t believe me when I say, “they will point out a surprising number of errors,” ask for a free sample edit from a few editors. I’m serious.
If you’re surprised or confused by the different types of editors, check out this post where I talk extensively about each one.
If you’re worried about editors removing your voice from the text and changing it to their voice, I get that. That’s a real fear. It’s also the thing I work the hardest NOT to do. I know the rules; I point out what doesn’t follow the rules because that’s my job. But, I also respect unique style, and I work hard to make the author feel comfortable telling me, “No, I want it wrong like that. That’s the point.” But you have to know the rules to be able to bend them. Check out this blog post all about breaking the rules on purpose. Ask for a sample edit if you’re worried an editor will blot out your voice.
7. Cover Design
Cover design can actually be done whenever you want. It doesn’t really relate to any of the other steps. Just make sure you are absolutely set on your title because the designer might not be willing to change it later.
Some people try to do it themselves. If that’s you, think about how you choose a book when you’re in a bookstore—you look at the cover. Do you really want to “give it a go” with something so vital in your book sales? Just something to think about.
You also need to prepare anything else you want on the front or back cover, including your book blurb and an author bio. Upon hiring, your cover designer will also ask what platforms you want to upload to. Specs will differ depending on the platform, so you’ll want to decide on that before you approach a cover designer.
I recommend working with a cover designer and a copy editor simultaneously, because by this point, you can have drafted a book blurb and had your other editors look at it. Then you can have the copy editor work on the book blurb as well. Once the copy editor returns that to you, just have the cover designer plug it into the design. If you don’t have your developmental or line editors look at your blurb, at least by the time you get to a copy editor, your point of view and tense are cleaned up, and your plot, characters, and setting are solid. You can be sure that whatever content is in your blurb (whether or not it’s grammatically correct yet), matches your book.
Learn more about cover design from this guest post by Tamian Wood!
8. Formatting
This can be done by yourself if you like, or you can hire someone to do it. I don’t really have an opinion about whether you choose to do this yourself or hire out (unlike my cover designer opinion) because many times, if you do it wrong, the retailer or distributor that you upload it to won’t accept it. You can also easily tell if you did a bad job and need help from a professional.
There are many tutorials online about how to do this yourself. If you’re not tech-savvy or just don’t want to put in the time, hire a professional to save you the stress! Let me know if you need recommendations!
9. Proofreading
I do know how to do this one (unlike the last two steps)! This is a really important last step that I talk about in this post here. Check it out if you’re unsure what a proofreader does or why you need one.
10. Publishing
If you got to this step, congratulations!!! *happy dance* Keep marketing and sell those books!! Not sure where to publish your book? Check out this post comparing the top 8 publishing platforms in a handy little chart.
I hope you learned a lot from this post! If you have more questions about any of these topics, feel free to email me so I can answer your questions (or refer you to someone else that can answer your questions)! Enjoy this graphic to help you remember the steps! Happy publishing!
Still not sure what you should do next? Click the button below to take a quiz! It will tell you what you should do next based on your goals and what you’re already done, and it will tell you HOW to do it! There are so many helpful resources available in this quiz to help you through self-publishing! Get to it!