How to Self-Publish

 

Basic Concept

There are so many self-publishing companies out there, it can be mind-boggling. Our recommendation cuts through the clutter, directing you to the key players in the industry and is based on our years of experience in the publishing industry. These companies are the best true self-publishing companies out there, meaning that you don’t need to pay them to publish your book, and neither do they keep a large share of the proceeds for themselves. You do the work, and you get paid for it if your book sells.

  • But first and most important, regardless of your publisher, make sure you have a quality book. Say something meaningful, biblical, and well-written. This is too important to skip mentioning.
  • Have a professional cover designer create your book cover, or design a modern cover that mimics in concept what other top publishers are doing. The last thing you want is a amateur cover to present your book.
  • For your print book, we recommend working directly with the companies that own the distribution platforms. The two choices are KDP (owned by Amazon), or Ingram Spark (owned by Ingram, the America’s largest book distributor). The best bet is actually to publish with both of them, non-exclusively, to serve both markets directly with their own printers. Also, any other so-called self-publishing company, which really just provides services, will also work with one or both of these companies. Working directly with makes most sense, economically and over time.
  • For your eBook, we also recommend KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), Amazon’s eBook distribution company. They give you great, real marketing opportunities when you opt-in to KDP Select.

 

Publishing Your Print Book

Create an account on KDP, and/or Ingram Spark, our recommended print book printers and distributors. Their sites will walk you through everything, from setting up the title, to how to order print copies of your work (for a low cost, too).

 

Publishing Your Print Book

Create an account on www.kdp.amazon.com, our recommended eBook distributor. Their site will also walk you through everything, from setting up your title, to how to set up promotions.

 

Promotion

  • Keywords: KDP and Ingram Spark give you the opportunity to add keywords. Add keywords that are two to four words long, and which are the words people may type into a search bar on Amazon to find books like yours (“How to study the Bible,” for example).
  • Categories: KDP and Ingram Spark give you the opportunity to add categories. This is also important. Pick categories that match the subject of your book.
  • Pricing: Our recommendation is to stick close to industry standard. This may be in the neighborhood of $3.99 for the eBook, and $15.99 for the print book (depending on genre, size of the book, etc.)
  • Free Promotions: KDP Select allows you to set up free promotions for your book, a great way to get exposure and reach people with your book. We highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity.
  • Paid Advertising: We recommend working with Amazon Marketing Services to advertise both your print book and eBook. They offer promotions that offer a real return on investment, if you take the time to learn how to set up good promotions (which isn’t too hard to do).