In Part 1 of this series, I talked about removing the gatekeepers from your path to book publication. The best way to do this is to self-publish. So, let’s get into some of the finer details of what it takes to self-publish, and why you should do it.

How do I know my book is ready to self-publish?

One way to determine this is to have a bunch of friends and family read it and tell you how great it is. Don’t do that. It’s unfair to them, because they can’t tell you it sucks (even if it does), and chances are you won’t listen to their feedback anyway (even if it’s right).

I don’t use any sort of peer group or writer’s club to vet my fiction. If you enjoy the process and find it helps you, great, but for me it’s just another way to procrastinate.

But here’s the main reason to avoid feedback before you ship your book:

It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks.

Remember, this, from Part 1?

If the editor loves the book but doesn’t think it’s ready, she’ll work with you on rewrites, revisions, tweaks, etc. Keep in mind, these changes may help the book, or they might just be what that single editor prefers. So you could end up doing a ton of work only to have the editor, board, or publisher ultimately pass on your book without paying you a dime.

Well, that’s with someone who might eventually pay you for the book. If you put your novel through an endless cycle of tweaks and rewrites based on the opinions of people who have no stake in its success, you’re doomed.

Now, don’t confuse this with getting your novel edited. You absolutely must have a professional editor check your work, and you can establish what you would like him to edit: typos, grammar, consistency, tone, perspective shifting, fact checking, tense, etc. Pay for this service and find someone you can work with. You are a professional writer, so act like it.

My book is published! Now what?

Marketing, that’s what. It’s a broad term often misunderstood, and hopefully you’ve been doing your research on how to go about it. The process should actually start long before your book is for sale. Check out Tim Grahl and his team at OUT:THINK. I’m reading through their free 30-day program on building an email list, and so far it looks like a game-changer.

For this section, I’m going to cover some things for self-publishing and traditional publishing, should you have a book deal and expect the publisher to make sure your book sells as many copies as possible.

By marketing, I mean everything from connecting with your readers one-on-one to placing ads on websites, if that is within your means and you think it works. I stink at selling and pitching my work to a potential reader. Most writers are introverts (me included), and we don’t like the extroverted nature of selling. But the key here is we shouldn’t try to sell our books. We should connect with readers and share stories they want to read. The best marketing you can do is give your book away to as many people as possible who will love it. They tell their friends, and so on. And when your next book comes along, those people can’t wait for it.

In an ideal situation of traditional publishing, the publisher would be able to position your book for maximum exposure via ads, blurbs, and high-visibility tables and endcaps at the bookstore. Unfortunately for writers like you and me, we aren’t named James Patterson, Dan Brown or Stephenie Meyer, so if we’re picked up by a publisher we are relegated to the mid-list, with a few copies of our books shoved spine-out on the general or genre fiction shelves. Publishers pay top dollar for that table placement, and they want their bestsellers to take up all the room.

So while a publisher might send some press releases out to Publishers Weekly and Booklist, it is up to us to make that connection with readers. This is another reason I choose self-publishing over traditional in most cases; the publisher typically gives you 8-12% of the money from a book sale and keeps the rest. 15% of that cut goes to your agent. By comparison, Amazon gives 70% of the sale to you, and there is no agent to take a share. So if we’re going to handle all the marketing, as well as write the damn thing, why should they get all the cash?

Now, this is e-books only. For paperbacks, there are ways to self-publish your books and set them up for print-on-demand so copies will be printed and shipped when they are purchased rather than taking up warehouse space somewhere. I use CreateSpace.

It is possible to print a bunch of copies and get them into indie bookstores, but it’s a ton of legwork and in my opinion isn’t worth it. You can make more money and find more readers much faster with e-books, and still have the print-on-demand available for readers who want that format and for special events.

I realize there is some romance involved with seeing your book on the shelf at Barnes & Noble, and I have every confidence you will see that happen (assuming B&N is still around in the near future). But it doesn’t have to be the first step.

If I had to start over again, this is the ideal scenario. They’re in order, but multiple items can be done concurrently.

• Write a damn good book (you already have this part, I’m sure 😉 )
• Pay an editor to proof it for typos and clarity. You can also have them edit for tone, consistency, pace, etc.; that is up to you.
• Pay someone to create a kick-ass cover for your book. There are lots of e-book designers on the web. See what the popular books in your genre look like and don’t stray too far from that.
• Create a blog, Facebook Page, etc., whichever one you are comfortable with and enjoy updating. Set it up for you as an author, not for the book. Since you’ll have many books, you’ll want one site for your readers to visit for the latest info on your projects.
• Start building an email list. Again, check out Tim Grahl and his team at OUT:THINK.
• Post information about you and your book and anything you can think of that will help readers find you. If you share interests with your target readers, post about those. Be genuine in this–don’t worry about selling anything.
• Put sample chapters of your book on your site, short stories, as much as you can to gain interest in your writing. Right now the biggest problem is no one knows about your book, so once that’s solved you can worry about letting too much out.
• Create a free author account with Kindle Direct Publishing. This is where you will publish e-books on Amazon.
• Create a free author account at Author Central. This will be your Amazon profile, visible with all of your books.
• Format your book for uploading to KDP. There are steps for this on the site, or you can pay someone to do it. It’s very easy, so save the cash.
• Fill out your book’s info on KDP. It may seem like a lot, but it is all stuff you would have to do for a publisher too.
• Set the price for your book and publish it.
• Create free giveaways via the Amazon promotion tools.
• Your book takes off and sells thousands of copies.
• Everyone is talking about your book.
• Big agents and publishers see how well your book is selling, and they come to you offering deals.
• You get to choose if you want to sign with them, rather than all the power being on their side.

Again, this is the ideal situation. The good news is, you can start it today and everything is under your control except the last few items. Getting to those takes a lot of hard work and luck (it sucks, but luck is a big factor).

But while you work toward those last few items, you can keep writing great stuff and getting it into the hands of people who want it. They will tell more people, and you will start building a readership. The worst thing that can happen to your book is it only gets read by a few agents then gets stuffed in a drawer and forgotten. It deserves better than that, and so do you.

Ah, agents. Don’t they hate self-publishers?

If they do, it is out of self-preservation and clinging to a bygone era. Agents are becoming more and more obsolete, and many of them are holding on to the old ways in hopes of staying relevant. The only argument they could have against you self-publishing is that your book already has too much exposure and has sold tons of copies, so a publisher might not be interested in it. But at that point, who cares? You’re selling tons of books and a publisher will most likely be interested in what you’re doing next, since you put in all the work to build a readership.

Some agents are diversifying into other services, like editing, cover design, promotion, etc. This shows awareness of the changing industry, but be careful. If you do want to sign with a person or agency, make sure what they offer is worth the cut they take. If it’s all something you can do (and probably better), pass.

I hope this gets you excited for all the possibilities of what you can do with your writing career, rather than frustrated. One of the sure signs that you were born to be a writer is that nothing can frustrate you enough to stop writing.