How to Self-Publish a Book. My two cents.

How to self-publish a book. My two cents.

Hi everyone!
Of course, all this stuff is really subjective, and everybody has their own experience or opinion, but I´m writing this post now because I think it can help a lot of people who are just starting out with this online self-publishing thing.
I keep having a lot of people ask me what to do to publish their own projects, whether children's books or other types of books, so I will try to give you some points to get you started. This is my opinion, then.
Self-published projects now account for about half of the work I get each year. It used to be just for established mainstream publishers for many years, but over the past 8 years, I have noticed a big change: many people have also started approaching me with independent or self-published content. Right now, my Amazon new listing features a mix of projects for established mainstream publishers, such as New Paige Press (including the “Once Canvas” book series), and independent and/or self-published books like The Brave Coin. As an illustrator, my market has doubled because I work with any type of client as long as the project fits me and I like the book they present to me.

Therefore, I think this post might now help make things less confusing for people who are just arriving.
This is about how to start self-publishing online without leaving your written books on the shelf. Who knows, maybe you can start your little independent publishing business from home. Trust me, it happened more times than you may think. It´s all about persistence, exposure, and good planning.

So… you wrote a story and don´t know how to publish a book? There are actually plenty of things you can do nowadays, as the market for self-published books has really changed in the last three years or so, when it comes to different opportunities and ways for the common folks to put their work out there. For example, put your book on Amazon.
Publish your book on Kindle and/or as a real printed book.
You don´t need to keep your books in your drawer forever anymore.
Publish your book for free.
You don´t know how to write, but you can draw?…
Well, publish a colouring book then.

It´s now much easier (and even profitable) to become a self-published author than it used to be. Self-publish and be happy.
Don´t take it too seriously; just make it your hobby, and one morning you might find yourself with a new full-time job.
Publish your book online. Self-publishing is actually a good way to reach more “professional markets” or even get your book noticed by established mainstream publishers.
For example, a sci-fi book called “The Martian”, which started as a self-published project, became the Ridley Scott movie “The Martian” with Matt Damon.

So don´t fear to dive into self-publishing. No matter what type of book you are writing, my focus here is on children's books because that is what I am illustrating nowadays.

For example one of the best selling books I did recently, “The Masterpiece – One big canvas” , https://www.amazon.com/Masterpiece-One-Big-Canvas/dp/0578496380/ came out of a project which started as a self publishing effort for an independent author, Jay Miletsky and now he´s actually running his own established independent publishing company, New Paige Press out of the results in sales from his initial self published books, “Ricky the Rock”, “Beware of : The nose biting monster”, etc.

I´ve actually already illustrated the sequel for the Masterpiece. The second volume in the One Big Canvas series is called “The Molding of Clay”.
So, if one can do it, two can do it, three can do it.
You can do it too.

Just be aware of one thing. If you plan to go into self-publishing, in addition to building a comfortable budget for illustration work, you should set aside a bit of money for online publicity, such as Google AdWords (Facebook ads don´t work very well in my experience, but this is only my opinion).
Then you need to have your work or info about it posted everywhere in blogs, social media, sites, etc.
Don´t know where to start? Start a blog if you don´t have one yet, and blog about the book's making. Don´t worry about having just one or two visits or readers in the first months. The more you write, the more your blog is picked up by search results, and the more people will know about your book.

Nowadays, there are a bunch of ways to self-publish your book. Let´s look at some self-publishing ideas to help you start publishing your own book.

• 1 – There´s the zero-cost way of publishing it on KDP Amazon, like I´m doing with my colouring books right now.
  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083XGJS9N/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4

In that way , you get your book written, illustrated and edited; (I totally recommend the “Affinity Publisher software” (more on that one later)). Then you upload the content into your own author KDP account for free, choose your price, and Amazon prints your book each time someone orders it.

At the same time, you can create an alternative e-book version from the same material you´ve uploaded and sell it to.
Amazon only gets a percentage out of everything. Don´t expect to get rich with this method, but if you sell a few thousand copies, your revenue will not be that bad either.

• 2 – If you want to do the same with your book, as you did on Amazon, but also include a hardcover edition (Amazon only prints soft covers), you can also self-publish the book at the same time on www.lulu.com
  
  It mostly works the same way Amazon does. It´s actually much easier to upload your book pages, and you can create your book in a bunch of different hardcover formats besides the traditional softcover one.

You can also create an e-book version… but this one, I think, is only in PDF, if I´m not mistaken.
The point is that you can have your book spread all around the self-publishing platforms you can find. The fact that you publish on Amazon does not mean you cannot publish it with another company, so take advantage of that. You retain all your rights anywhere you go.

In all these options, the revenue won't be amazing unless you sell hundreds of books per month because the companies take their substantial fee out of each sale, too, but don´t discourage, because like I said, if you are a first-time self-publishing author, what matters is putting your book out there.

On this note, one thing that is very important… if you´re going to start your online store, try to fill it with more than one book. I know it's hard to invest in illustrations and in making the book, but the more books you have in your online store, the more search engines will sell the book for you.
So do your best to start creating. After all, if you want to become a children's book author, just don´t stick with a single book.

Also, don´t be in a hurry to see results. It takes months for search engines to index new content on the web, so while you are waiting for something to happen regarding sales on your first book, start working on a second one. This way, when your first book starts to get noticed by people, and most of all by search engines, a few months after you launch it, you release a second one and send the message to potential buyers that you mean business, and you´re not going anywhere. Get the idea?

• 3. The more profitable way to make money in your books is also the most expensive for a new self-published author.
  In this third method, you need to invest in illustrations and in creating the book, and you also need a budget to print physical copies and stock your book at home to sell it all over the place.
  
  

Usually, nowadays, printing in bulk in China is a good choice because their quality has improved significantly, and they can print 1000s of copies of your product at a lower cost than anywhere else in the world, as New Paige Press did with my books, for example.

You need money to make money with this number 3 option, but in the end, you´ll generate much more revenue than with self-publishing through regular KDP print-on-demand routes, as I mentioned in points 1 and 2.
This way, you get your Amazon store not just as a print-on-demand author on KDP but as an independent publisher. You are the one who´s stocking Amazon with your books when their stock runs out; you´re the one printing the books, so you retain most of the cover price you ask for there.
In points 1 and 2, you just get a small fee out of your sales because the companies have to do all the printing and selling work for you.

So I hope this post gives you a few ideas to be excited about and to publish your own book.
If you have any questions, let me know, and I´ll be posting a couple more things on this topic later.