Self-Publishing Steps after Writing the Book

Apr 1

So, after many cycles of writing and revising, you finally have a finished book you’re ready to self-publish? Fantastic! Once you’ve smoothed everything over with beta readers and professional editors, what are the next steps? Here’s a list of what might come next and what some of the processes might look like. Note: Not all of these steps are required, but they can be important to include depending on the route you want to take.

Websites

Making an author's website is important. Readers can have a reference point to learn more about you and your backlist or upcoming books. It can also be the source for where you have newsletter sign-ups (which we'll get to second). While there are some free website hosts, they come with limitations, so you may have to pay some money to get it up and running. You also have to build the website. This can have a huge range of difficulty depending on how fancy you get. A lot of options can have templates to start from. It can be frustrating if you're not used to it, but it is important to set it up. Especially where there can be glitches between the website format and the mobile format. Fortunately, maintenance is much easier once it's built. You don’t have to have everything built all at once either. Just start small with a landing page, a little information about yourself, and potentially a contact form. You can use placeholders too until you’re ready for your actual website content.

Newsletters

Newsletters are arguably more important than the website. Some services let you build a newsletter community that isn't connected to a website at all. While it will feel awkward at first, it's very important to start a newsletter. Using social media can have great reach, but you're not in "your space," which can be dangerous. At any point, your account can get shut down, or something could happen to the app itself. If you don't have a safety net in place, you’re at risk of losing your community. Having a newsletter protects that communication bridge and allows you to talk directly to your readers instead of dealing with an algorithm.

Email Addresses

This doesn't have to be something you worry about too much. You can always make a new email for free, just so it’s separate from your personal accounts and doesn’t get lost. You can also get fancy and get an email with your domain name to seem more professional, though you have to pay for that. This can help keep your contacts clean with your newsletter, and if you do it now, you can save yourself the trouble of trying to switch later.

Trifecta of Evil Part 1

So the websites, newsletter, and email address come together and create a confusing triad of chicken and the egg. What comes first? It depends on the route you go. In my experience, if you're doing these steps, I found that the website should come first. Once that is established and live, you have a proper domain name that you can create your email with (if you’re making a professional email). Then you can set up a newsletter through your new email. After all are created, you need to connect the three of them. The email needs to connect to the website for any contact forms. The newsletter also has to be connected to the email to be sent out correctly. And the newsletter has to have code injection into the website for sign-up options. The steps to do that can be confusing, however, their instructions can be found online, depending on the sites you're using. Usually, it involved copying and pasting a prewritten date into certain settings. It usually verifies pretty quickly after it’s done.

Newsletter Campaigns

Then once that is all set up, the actual making of the newsletters is a whole other step. After writing out what you want to include, trying to format it can be difficult. Create a newsletter welcome email for anyone who signs up. Then you'll have to create the actual newsletters that go out with the updates. This is a perpetual task, but hopefully it gets manageable once you get the hang of it. There are templates and suggestions online for ideas on what to include.

ISBNs

ISBNs are required to publish a book, physical or ebook, but I believe there are ways to get them free. However, using free ISBNs has its limitations on where you can use them for your book. Research what the pros and cons are for what's best for you. To buy ISBNs as an American, you'll use Bowker, which can be expensive. Buying them in bulk can save you a lot of money if you plan on publishing more books in the future. You will need one ISBN for every version of your book. One for ebook, one for paperback, and one for hardcover. If you ever do a second edition, you'll need more for that. Once you buy the ISBNs, you'll have to fill out the information for them to register, such as the title, the formats, the release dates, pricing, etc. It'll process and then approve after a day or two. You'll need your ISBNs for several later steps. You'll also be able to edit the ISBN data later.

Cover Design

You'll need cover designs for your book. I strongly recommend hiring a professional to make a cover for your book unless you are a professional in graphic design. I am a professional digital artist, and I did not attempt to make mine because I don't understand all the book trends, what genre rules are, and formatting dimensions, etc. Your cover is your most important marketing asset for your book, and if it’s not done by a professional, it will hurt your book sales. Find someone that you can work with who knows your genre and fits in your budget. You’ll need to have some comparative titles to your book and potentially list some concepts for how you want the front to look. They’ll also need your book blurb to have it on the back cover of the book.

Formatting

Once your book is thoroughly complete with edits and your cover is ready, it's time to format. This can also be done by a professional, but some software makes it easy to do it yourself. I used Vellum, but there are alternatives. You upload your book into the software, and it breaks the chapters up for you. You'll be able to create your front and back matter here. So half title page, title page, copyright page, table of contents, dedication, epigraphs, acknowledgements, about the author, etc. Some of these are optional, but the most important one is the Title page with the copyright page (should be front and back of each other). The title page should have your book title, author name, and the publishing press if there is one. After that, you can stylize the format with chapter headers, scene breaks, header and footer customization. You can put in special pages, like if you have a custom title page, you can import the image itself.

Copyright Page

The copyright is so specific that it gets its own page. So by US law, all work is copyrighted by default of creating it. You'll have a line somewhere as follows:

There are some templates of what you can include in your copyright page. Here are a few:

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
Without in any way limiting the author’s exclusive rights under copyright, the author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text, including, without limitation, technologies capable of generating works in the same style or genre as this publication. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

At the bottom, this is where you'll include the city and state where you registered. Usually can be listed as so:

An imprint of [YOUR NAME OR BUSINESS], [City, State]

You can also include the month and year of the edition, you'll include credits to your cover designer, and have the ISBN with the format version it is. At the end, you'll have the LCCN too if you submitted for one (more on that later).

Copyright Registration

If you'd like to file for a copyright, that is another step you can take. While your work was automatically copyrighted by creation, filing it will make it easier to prove that if you ever need to. There's a $65 filing fee for it. The government website is outdated-looking, but it works. You fill out the forms as clearly as you can. Then you make a payment. After the payment, you'll need to digitally submit the work. Once you do that, you've completed it. It'll take a while to process, weeks to months. That's normal. Eventually, you'll get in the mail a certificate that you have registered. In my experience, and I've done this twice now, it is best to fill out the application during the weekdays. The website glitches at the payment step for some reason on the weekends, so try to do it during business hours.

Library of Congress

If you would like your book to be accessible to libraries, you'll need to register for a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN). You'll register through their site and make a request. You'll fill out their forms using the book’s title page and copyright page exactly as they’re listed in the book. (So make sure your title page is done first and matches.) It asks for the title of the book and all contributors (authors, illustrations, etc) and the publisher listed on the title page. If there's no publisher, you use your name. You'll also need a summary of the book without any special characters. I don't know what that might entail, but the book's summary that I copied from a docs file was not accepted. I found an online "special characters remover," pasted it in, copied the new version, and it worked. Once your form is complete, it may take up to 15 business days to complete, but it's often done within a week. If there's an error, they'll let you know via email. After you have completed it, you will get your LCCN, which you have to paste on the copyright page exactly as they want it. Usually, "Library of Congress Control Number: XXXXXXXX". The first digits should be the year you're filing. You are also expected to mail a complimentary copy of the best edition of the book (so properly complete, not a proof) of your book upon release date to the Library of Congress to keep your LCCN in good standing.

Evil Trifecta Part 2

So ISBNs, Formatting, and LCCN also become an evil game of chicken and egg. Not as bad, but still can be daunting. One thing that is important to know is that ISBN forms can be edited. Start with getting the ISBNs so they can be used as part of the cover design and formatting processes. Then once you get all your art assets, you can format the book. Once you have your title page and copyright page figured out, you can apply for an LCCN if you desire to include that step. Once you get your LCCN, you can reedit the format of the book to include it and update the ISBNs to feature that data.

Ingramspark

Making an account with IngramSpark or any POD company to get your book distributed is the next step. Register your account in advance, as it takes 3-5 business days to verify your account. They will require tax information, banking, and card information to properly do the payments. It will take some time before you can even upload the titles, so do it in advance to give yourself time.

ARC Sign Ups

If you plan on doing ARCs, you'll need to make a signup sheet! Using Google Forms has been easier for me. Collecting information like name, contacts, and any reading preferences can help determine if a reader is a good fit for your book. Considering you're giving away a free early copy in exchange for an honest review, you might want to be more selective about who gets to receive one. If someone doesn't read your genre at all, they likely won't enjoy your book as much as a different reader.

AK Ikezoe