{"id":322,"date":"2020-11-20T10:13:20","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T10:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?p=322"},"modified":"2023-09-01T11:48:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T10:48:03","slug":"how-to-self-publish-an-e-book-and-why-you-ought-to-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/how-to-self-publish-an-e-book-and-why-you-ought-to-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Self-Publish An E-Book And Why You Ought To Do It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We\u2019re storytellers, so I\u2019ll start out with a story. (It&#8217;s Harry Bingham writing, by the way.) The story is true, and has been life-changing for me. Follow some of the advice in this post, and your life might change, too &#8211; in a very, very good way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-self-publishing-e-books-makes-me-an-easy-six-figures\">How Self-publishing E-books Makes Me An Easy Six Figures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A few years back, the first novel in my Fiona Griffiths crime series was bought by Kate Miciak of Delacorte\/Bantam Dell in New York. If those names don\u2019t mean anything to you, suffice to say that Kate also edits the work of Lee Child. Back then, she also edited the work of Karin Slaughter. She edits, or has edited, the work of countless other megastar authors. Delacorte is an imprint of Penguin Random House, and a leading crime imprint in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My <a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/do-i-query-us-literary-agents-or-uk-agents-a-simple-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">literary agents in the US and UK<\/a> were (and are) both outstanding, so it looked to me like I had pretty much a full house, aces over kings. The perfect editor, at the perfect imprint, at the perfect publisher, and with superb agents by way of support. That\u2019s dream-come-true territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only, of course, if the book was lousy, no amount of good publishing would save it, so there was that to consider. There was a possible pitfall right there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Except \u2013 the book did okay. It got a starred review in&nbsp;<em>Publishers Weekly<\/em>. A starred review in&nbsp;<em>Kirkus<\/em>. A full four stars in the&nbsp;<em>USA Today<\/em>. It got rave reviews in the&nbsp;<em>Boston Globe,<\/em>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>Seattle Times<\/em>, and a host of others places too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second book in the series, the same thing. Brilliant reviews. Great publishing team. The best names in the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the books flopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curled up and died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They did so badly, that the second book never even went into paperback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How come?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Response from readers had been good. Things seemingly lay more in the difficulty that my publishers had in finding the right look \u2013 the hardback of that first book had a nice but weird cover on it. Retailers were unconvinced, and didn\u2019t stock it. Readers, the same. When they saw the book in store, they didn\u2019t really know what kind of book it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The failure of that cast a pall over a radically rejacketed paperback. Since that also didn\u2019t sell, the second book was pretty much dead in the water, despite yet another desperate attempt at rejacketing and rebranding with the hardback of the second book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that was that. My US career pretty much over. Nice reviews, no sales. Too bad \u2013 but I believed in those books. And if what I\u2019ve described was correct, that seemed to me an extremely solvable problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I wasn\u2019t quitting the North American market.<\/p>\n\n\n<div\n\tid=\"blog-notice-block_b0926dedd94a0290d4bc4daa1b074f20\"\n\tclass=\"blog-notice alignfull narrow\"\n>\n\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block narrow\"\n\t\tstyle=\"background-color:#ee2a7b; color:#f1f1f1\" >\n\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__quote blog-notice-block__quote--left\">\n\t\t\t<svg version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"1.6em\" height=\"1.2em\"\n\t\t\t\tviewBox=\"0 0 398.93 300.41\" fill=\"inherit\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><g id=\"Group_123\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<path id=\"Path_34\" class=\"st0\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\td=\"M299.17 101c-30.25-.02-58.87 13.73-77.76 37.36C245.24 71.07 305.36 19.92 379.17 10.5L377.83 0c-96.27 12.29-170.46 91.86-177.46 187.71-7.17 54.59 31.27 104.66 85.86 111.84 54.59 7.17 104.66-31.27 111.84-85.86s-31.27-104.66-85.86-111.84c-4.33-.57-8.69-.86-13.04-.85z\"><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t\t<path id=\"Path_35\" class=\"st0\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\td=\"M99.66 101c-30.25-.01-58.87 13.73-77.76 37.36C45.73 71.07 105.85 19.92 179.66 10.49L178.33 0C82.05 12.3 7.86 91.87.86 187.72c-7.17 54.59 31.28 104.66 85.87 111.83 54.59 7.17 104.66-31.28 111.83-85.87s-31.28-104.66-85.87-111.83c-4.32-.57-8.67-.86-13.03-.85z\"><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t<\/g><\/svg>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__quote blog-notice-block__quote--right\">\n\t\t\t<svg version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" width=\"1.6em\" height=\"1.2em\"\n\t\t\t\tviewBox=\"0 0 398.93 300.41\" xml:space=\"preserve\" fill=\"inherit\"><g>\n\t\t\t\t\t<path\n\t\t\t\t\t\td=\"M99.76 199.41c30.25.02 58.87-13.73 77.76-37.36-23.82 67.29-83.95 118.44-157.76 127.86l1.34 10.49c96.27-12.29 170.46-91.86 177.46-187.71C205.73 58.1 167.29 8.03 112.7.86 58.1-6.31 8.03 32.13.86 86.73s31.27 104.66 85.86 111.84c4.33.56 8.68.84 13.04.84z\"><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t\t<path\n\t\t\t\t\t\td=\"M299.26 199.41c30.25.01 58.87-13.73 77.76-37.36-23.82 67.28-83.95 118.44-157.76 127.86l1.34 10.49c96.28-12.3 170.47-91.87 177.47-187.71C405.24 58.1 366.79 8.03 312.2.86c-54.6-7.17-104.67 31.28-111.84 85.87s31.28 104.66 85.87 111.83c4.32.57 8.68.85 13.03.85z\"><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t<\/g><\/svg>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"blog-notice-block__title\">Join our Simply Self-Publish course for more writing advice!<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hr hr--blog-cta\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<p>This ten-week course begins in October 2024, and it will provide you with the knowledge you need to complete every stage of the self-publishing process.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<p>With small class sizes, you&#8217;ll receive detailed personal feedback that will help you market your book, create your author platform, and more.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<p>This course is aimed at writers who have a finished manuscript that&#8217;s been through several rounds of edits. With this course, you&#8217;ll become a self-publishing expert in just 10 weeks.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"http:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/creative-writing-courses\/simply-self-publish-course\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\ttarget=\"_blank\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\trel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"blog-notice-block__content-link\"\n\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content-link-chevron-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content-link-text\" style=\"color:#f1f1f1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAPPLY HERE\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"1em\" height=\"1em\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tviewBox=\"0 0 16 24\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfill=\"#F7941D\" class=\"sc-bdfBwQ laupf\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\td=\"M2.24 22.11L.11 20l8.84-8.89L0 2.12 2.13 0l11.05 11.11z\"><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block blog-notice-block--spacer  narrow\"\n\t\tstyle=\"background-color:#ee2a7b;\"\n\t\taria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"blog-notice-block__title\">Join our Simply Self-Publish course for more writing advice!<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hr hr--blog-cta\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<p>This ten-week course begins in October 2024, and it will provide you with the knowledge you need to complete every stage of the self-publishing process.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<p>With small class sizes, you&#8217;ll receive detailed personal feedback that will help you market your book, create your author platform, and more.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<p>This course is aimed at writers who have a finished manuscript that&#8217;s been through several rounds of edits. With this course, you&#8217;ll become a self-publishing expert in just 10 weeks.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"http:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/creative-writing-courses\/simply-self-publish-course\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\ttarget=\"_blank\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\trel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"blog-notice-block__content-link\"\n\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content-link-chevron-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"blog-notice-block__content-link-text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAPPLY HERE\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"1em\" height=\"1em\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tviewBox=\"0 0 16 24\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfill=\"#F7941D\" class=\"sc-bdfBwQ laupf\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\td=\"M2.24 22.11L.11 20l8.84-8.89L0 2.12 2.13 0l11.05 11.11z\"><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-my-self-publishing-experiment\">My Self-Publishing Experiment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I chose to <a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/traditional-publishing-vs-self-publishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">self-publish<\/a> book #3 in that series (more about how to do that in a minute). That experiment went well, so I bought back the rights to books #1 and #2 from the (very generous) people at Penguin Random House. That repurchase cost me $10,000, but it was probably the best investment I\u2019ve ever made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In June 2017, I published #6 in that series. I\u2019ve earned about $100,000 from my Fiona Griffiths books over the last twelve months. I do almost no marketing. I release just one book a year. I have an incredible relationship with my US readers \u2013 the best I\u2019ve had in twenty years of being a professional author, and readers like my books. I hope you\u2019ll agree that\u2019s a great outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do you achieve it? What\u2019s the secret?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, two things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Number one: my books are good. If your books are poor, or even mediocre, they won\u2019t get that level of success and, frankly, don\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And number two: I self-published an e-book. (Or, rather, a series of e-books.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, I also sell in print, but ebooks account for 95% of my sales, or more. And the print sales I do get arise, almost entirely, as a result of my ebooks\u2019 visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"339\" height=\"406\" src=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/griffiths-books.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-417698\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/griffiths-books.jpeg 339w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/griffiths-books-250x300.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/griffiths-books-300x359.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 339px) 100vw, 339px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>An e-book &#8216;boxed&#8217; set of the first three Fiona Griffiths novels<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-ebooks-haven-t-peaked-and-are-here-to-stay\">Why Ebooks Haven\u2019t Peaked \u2013 And Are Here To Stay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Is this all a bubble, though? A flash in the pan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, you might well think so, given the number of daft stories&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2017\/apr\/27\/screen-fatigue-sees-uk-ebook-sales-plunge-17-as-readers-return-to-print\">like this one<\/a>, which claim the ebook revolution is on the wane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the short answer is that, yes, the number of ebooks&nbsp;<em>sold by traditional publishers<\/em>&nbsp;have flattened off and even dipped, but that\u2019s largely the result of an acute decline in the market share of traditional publishers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Association of American Publishers&nbsp;reports double figure declines&nbsp;in ebooks. The British Publishers Association&nbsp;notes that sales of trade fiction&nbsp;(i.e. novels for adults and kids) have declined by a quarter. In five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ouch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s a horrendous loss of revenue, but it\u2019s not that people have stopped reading books. It\u2019s that they\u2019re not reading traditionally published work in anything like the same quantity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebookseller.com\/tags-futurebook\/authorearningscom\">AuthorEarnings.com<\/a>&nbsp;tells you is that, between 2014 and 2016, Amazon\u2019s own publishing imprints doubled their market share. Indie authors have relentlessly accumulated share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And traditional publishers as a group, and the large publishers most of all, have lost share seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, the ebook market is thriving, and the market for books of any format sold online is now utterly, utterly dominant. AuthorEarnings reckon that sales of adult fiction are now more than 75% online, and that\u2019s just unbelievably excellent news for writers like you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because you can\u2019t compete in bricks and mortar retail. Except in exceptional circumstances, or in minuscule volumes, your books just won\u2019t get sold through those channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You have fully three quarters of the entire market for books to aim at, and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Not only&nbsp;<strong>can<\/strong>&nbsp;you compete here \u2013 no one is blocking your way<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>But also it\u2019s&nbsp;<strong>free<\/strong>&nbsp;to compete here \u2013 there\u2019s no entry charge<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The dominant player&nbsp;<strong>wants<\/strong>&nbsp;you to compete here \u2013 it positively welcomes self-pub authors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And best of all:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You actually have a&nbsp;<strong>competitive advantage<\/strong>&nbsp;over big traditional firms, because readers positively&nbsp;<em>want<\/em>&nbsp;a direct connection with the author. No one in the world positively wants a direct connection with some giant multinational.&nbsp;<em>You have a marketing edge they cannot match.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So it\u2019s perfectly possible to make good money with e-books. As Amazon continues to flourish, the indie tide is rising all the time. The simple fact is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More and more indies are making more and more money than ever before. Next year will be better than last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good to know, right? But money doesn\u2019t just drop into your lap. You gotta to go make it. So \u2013 after a pretty picture of that rising tide \u2013 let\u2019s go figure out our next steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.jerichowriters.com\/JUvjrMo-bFK6x4IQ\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:75\/https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/tide-coming-in.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.jerichowriters.com\/JUvjrMo-bFK6x4IQ\/w:1400\/h:408\/q:75\/https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/tide-coming-in.jpg\" alt=\" class=\" class=\"wp-image-24945\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-step-1-set-up-an-account-with-kdp\">Step 1: Set Up An Account With KDP<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>KDP stands for Kindle Direct Publishing and you will grow to love those intials very much indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You just go here \u2013&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kdp.amazon.com\/\">https:\/\/kdp.amazon.com\/<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 and sign in with your regular Amazon account. If you have everything else ready, you are about ten minutes away from publishing your first ebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-step-2-prepare-your-ebook-in-word\">Step 2: Prepare Your Ebook (In Word)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s absolutely fine to prepare your book as a regular Word document. Just be aware that you need to think about an ebook in three sections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The front matter<\/strong>: this is the \u201cLook Inside\u201d section and you need to prepare this part thinking about readers who are curious about your book, interested in buying it, but who haven\u2019t yet made the purchasing decision. This is the place for any lovely reviews you may have, any good selling text \u2013 and of course plenty of the actual book itself. What you don\u2019t want is any tedious copyright notices and that kind of thing. Yes, sure, you have to get those in somewhere, but you can bundle them right out of the way, at the end of the book.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The book itself<\/strong>: Obviously you want to make this as strong as possible. Your only thought here should be to deliver the very best reading experience possible.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The end matter<\/strong>: This is where you want to solicit reviews for the book and, crucially, where you want to collect your readers\u2019 email addresses. I\u2019ll tell you how to do that in a moment, but it\u2019s probably the single most important element in the whole selling chain, so don\u2019t neglect it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Make sure as well that you have done the basic formatting bits and pieces right. So, for example, you need to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use the tab key or the paragraph format menu to indent paragraphs. (Do not just hit the spacebar five times: that\u2019s a real formatting no-no.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensure total consistency in your chapter numbering and formatting. So if you use simple digits to mark out each new chapter, make sure those things are formatted the same way every time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensure consistency in other headings, such as Author\u2019s Note, About this Series, etc<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And of course, the entire book should be in a single document \u2013 don\u2019t even think about trying to format something chapter by chapter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want KDP\u2019s own formatting guide,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kdp.amazon.com\/en_US\/help\/topic\/G200645680\">you can get it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/header-huge-revisions-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/header-huge-revisions-1.jpg\" alt=\"The biggest mistake in book proposals\" class=\"wp-image-18037\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-step-3-create-your-cover\">Step 3: Create Your Cover<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Top-end cover design is hard. It can be fairly expensive. And, even if you splash the cash, results can be curiously disappointing. Nor is that even surprising, really, given that everyone knows that covers really matter, and everyone is trying to out-compete everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just don\u2019t get too worried. It\u2019s not hard \u2013 it\u2019s actually easy \u2013 to get a good, professional cover on your book. And it doesn\u2019t have to be expensive, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a really detailed overview on how to commission a cover, check&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/how-to-commission-a-cover-design-for-a-book-17-easy-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">out our advice<\/a>, but mostly I\u2019d suggest that you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Search \u201cpre-made book cover.\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;What you\u2019ll find here is huge libraries of covers that have been put together by pro designers and then discarded. If that sounds crazy, then bear in mind that a large publisher or picky author may well commission multiple designs, in order to pick one. Rather than bin the unwanted designs, designers simply remove the specifics of author name and title and make the design available to anyone with $50-100 to spare. Sure, the cover may not be super-specific to your book, but that really, really doesn\u2019t matter. Readers buy on mood and genre-indication. The specifics just aren\u2019t relevant.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fly solo, using&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/\">Canva<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/strong>Canva announces itself as \u2018amazingly simple graphic design software\u2019 and it really is easy. It offers a variety of book cover templates. You just pick a photo. Add your text. And off you go. Depending on whether you use a free image or not (I\u2019d suggest probably not), that route will cost you between nothing at all and a few bucks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-step-4-format-your-ebook\">Step 4: Format Your Ebook<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>These days, you have multiple options for<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/mobi-vs-epub-which-ebook-format-is-best-for-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;formatting an e-book<\/a>. You can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pay someone.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ebooklaunch.com\/ebook-formatting\/\">These people<\/a>, for example \u2013 but look at various quotes, as you shouldn\u2019t really be paying more than $100 for this service.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do it yourself via Scrivener, if you like Scrivener.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do it yourself via Vellum, if you like Apple.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do it yourself via&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/\">Draft2Digital<\/a>. (The service I mostly use \u2013 it\u2019s free.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do it yourself via KDP\u2019s own conversion platform \u2013 though this will leave you with a mobi file only and all other e-tailers use epub files. (These are basically the same, but also irritatingly different.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The DIY version of things is fast and simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve got the hang of a particular system, it\u2019s a ten minute chore, if that. Remember that the cover is part of the e-book, so you can\u2019t progress to the formatting step until you\u2019ve got your cover sorted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And of course once you\u2019ve ticked off this step \u2013 congratulations! You\u2019ve created your product. Now your only job is to get it on the shelves and starting to sell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/books-tea-1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.jerichowriters.com\/JUvjrMo-sX9WiOL-\/w:1170\/h:341\/q:75\/https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/books-tea-1.png\" alt=\" class=\" class=\"wp-image-10255\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-step-5-set-your-ebook-details\">Step 5: Set Your Ebook Details<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So the new model is to ignore the keyword bundling, and instead use subtitles that present the book in the most attractive possible light, e.g., \u201cThe Seventh Corpse: A tense thriller that you won\u2019t be able to put down\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think that\u2019s a better strategy, and it\u2019s the one I recommend. Do note that Amazon requires you to have the text of the subtitle present somewhere on the cover. (You can read more about their requirements&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kdp.amazon.com\/en_US\/help\/topic\/G201097560\">here<\/a>.) But Amazon doesn\u2019t effectively enforce that rule and the truth is that, at the moment, you can ignore it if you want to. So one perfectly practical strategy woul be: experiment with different subtitles, see what works best, then change the cover when you\u2019re ready. But also: don\u2019t spend too long on all this. It\u2019s not a game-changer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Series<\/em><br>Is your book part of a series? If so, say so. Anyone searching for my books, for example, might use my name to look for them, or they might look for the name of my detective protagonist, Fiona Griffiths. To make sure that anyone searching for \u201cFiona Griffiths\u201d finds my books, I call my series \u201cFiona Griffiths\u201d, and Amazon will add \u201cBook X\u201d to each book in the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, for example, my sixth book in the series is entitled (with title, subtitle, and series data) as follows: \u201cThe Deepest Grave: An ancient battle, a dead researcher, and a very modern crime (Fiona Grifiths Book 6)\u201d. That\u2019s not a bad template to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Edition<\/em><br>You probably won\u2019t need to use this. You can just ignore it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Author<\/em><br>That\u2019s you. Check for typos! Don\u2019t misspell your name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Contributors<\/em><br>Do you have co-authors? Illustrators? Other collaborators? If so, this is the spot to include them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Description<\/em><br>The book description matters. It\u2019s how you pitch to the reader. How you convert that opening interest into the hook of purchase-intent. I like descriptions that follow a little story arc all of their own. So:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An opening sentence or two, that acts as a hook, or teaser. The purpose of this sentence is to make the reader curious and choose to read on.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The blurb proper. Usually this will describe the set up only, and will include those elements most likely to intrigue the reader.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A cliff-hanger type ending. The sort of thing that runs, \u201cBut that\u2019s when he started to realise how serious the danger really was \u2013 and when he wondered if he\u2019s escape with his life.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>You can definitely choose your own strategy, but that basic Teaser \u2013 Content \u2013 Cliffhanger template is hard to beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that if you want to make use of bold, italics, and that kind of thing, then you can. If you know basic html, then feel free to use it. If you don\u2019t, then use a simple formatting tool&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/twoschmucks.com\/amazon-description-editor\/\">like this one<\/a>, to generate beautiful looking text. Don\u2019t overuse those tools though \u2013 too much bold just looks childish. Keep it nice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Rights<\/em><br>You need to declare that you own the copyright and hold the necessary publishing rights. If you are the author of the work, then you\u2019re fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Keywords<\/em><br>These are the keywords that help Amazon determine what kind of book yours is and will guide what searches it appears under. Amazon\u2019s own guidelines \u2013&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kdp.amazon.com\/en_US\/help\/topic\/G201298500\">here<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 are quite helpful, and you should use them. Do remember that it might seem clever to shove a keyword like \u201cthriller\u201d into your keyword choices \u2013 because lots of people like thrillers, right? \u2013 but your book is unlikely to feature on highly competitive searches, unless you have reason to be very confident of hitting a good salesrank early. Again, it\u2019s worth doing a reasonable bit of research into possible keyword selections, but don\u2019t go crazy. 2-3 hours work on this is easily enough, or more than enough. Keyword choices won\u2019t make the difference to your sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Categories<\/em><br>Just choose the library-style classification for your book where your readers are most likely to congregate. For me, for example, I choose these categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fiction &gt; Mystery &amp; Detective &gt; International Mystery &amp; Crime<br>Fiction &gt; Mystery &amp; Detective &gt; Police Procedural<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u2018International Mystery &amp; Crime\u2019 category is relatively niche, but works very well for me, because I want US readers with an interest in non-US set crime. And \u2018police procedural\u2019 precisely describes what I write, so I\u2019m going to find my natural readers in that category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Age range<\/em><br>Self-explanatory. If you\u2019re not writing for kids, this isn\u2019t relevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Pre-order<\/em><br>Unless you are an experienced author with a strong sales plan, I\u2019d recommend against using a pre-order. And even if you are experienced, they may not work for you. I don\u2019t pre-orders myself any more and my sales have benefitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, to be clear, if you don\u2019t set a pre-order date, then your book will publish within about 24 hours of you hitting the publish button at the end of this form. You are that close to getting out there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Yowch! This is a lot to take in, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yep. One big reason why a lot of self-publishers mess up is that they\u2019re so keen to get published that they don\u2019t invest enough time in learning how to do it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(And yes, I\u2019m guilty of that myself. I threw away plenty of easy money as a result.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we created a really comprehensive, easy to follow, step-by-step video course that teaches the whole self-publishing game \u2013 and it\u2019s designed for people just like you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yes, yes, I know. As soon as someone says \u201cvideo course\u201d to me, I think here comes the hard sell for a product which might really be great, but which is going to have some eye-watering price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yes, the course does have an eye-watering price (<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/member-resources\/video-courses\/self-publishing-video-course\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">details here<\/a>), but&nbsp;<em>you can get it free<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s right. You can get an entire, super-premium video course FREE, just by taking out membership of Jericho Writers. We\u2019re a club, founded by writers for writers, and our aim is just to deliver a spectacularly huge amount of value within that membership. So it\u2019s not just that one course. We\u2019ve also got an incredible how to write course. Loads of stuff on trad publishing. Filmed masterclasses. Live online webinars with agents, writing tutors and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>If you\u2019re even one tiny bit interested (and, if you\u2019re reading this blog post, then you darn well should be), then&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/jericho-writers\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hop over here to learn a whole heap more<\/a>. We look forward to welcoming you soon.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/jericho-writers-full-membership-prod-full.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.jerichowriters.com\/JUvjrMo-IAevAOgo\/w:1170\/h:341\/q:75\/https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/jericho-writers-full-membership-prod-full.jpg\" alt=\"Jericho Writers full membership\" class=\"wp-image-6377\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-step-6-set-your-ebook-content\">Step 6: Set Your Ebook Content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve already dealt with the two biggest ingredients of your content: your book itself and your cover. With those two items, just upload the relevant files and wait for Amazon to digest them. I do recommend that you use the eBook previewer tool: it\u2019s just a comforting way to make sure that everything looks as it should do before you hit publish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this section, however, there are three other things you need to think about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>DRM choice<br><\/em>You can choose whether or not to protect your book from potential piracy with \u2018Digital Rights Management\u2019. And while protecting your book sounds like a no brainer \u2013 of course you want to protect it! It\u2019s your baby! \u2013 the simple fact is that DRM doesn\u2019t work. Easily available software can strip the DRM out of your book in a couple of minutes, and once some idiot has done that, the pirated version of your book can spread everywhere anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meantime, DRM can be a real pain for perfectly legitimate readers who may want to lend your book, read on a new device, or whatever. So my choice \u2013 and this would be the advice of a majority of experienced indie authors \u2013 is not to enable DRM protection. Realistically, there just isn\u2019t much you can do about piracy. Treat any manifestations of piracy as a compliment to your book and your writing, and focus your efforts on all the millions of legitimate readers who want to buy, not steal, your book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>ISBN<\/em><br>To get your book into a bricks and mortar bookstore, you would need an ISBN \u2013 effectively an international identifier for your book. But e-books don\u2019t need ISBNs. And even if you\u2019re publishing in print with Amazon as well, you can let Amazon just allocate a free ISBN to you when you publish. So basically, just ignore the ISBN box. It doesn\u2019t matter to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Publisher<\/em><br>Huh? You\u2019re the publisher, right? So why is KDP asking you for this information?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, no reason, really. Lots of self-publishers just leave this box blank, and there\u2019s no reason not to do that. But personally, I just like the idea of having a publisher\u2019s name on my books, so I call my publishing imprint \u2018Sheep Street Books\u2019 and give that phrase to Amazon when it asks me for my publisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note, there\u2019s absolutely no requirement for any legal substance here. There isn\u2019t a legal entity called Sheep Street Books. My accountant doesn\u2019t have to handle anything different. It\u2019s literally just a name. Nothing more. But it\u2019s nice, no?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-step-7-choose-if-you-re-going-to-go-exclusive-to-amazon\">Step 7: Choose If You\u2019re Going To Go Exclusive To Amazon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>At this stage, you need to determine if you\u2019re going to make your work exclusive to Amazon or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That sounds like a bad idea \u2013 why wouldn\u2019t you want your book to be sold in every store possible? \u2013 but there\u2019s a catch. The thing is, Amazon doesn\u2019t just control the world\u2019s largest bookstore (Amazon.com), it controls the second biggest one too \u2013 Kindle Unlimited, which makes e-books available for free to participating members. The word \u2018free\u2019 in this context might cause you some alarm but, be not afeard, Amazon pays about $0.0045 for every page of your book that a KU subscriber reads. Your KU income, therefore, comes in the form of payments for pages read, rather than a traditional type of sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And KU is huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>KU is disproportionately important to indie authors and, indeed, indie authors in 2017 made a total of about $180 million from Kindle Unlimited, compared with just $50 million a year from Apple and all other non-Amazon sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To me personally, that logic is overwhelming. I offer the first book in my series wide (i.e. with every store) in order to capture as many readers as possible. After that, though, all my books are Amazon exclusive. I make about a third of my income from KU reads and I know some very successful authors who make a full 50% of their income from KU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are just starting out, then I urge you to follow that exact template. When and if you start to generate decent sales for your series, you should reconsider the matter. Some pro indies urge the wide route; others advocate the narrow one. For these experienced authors, there\u2019s a real choice. But starting out? Go narrow. Make it work. Then think again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-step-8-set-ebook-pricing\">Step 8: Set Ebook Pricing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, you need to determine&nbsp;<strong>royalties and pricing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amazon likes people to sell e-books in the $2.99 to $9.99 range. It wants to avoid excessively high pricing (because that would damage the extent of the e-book market), but it doesn\u2019t like super-low pricing all that much either (because it doesn\u2019t make enough money.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result is that is offers an (amazing, brilliant, wonderful) royalty of 70% to indies publishing their books within that range and a (still good) royalty of 35% outside that band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In terms of where you should sell your books, you need to think about (A) where you want to end up, and (B) the best way to start out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A typical end-point for you will be something like mine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Book #1<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 $0.99 (make it attractive for readers to get into the series)<br><strong>Book #2<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 $4.99 (make some money)<br><strong>Book #3<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 $4.99 (make some money)<br><strong>Book #4<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 $4.99 (make some money)<br>etc<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But you can only sell books in volume at $4.99 or more if you already have a bunch of committed readers. If you\u2019re not yet at that stage, then remember:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FREE IS A MARKETING STRATEGY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s more, and by the same fine logic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>CHEAP IS A MARKETING STRATEGY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sure, you don\u2019t actually make any money from free, and you don\u2019t make much from cheap . . . but your job now is to tempt readers into your series (and your book\u2019s job is then to blow them away.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For newer authors, then, I think you want to fool around at the $0.00, $0.99 and $2.99 price points to find readers and build your base. Remember, you can change your decisions at any time, so just try out one option, see what happens, then change it if you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 9: Hit That Button, \u2018Publish My Kindle Ebook\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll get a message telling you that the book may take up to 72 hours to be published, but it\u2019s generally a lot less than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019re on your way, my friend. You\u2019re a published author now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>But don\u2019t walk alone.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We created our Jericho Writers club to be here for you on your journey. We\u2019ve helped all types of writer get published, including some of the biggest selling indie authors of recent years. I\u2019m not going to start yelling about how much we make available for&nbsp;<strong><em>free<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;in our club (clue: it\u2019s masses). Instead, I\u2019m just going to tell you to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/jericho-writers\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hop over here and take a look<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honestly? I think it\u2019ll be the best investment you ever make.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 10: Market Like Crazy And Build Your List<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I told you earlier that that the back matter for your book needed to include an inducement for readers to leave you their email address. The way you do that is by deploying the power of free. You create a reader magnet \u2013 a nicely written, properly formatted short story with a decent cover \u2013 and say, \u201cGet my wonderful story, for free.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Readers, blown away by the power of your storytelling, sign up for this new free story. You send it to them by email. You now have their email address . . . and their permission for you to market to them direct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That, in essence, is the strategy that lies at the heart of every self-publishers success. Your core readers buy each new book when you ask them to. That sales surge blasts you up the Amazon sales rankings. That delivers a ton of visibility you couldn\u2019t get in any other way. And a whole host of new readers enters the series and falls in love with your writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now needless to say, that strategy is important enough that you need to get it right. This post \u2013 already too long \u2013 isn\u2019t going to talk in detail about how to build your list, but it matters intensely,and fortunately for you,<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/self-publishing-how-to-self-publish-your-book-on-amazon-kindle-direct-kdp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;this post goes into detail<\/a>&nbsp;about how to set up the various elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get published, my friend. Sell some books. Have some fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And good luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re storytellers, so I\u2019ll start out with a story. (It&#8217;s Harry Bingham writing, by the way.) The story is true, and has been life-changing for me. Follow some of the advice in this post, and your life might change, too &#8211; in a very, very good way. How Self-publishing E-books Makes Me An Easy Six<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[27489],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-self-publishing","tag-self-publishing-problems"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jericho Writers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/how-to-self-publish-an-e-book-and-why-you-ought-to-do-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Self-Publish an E-Book and Why You Ought to Do It | Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019re storytellers, so I\u2019ll start out with a story. (It&#8217;s Harry Bingham writing, by the way.) The story is true, and has been life-changing for me. Follow some of the advice in this post, and your life might change, too &#8211; in a very, very good way. 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