Publishing Options
The publishing world is exploding with opportunity now, especially for authors who are willing to build themselves a platform and find readers for their books regardless of how they publish.
The Publishing Quadrant outlines the main 4 options for authors and the articles below expand on the topics in more detail. I happily publish in 3 out of 4 quadrants at the moment, but I may also pursue Traditional Publishing for my novels in progress. I believe the writing life is about Adventures in Publishing, so experiencing them all is the key!
Click here to watch my video on the Publishing Quadrant.
Then read How to publish a book 101
Then click on the links below to get more articles, audio and information about the topics.
Self-Publishing, or Independent (Indie) Publishing
Self-publishing means doing the work of the publisher yourself, including cover design, typesetting, organising printing and distribution. You can also work with partners who help you do this so you play a management role in getting it done. There are companies who will help you for a price but beware of paying too much money. You can also use freelancers (which is what I do!)
Check out Print on demand and Digital Publishing below for how to combine with self-publishing to get your book out there for the least amount of financial outlay.
**Overview of How To Publish Your Book** Includes self-publishing, print on demand, ebooks and more as I go through the options for a coach approaching her first book.
Self Publishing and the Definition of an Indie Author
The 7 Worst Mistakes of Indie Authors and How To Fix Them
Choosing a company to self-publish with. Please be careful about this and check out the company at Preditors & Editors listing which reports on all the scams and companies that will rip you off. Personally, I would recommend Amazon’s own Createspace, LightningSource, Blurb and Lulu.
How to get a US tax number & get your with-holding tax back – for non-US self-publishers – from Karen Inglis
Self-publishing will not ruin your chances at a traditional deal (Writer’s Digest Jane Friedman)
How self-publishing can lead to a real book deal (Alan Rinzler, publishing veteran)
Amazon and CreateSpace vs Lightning Source – how things have changed and what you can do about it (Aaron Shepard, author of POD to Profit)
NY Times bestselling author Seth Godin gives up traditional publishing
Self Publishing: Your Questions Answered with April Hamilton, author of “The Indie Author Guide” (audio with transcript)
Self Publishing and Book Marketing Tips with Dan Poynter, of Para Publishing (audio with transcript)
Self publishing banishes the fear of writing
Book Design with Joel Friedlander, TheBookDesigner.com (audio)
People don’t buy books based on the publisher
Book Cover Design: The Process Explained
You should self-publish (JA Konrath who makes a fulltime living from ebook sales)
How Machine of Death became a #1 Amazon bestseller as an indie published book
If you want to get started right now and learn secrets from behind the scenes, check out ProWriter Secrets of Independent Publishing. This multimedia course will give you everything you need to know about creating a successful self-published print and ebook, produced by myself and NY Times bestselling author CJ Lyons, for only US$99.
Print on Demand
Print on demand is when you load a digital file of your book to a site like Lightning Source, Lulu or CreateSpace and create a sales page for your book on Amazon.com and other online retailers. Then when a customer buys a book, it is printed and sent after the order is made. So you print AFTER the order, NOT in advance. This has revolutionized publishing, especially for indie authors. This information seriously changed my life!
What is print on demand and why should I do it?
Print on demand changed my life
Print on demand will save you money
Comparison infographic: Offset printing self-publishing vs. print on demand
Sept 2011 – Amazon have changed the way they deal with other print on demand providers EXCEPT their own CreateSpace. Read this article from TheBookDesigner.com
Digital/ Ebook Publishing
Ebooks are all over the publishing news and now anyone can publish on the Kindle or the iPad for free. Here’s how you can too.
Ebooks: What are they and how do I create one?
Smashwords vs Bookbaby – which is better for self-publishers? from the Alliance of Independent Authors blog
Is KDP Select Salvation or Damnation for Authors? – Carolyn McCray on Publishing Perspectives
Simple Steps to a successful Amazon KDP Select promotion - from M. Louisa Locke
EBook Publishing Inspiration with Mark Coker for Smashwords (audio and video)
Ebooks Q&A with Joshua Tallent from EbookArchitects (audio with transcript)
Publishing on the Kindle: Top tips
Publish your ebook with Smashwords – which will get your ebook onto the iPhone, the iPad, the Kindle and other e-readers in multiple formats, all for free.
Traditional Publishing
The goal of many first time authors is to get an agent, get a massive advance and become a rich, famous author! Or at least to see their book on the bookshelves. Obviously you need to write a book first, but then there is a process you need to know about in order to maximize your chances of success. These articles are a good place to start.
Pros and cons of traditional publishing
Brilliant book proposals and the traditional publishing process with Julia McCutchen (audio)
How to be a NY Times bestselling author with Scott Sigler, author of Contagious, Infected and Ancestor (audio with transcript)
Killing the sacred cows of publishing with Dean Wesley Smith (audio + video)
On the traditional publishing process – lessons learned at Sydney Writer’s Festival
The Breakout Novelist with NY Times agent, Donald Maass
Secrets of Traditional Publishing Success
Many people are still interested in a book deal with a NY or London publisher, but there are many hurdles to overcome as well as a lot of myths that surround the industry.
In this course, I interview CJ Lyons, NY Times bestselling author, about traditional publishing, covering everything from finding an agent, pitching, how the publishing process works, how the money works, the pros and cons, details of contracts and what to watch out for as well as the biggest mistakes people make.
CJ leads you through her own successful pitches to agents and shares personal details of her transition from ER doctor to bestselling author and pro-writer. She also covers what happens after the call and how the reality of being a published author works.
This is a multi-media self-study course with over 3.5 hours or video, 4 hours of audio and 50 pages of text information. It is aimed primarily at fiction authors.
Click here to read the full details of the course, or click right to buy now for US$49=> 
If you want to get published the traditional way, the very first step is to submit your book proposal to an agent or publisher.
In these fantastic ebooks, author and former publisher and literary agent Michael Hyatt goes through the steps you need to create a winning book proposal based on many years of experience at Thomas Nelson, a huge publisher.
Click here to read more about his Winning Book Proposal ebooks (yes, I am an affiliate because they’re great!)
Another product on book proposals is Danielle La Porte’s Big Beautiful Book Plan which is a full multi-media course and much more extensive – but also more pricey at US$150.
Danielle has had several big book deals herself but the course also includes the proposals from Tim Ferriss 4 Hour Body, Educating Millionaires by Michael Ellsberg and more. It also includes information for fiction authors.
I am a huge fan of Danielle’s work, so check out all the details here:
Click for info on Your Big Beautiful Book Plan
Images Flickr CC: bookstore by MorBCN, bookshelf by MrT in DC, b&w books by Georg, and my own images.
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This is a great piece! Another great self publishing site is Foboko.com. They offer a community of writers to help you throughout the process.
Joanna, I have come to respect and follow you as I sense that you are genuine. I bought you course with CJ and am enjoying your banter….it works!
I have always written but never published anything excepts for a few poems. I have a blog, The Lang Report and have let it languish due to my brother passing (needed a break)
I want to jump into KDP in a big way because whenever I start writing…I can’t stop! It’s like a fire hose so I guess I am blessed that way.
I am writing to ask 2 questions:
1) I want to learn Scrivener….what the easiest way to tackle it while keeping it simple
2) I have been looking at the process of publishing, i.e., formatting, compiling, etc. and I am just getting more and more confused. I want to publish a ebook or short story just so I can overcome the trepidation of going through the process. What do you suggest?
You assistance would be greatly appreciated. Oh, I also wanted to ask if you have plans for additional courses…I like your approach.
Thanks, Mike
Hi Mike, I’m so glad you’re finding all the material useful!
In terms of your questions
1) When I bought Scrivener I watched a tutorial video on their site or YouTube and I also bought David Hewson’s ebook http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Novel-Scrivener-ebook/dp/B004ZG7BMU/
That’s all I needed to get started – I still don’t know all the functionality but that works for me. There’s also a new book Scrivener For Dummies, from Wiley – I’m interviewing the author Gwen Hernandez in November.
2) Did you get the ProWriter Independent Publishing course? http://www.thecreativepenn.com/selfpublish/ which is one I did with CJ?
You mention doing other courses – well, we did 4 that kind of covered everything
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/prowriter/
To publish an ebook on Kindle, you can also just follow the Help directions on their kdp.amazon.com page – format the ebook file using Scrivener, then load up with a cover and description and you’re done!
Thanks, Joanna
Hi Joanna,
Some great advice, thanks for the considerable efforts you clearly put into sharing.
I am UK based, linked to a not for profit project that is about to finish a non fiction 300 page book, on Innovation, with some tables and diagrams internally (it will go out via Lightning Source International) .
I am amazed at the difficulties we are having finding interior designers who could help take a MS Word manuscript and then layout via Adobe InDesign for LSI. Maybe its just our bad luck/poor contacts but most seem not to be interested or have credible experience. We’re happy to pay the going rate but cannot find the UK based expertise with the right mix of experiences.
Do any of your pages/links have lists of experienced designers or can anyone else point us in the right direction. Any guidance/comments much appreciated if you can…
Hi Chris, try http://www.jdsmith-design.co.uk/ Jane is great!
Hi Joanna,
Can you recommend a POD publisher for children’s picture books? I’ve already published two adult novels via KDP and CreateSpace, but since this is a picture book, I was wondering who to use for that? I’ve got the story and the illustrations in JPG files ready to go.
Thank you!
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne, You can use the same as anyone else e.g. Createspace, Lightning Source – but I suggest you check out Karen Inglis http://kareninglis.wordpress.com/ who is selling self-published picture books as she shares a lot of her experience.
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say wonderful blog!|
Hi Joanna! As one of your ever-faithful followers I have been doing lots of research on self publishing and watching your videos. I am still confused on some issues. I have decided to go with scrivener after watching your video with Gwen and I have been in contact with JD Smith design for info, she is so helpful. I prefer to ask you my question though since you are a pro! …..When you say that you can download an Efile to createspace for POD distribution can that be the same formatted file I would use to download on kdp for an ebook download because if so, why did I read somewhere that the ebook form and the POD should have 2 different bookcovers? Also, I was recommended by one formatting service that on the copyright page where you list the publisher, it is advisable to not use your own name as it gives the book an amateurish feel, that I should make up a publishing name. How do you feel about this and if I was to do that I am sure it would have to be a registered name?
Hi Debby –
if you read the help at KDP and Createspace you will get all the answers you need!
But just quickly from my perspective:
* You output from Scrivener a) Word doc that you format for print or/ pay someone to format for print into a PDF print ready file
b) a .mobi file or .epub file for upload to KDP and other ebook publishers
In terms of cover design, the ebook can be the same as the print for the front cover but clearly you need 2 files
a) a jpg or gif of the front cover for the ebook format
b) a print ready PDF for the print cover that includes the back and the spine
On the publisher name, it’s up to you – I don’t think the reader cares or even reads that page.
Please do read the detailed help on the publishing sites for anything further – thanks, Joanna
Thanks so much for your always great advice, it is much appreciated!
I am a seventh grader and I’ve only been writing for two years and my sucess has been gravitational! I have made short stories for people in my neighborhood, and they have just been eating it up with a spoon. I got all of my tips from this website and from you. Thank you so much!
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