I recently self-published two new books, and both went to number one best sellers in multiple Amazon categories. I’ve taken tons of classes and talked with dozens of self-published authors who have made millions selling their books.
So, I’ve put together these self publishing tips for beginners like you so that you won’t have to spend years of research like I did. Almost everything you see on the internet about self-publishing is wrong because It was written by those who provide author services and prey on new authors.
Now, I’m giving you all the good information in this post. Please take some time and look over it if you’re serious about a career in self-publishing. It will save you years of sorting through all the bad information to find the few nuggets of good and will save you thousands of dollars in unnecessary fees and services you’d never need.
Here’s How Vanity Publishers Work
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They charge authors to publish their books.
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They make money from authors.
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They don’t make money from book sales.
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Anyone who pays them money can be published.
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There are no standards that are upheld.
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No story is too boring, bad, or horribly written for them.
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Book sales are irrelevant to them.
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The author and vanity publisher split profits.
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The majority of royalties are usually split 50/50.
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The vanity publisher usually wants the rights to the book.
Here’s How Traditional Publishers Work
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They pay the author.
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An author is never asked for a fee, ever.
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They make money from book sales, not the author.
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Very few authors are chosen.
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They have high standards.
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The story must be approved and marketable.
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Book sales are what keep them in business.
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The author and publisher split profits.
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The majority of royalties usually go to the publisher.
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The publisher wants the rights to the book.
Here’s How Self-Publishing Works
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The author writes the book.
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The author edits or hires his or her own editor.
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The author formats his or her book or hires someone to do it.
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The author makes a cover or hires a cover designer.
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The authors publish the book themselves.
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The author markets the book themselves.
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The author keeps all the profits.
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The author keeps all the rights.
Here’s Examples of Self-published Books
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Catharina Maura – The Temporary Wife
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Amanda Hocking – Switched
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Hugh Howey – WOOL
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Sarra Cannon – Beautiful Demons
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Alessandra Torre – The Ghost Writer
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All authors have made over a million dollars.
Here’s Examples of Traditionally Published Books
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Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games
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Stephen King – The Shining
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Danielle Steel – High Stakes
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John Grisham – The Firm
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Anne Rice – Interview with the Vampire
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All authors have made over a million dollars.
Here’s Examples of Vanity Published Books
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Five authors you’ve never heard of.
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Five books you’ve never heard of.
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None made significant money at all.
Stay away from “publishers” who want to charge you for publishing. If they ask you for a fee at any time, at any point, for any reason, you are being conned. There’s no exception.
Be careful about getting information from social media groups. I see so much bad advice in these groups that sometimes it makes me cringe. The worst information is usually given about small publishers, editing, and ISBNs. Every thread I see about those always has the wrong information and very bad advice.
If you take a few days to look over all of this and follow all the instructions, you’ll be doing something that 99.9% of new authors don’t do or ever bother to learn. None of this is my concept. This was taught to me by some of the best and most successful in the self-publishing industry. All of my teachers have made millions selling their self-published books. I hope this information helps. The purpose is to save new authors years of research and thousands of dollars they don’t need to spend, even though many swear they do. I hope you sell millions. Best of luck to you.
Questions & Answers on Self Publishing Tips for Beginners
QUESTION: “Can I edit my book myself for free?”
ANSWER: “One hundred percent yes!”
I know people who will disagree with me on this. Most of them are editors. But it literally costs you nothing to try this yourself. It may cost you thousands to do it the editor’s way. You can edit your manuscript all by yourself with good results. Here’s how.
Steps to Self-editing
First Step (It costs less than ten dollars)
Get a copy of Janice Hardy’s book, “Understanding Show Don’t Tell: And Really Getting It.” This book made my writing and self-editing ten times better. I was amazed at how much I learned by reading this one book. It will enable you to write better scenes and better action. I have absolutely nothing invested in this book. I don’t know this author. I get nothing if you buy it. I am only recommending it because it’s a cheap tool to invest in when you want to make your book the best it can be.
Second Step (Free)
As soon as I am done writing a chapter, I put my text into the “Hemingway App.” You don’t have to pay a dime for it. It’s a free website. This editor doesn’t change anything for you. It only points out adverbs and passive voice and will tell you if something can be made simpler. It will also point out sentences that are hard to read and sentences that are extremely hard to read. It only points out the potential problems readers might have. It’s up to you to find better words and phrases. It’s a great tool.
Third Step (Free)
After I corrected everything in the free Hemingway app, I read my chapter aloud to myself. I find a lot of errors this way. Then I read my chapter backwards. I read the last sentence I wrote. I then read the sentence before the last one and read my way to the first sentence I wrote in the chapter. Doing this will force you to concentrate on editing instead of reading. Your mind can play tricks on you. It can make you see what you meant to write instead of what you did write. I found several errors this way.
Fourth Step (Free)
I then drop my text for that chapter into a text-to-speech program. There are hundreds of them for free on the internet. Pick one. I used to like “NaturalReaders” or “TTSreader.” But now I use “speechify.” I listen to what I wrote being read back to me. If there was a mistake or typo, it will stick out like a sore thumb when you hear it. This is where I find the most errors. I can fix a lot with this step. You can also hear words you use too often. Again, it’s free.
Fifth Step (Free)
I then take my chapter and paste it into a Google Doc. You can also open Google Mail and put your text into a new message. It will underline other errors you may have missed in all the other steps. For example, you might have used “to” instead of “too” or “your” when you meant “you’re.” It’s easy to miss things like that in all the other steps. This is also free.
You can also use a free program online called “QuillBot.” QuillBot will look for errors in your writing far better than any other electronic editor I have seen.
You can also use the free program “WordTune” if you’re having problems writing a sentence. Just put what you wrote into the program. WordTune will give you every variation there is of what you are trying to write. It’s free, too.
Sixth Step (Free)
I now take everything I have corrected up to this point and put it back into my free text-to-speech program. I give it one last listen. I do this one chapter at a time.
If you can’t afford an editor, these tips and tricks are great. They will drastically reduce errors in your book. And you can do them all yourself. You just have to spend time doing it correctly.
Many people have told me over the years that they want to write a book but can’t afford to hire an editor. I tell them to do these steps in order, again and again, until they don’t find any mistakes. When they stop finding mistakes, then, and only then, they should move to the next step without hiring an editor, which is beta readers or formatting.
You can also get other authors or friends to read your work and see if they can find any errors. It never hurts to have more eyes look at your manuscript. And this can be done for free.
Great self-published authors to follow on social media for advice. I’m providing links to their self-published books to show how successful they are. None of these authors used a publisher of any kind.
Catherina Maura:
https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Bride-Ravens…/dp/B0B9TBGC5X?
Nick Russell:
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Lake-Assault…/dp/B0CFKF4X1Q/
Hugh Howey:
https://www.amazon.com/Wool-Hugh-Howey-ebook/dp/B088SY4GSD/
Amanda Hocking:
https://www.amazon.com/Switched-Trylle…/dp/B005FWOS9M/
Sarra Cannon:
https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Demons…/dp/B004A14RI6/
KG Reuss:
https://www.amazon.com/Church-Bully-Romance…/dp/B08ZNMWK45?
Jenna Moreci:
https://www.amazon.com/Saviors-Champion…/dp/B079DFV95X/
Alessandra (AR) Torre:
https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Deanna-Madden…/dp/B00HQ2N0M0?
If you’re planning a career in self-publishing, my book is a clear success roadmap. Below is literally everything someone just starting out should know. This is where I got the most valuable information. (Except for actually talking to self-published authors myself.)
Videos For New Authors
How much can you make self-publishing?
How to get started as a writer.
How to write a great story.
Multi-million dollar, bestselling, self-published author, Hugh Howey lecture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdi8zmg2Oq0
How to Publish A Book On Amazon Videos
How to publish your book on amazon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd2tftfehS4
What keywords should I use?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdLcunTRlG4
Best Books For Aspiring Authors to Read
Read this book for FREE on how to publish.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.444807693964826&type=3
How do I make my writing come alive?
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Show…/dp/0991536436/
How do I write an entire novel?
https://www.amazon.com/Shut-Write-Book…/dp/B0BK8BD8CF/
What all do I have to do to publish my book?
https://www.amazon.com/Publish-Repeat-No…/dp/B00H26IFJS/
Best class for learning the trade
https://heartbreathings.com/publish-and-thrive-is-open/
Free Tips For Self-Publishing Authors
Here’s FREE self-publishing information to anyone who wants to read it. I’ve written down the entire self-publishing process for new authors. It covers everything on how to self-publish your books on your own. It covers getting started, editing, formatting, covers, copyrights, ISBNs, the actual publishing process, marketing, running your books as a business, and how to spot the most common author scams.
It explains how to hire services like a pro, how to hire the best for less if you have a limited budget, and how to do everything at no coat at all (including editing and marketing) if you don’t have money to spend. This information is posted publicly on my facebook page just for authors. It’s in my photos with an album of its own. Again, all of this information is absolutely FREE. I learned from the best in the business. It might be what you are looking for.
Updates Since I published this information
1 – I’ve found out that some traditional publishers will solicit indie authors if they are selling thousands of copies of a book per month and have a huge following. But it is very, very rare.
2 – As of June 2023, Amazon no longer allows ten categories. They only allow three.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.444807693964826&type=3
Useful Online Sites To Help You Self-Edit. All Are Free!
Here are all the tools I use to self-edit my own work. I’ve found thousands of mistakes and corrected them myself. They work when done properly. This is the list I use, along with an explanation of what they do. All are 100% free to use. There are no fees at any time to use these tools.
https://blog.reedsy.com/…/how-to…/other-words-for-said/
This helps with writing dialog and makes it come to life.
Here’s the text to speech program that I use.
https://speechify.com/text-to-speech-online/…
The purpose of this is to listen to your work being read back to you. If you make a mistake or misspell something, it will stick out like a sore thumb when you hear it.
This is to help with the flow of sentences and finding the use of adverbs and passive voice. It also points out sentences that can be difficult to understand.
Are you having problems finding the right wording? Paste what you have in the program, and it can help you with suggestions.
https://quillbot.com/grammar-check
This is for correcting grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It also suggests changing sentences to make them easier to understand.
https://www.merriam-webster.com
Look up the spelling and definitions of words you don’t know. If I’m not sure how a word is supposed to be written, I go by what this dictionary says. Not sure if a word should be hyphenated? This will tell you.
Also, don’t forget Google, and Google Docs are your friends. Google for definitions and facts. Google Docs for spelling errors and line editing. Use all of these, and you’ll find the overwhelming majority of mistakes on your own.
These are my self publishing tips for beginners. If you need my help to publish your book, learn more here.