If you want to write a book, you’re going to need to know the services for authors to get it published and out in the world.
Writing a book is more complicated than just writing it. You’ll need things like editing, getting an ISBN, promoting your book, and more.
Once you know all of the steps involved, you can then figure out whether you want to outsource some parts of them or try to do them all yourself.
Services for authors
We’ll go over the different services authors need to take their book from idea to published. This will give you the full checklist of things you need to do so you can keep track of where you are in the process.
Here’s some of the options we’ll be covering:
- Editing
- Proofreading
- Designing a book cover
- Formatting
- Getting your ISBN
- Choosing the keywords and categories
- Uploading to platforms
- Marketing your book
These are just some of the options when it comes to services for authors and the things you will either need to do yourself or outsource.
Alternatives to doing it yourself
As a writer, the thought of doing it all yourself can be daunting.
For most authors, they just want to be able to spend their days writing and creating, not stuck in the weeds of book publishing, marketing, and all the other steps involved.
Instead of doing all of these steps yourself, there’s an alternative.
You could use the Self Publishing done-for-you option to save a ton of time and get your book out sooner.
Editing and proofreading your book
The most important first step as an author is to make sure your book is edited and proofread.
The last thing you want is a published book full of errors or some other issues that could have been easily fixed.
If you choose to do it yourself, it’s going to take some time to go through each sentence and fix any errors. If you choose to work with an editor, they will help you not only fix errors, but they can also help you catch any plot inconsistencies as well.
Translation
It depends if you want to offer your book in other languages, but if you do, you’re going to need to get your book translated.
Audiobooks
Not everyone wants to make an audiobook, but if you choose to offer one as well, you’ll need to take the time to record, edit, and put it together.
If you don’t want to read it yourself, you will have to hire someone to read your audiobook.
Cover design
You’ll need a good cover for your book.
If you don’t have a graphic design eye, you’ll need to either use a tool like Canva or hire a designer to put one together for you.
The cover is important because it’s often the first impression your book makes with a reader.
It will be the main image you use for your marketing materials and on your social media profiles, so you need to make sure it perfectly summarizes your book as much as possible.
Formatting your book
Each platform you want to load and sell your book on will have different formatting requirements.
You’ll also need to make sure your book as a whole is formatted correctly so it doesn’t end up looking weird and out of place for the reader when they download your book.
How you format a book to become a physical book versus how you publish it to be published on something like Kindle are different, depending on which publishing services you use.
Finding an agent or publisher
While a lot of our readers focus on self publishing versus going the traditional publishing route, if you want to go the traditional route you’ll need to find an agent.
You’ll have to figure out how to send query letters and get the attention of people who could help you.
Buy an ISBN
In order to sell your book on almost any of the big publishing platforms, you will need an ISBN.
The article linked above not only tells you what an ISBN number is, it also summarizes all of the steps to buying one and answers your most frequently asked questions about ISBNs.
Generally, ISBNs cost around $125 so that’s something you’ll need to budget for. Thankfully, once you buy one for your book you don’t have to buy another one.
Choose keywords and categories
Keywords and categories might seem like a small thing, but they’re essential for getting your book in front of people who might love it.
There are various tools you can use for this, but you’ll want to start by thinking of all the ways people could find your book.
What would they be searching for?
What keywords are books similar to yours using?
Outside of your marketing efforts, most people are going to find your books based on the keywords they search for. That’s why it’s so important to pick the right ones.
Upload to Amazon (or other publishers)
This step isn’t always too time consuming, but once you put your book together you’ll need to upload it to Amazon and other platforms so you can sell it.
You’ll need to take your book cover, keywords, properly formatted book, ISBN, and everything else you need to upload your book.
Each site you upload it to might have different requirements, and it will depend on if you want to sell physical copies or digital copies (or both) of your book.
Market your book
There are a lot of things that go into marketing a book.
You might need to find podcasts to get on to talk about your book.
You might have to send out free copies of your book to influencers, bloggers, and so on.
You might also want to host a book launch party or other event to create buzz on the release date of your book.
To start, you will need to think about where your typical readers are online. For example, if you write horror books, are there famous horror book influencers, YouTubers, podcasters, and so on.
These are the people you might want to partner with or get in touch with so you can come up with marketing plans.
Post on social media
You most likely already have social media accounts, so you will want to post about your book before and after it’s published.
If you already have a social media following, this can help boost sales. If you don’t, you should get started sooner than later so you can grow your brand as an author.
Promoting your book
Promoting your book will be an ongoing endeavor. It’s rarely just something you do during the launch of your book and instead needs to be something you keep doing over and over.
Pay for ads
You might need to pay for ads on Amazon, social media, websites, and so on to get the word out about your book.
You will need to learn about what goes into an enticing ad and how to make it appealing to people scrolling through.
Get help with your book
Now that you know all the steps to publishing your book, the Self Publishing done-for-you option is there to take the stress away.
Not only does it help you navigate all of these complicated steps, but you will actually know what you should and should not focus on.
Should you join Twitter? How do you find people to promote your book? How many keywords do you need?
All of these questions and more are answered, which can save you a ton of time from having to figure it all out on your own.