Self-publish a Book in 10 Steps: Author Blueprint, #6

By Hank Quense

Self-publishing a book is difficult.  This book simplifies it by breaking down a self-publishing and marketing project into 10 steps.

This step-by-step process will get your book published  and initiate the pre-launch marketing.

Hank Quense has written and self-published over twenty books, both fiction and non-fiction.  He is the author of the Author Blueprint Series of books.  The Series concentrates on providing valuable guidance on fiction writing, self-publishing and book marketing.  Self-publish a Book in 10 Steps is Book 6 in the series.

The book details such vital tasks as developing a compelling book description, building an author platform and getting book reviews to list a few.

Learn the ten step process that will self-publish and market your book!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hank Quense
• Release date: Dec 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781733342469

Hank Quense

Hank Quense writes humorous and satiric sci-fi and fantasy stories. He also writes and lectures about fiction writing and self-publishing.  He and his wife Pat usually vacation in another galaxy or parallel universe. They also time travel occasionally when Hank is searching for new story ideas. Other books by Hank Quense Fiction: Gundarland Stories Tales From Gundarland Falstaff’s Big Gamble Wotan’s Dilemma The King Who Disappeared Princess Moxie Series Moxie’s Problem Moxie’s Decision Queen Moxie Zaftan Troubles Series Contact Confusion Combat Convolution Sam Klatze Gongeblazn Non-fiction: The Author Blueprint Series of books is written to assist writers and authors in getting the job done. Creating Stories: Book 1 How to Self-publish and Market a Book: Book 2 Book Marketing Fundamentals: Book 3 Business Basics for Authors: Book 4 Fiction Writing Workshops for Kids: Book 5 Writing Stories: Book 7 Publication date to be announced Links? You want links? Here you go: Hank’s website: http://hankquense.org Hank's Facebook fiction page: https://www.facebook.com/StrangeWorldsOnline?ref=hl Twitter: https://twitter.com/hanque99 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanque/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hankquense/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3002079.Hank_Quense Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/hank-quense

Book preview

Self-publish a Book in 10 Steps

And market it.

Book 6 in the Author Blueprint Series

Hank Quense

All Rights Reserved

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal use only.  This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.  If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy.  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN: 978-1-7333424-6-9

Published in the United States of America.

Published by Strange Worlds Publishing

Table of Contents

Foreword

Step 1: Initial tasks

Step 2: Professional help

Step 3: Book description

Step 4: Getting ready

Step 5: Initial marketing tasks

Step 6: Author platform development

Step 7: Pre-launch activities

Step 8:  Getting book reviews

Step 9: Book availability announcements

Step 10: Post-launch marketing

Final words

Index

About the Author

Foreword

SO, YOU WROTE A BOOK.  That’s great!  Congratulations!  Many people only dream about doing what you have done.

Now it’s time to look ahead to the next big hurdle.  How do you plan to get it published?  You have quite a few choices these days.  In fact, there are many more choices now than there were say, 50 years ago.

Here are today’s possibilities:

◆  File it and forget it.

◆  Try for an agent and/or a traditional publisher.

◆  Sign up with a service company.

◆  Self-publish it.

Let’s explore each of these options.

◆  File it and forget it:

What?  After all your hard work and sweat?  You have to believe in yourself!  You have to believe your manuscript is great and that someone (even lots of someones) wants to read it.  I recommend you don’t stick it in your sock drawer and forget about it.  Try one of the other choices listed.  You can have a successful published book!

◆  Try for an agent and/or a traditional publisher:

This is a popular option and many writers try this as their first choice.  This route can take a long time, possibly years.  Some of the big publishers now accept submissions without an agent and that simplifies matters if the publisher is a match for your manuscript.  Indie publishers offer a slightly different path.  Most of these smaller publishers don’t rely on agents so it’s easier to get in touch with them.  Generally, the smaller indie publishers are more open to new authors and have much shorter intervals.  The big advantage with this option is the publisher does all the work and incurs all the expenses involved with producing the book.  Some publishers will help with the initial marketing.  Whether they do or not, the bulk of the marketing effort will fall on the author

◆  Sign up with a service company:

Service companies seem to be a growth industry.  They’re popping up all over the landscape and they have some controversy surrounding them.  Their basic method of operation is you pay them to produce and publish the book.  That is the exact opposite of the previous option.  The cost to the author isn’t pin money either, it’s thousands of dollars.  Granted, for that money, the service company does a lot of work, but that work is the work the traditional publisher does and they pay you, the reverse of the service company requirements.

My concern about the service companies is this: vanity presses do the same thing.  So why are service companies different from vanity press publishers?  I haven’t heard a satisfactory answer to this question and until I do, I won’t be a service company fan.  I guess if you have the money to spend on this option, it’s something to consider although I’m more than a bit leery of the whole concept of service companies.

Before you decide to use a service company, make sure you read all the fine print on all the web pages and especially on any contracts.  If you have a question, don’t sign until the question is answered to your satisfaction.  Don’t accept any fancy double-talk.

◆  Self-publish it:

This option is increasingly popular with authors, both newbies and established ones.  An inexperienced author who considers self-publishing her book will often take to the internet to research the process.  That’s when problems set in.  There is a lot of great information available on the web.  Unfortunately, there is also a lot of misinformation and other material that is simply wrong.  The issue for the newbie author is figuring out which information is accurate and which isn’t.  Another consideration is book marketing.  It’s quite possible you haven’t even considered this factor.  Indeed, most new authors are shocked to learn they are responsible for marketing the book.

Self-publishing and marketing your baby is what this book is all about.  Here, you’ll get a complete integrated plan that combines both publishing and marketing in a unique approach to publishing.  All this in only ten steps.

Step 1: Initial Tasks

Return to the Table of Contents

Most books on publishing talk only about publishing.  It’s as if marketing is an altogether irrelevant subject.  Almost all books on book marketing ignore publishing.  The probable take-away from these facts is that book publishing and marketing are two different concepts that have no relation to each other.  This approach is wrong.

The real-world situation is that book publishing and marketing are two different phases of a single project.  Marketing has to start before the book is published, not after the publishing is completed.

This book treats the publishing and marketing tasks as a unified project.  The marketing tasks will begin in Step 5, long before the book is published (in Step 9).

This is a graphical outline of the steps in the book.

Many authors, when they undertake to self-publish their book, use what I call the lazy way.  In this situation, they get a cheap cover (or make one themselves), don’t have the manuscript edited, fail to format the manuscript and upload a first (or early) draft.  Then they call themselves authors.

This approach means the author has no concept of what self-publishing means.  Self-publishing means the author must undertake ALL the tasks a publisher would do if the author sold the book to the publisher. 

In that case, the publisher will commission a unique cover, have the manuscript professionally edited, format it, designed the interior of the book, begin marketing the book and finally (after a lengthy interval) publish the book.

What the publisher will do is to create a quality book package to contain the