Useful Self-Publishing Advice Articles

I wish I could point to one article and say it is the ultimate, one-stop-only guide to self-publishing. But the reality is that I have read hundreds of articles. The great thing about the internet is that, whenever I have a specific question about self-publishing, I can find an answer. Reddit is the best place to look for first-hand accounts, but there are many other places to look for advice, too.

Here are a bunch of articles I have found useful. (Disclaimer: I cannot guarantee that these articles will help you like they helped me. Do all the research you need. These articles represent only some the advice that is out there.)

Printers, Publishers and Aggregators:

What I learned from these articles (and similar ones): The differences between print-on-demand, large-quantity printing, hybrid publishers, self-publishing, aggregators, and online retailers.

What I decided to do with this information: I ordered proofs from Barnes & Noble, KDP, Draft2Digital and IngramSpark. I chose to use IngramSpark for my paperback and hardcover, Amazon KDP for my ebook on that platform, and Draft2Digital for my ebook on all other platforms.

Would I have done anything differently?
1. I wish I'd known that Barnes & Noble, IngramSpark and Draft2Digital all use the same printer, ingramcontent.com; I could have saved some money on proofs.
2. I wish I'd done more research into KDP, particularly their promotional pricing tools. (See pricing notes below for more.)
3. One thing I'm still dealing with is IngramSpark's handling of promotional pricing. (See pricing notes below for more.)

Printing, Designing and Physical Elements:

What I learned from these articles (and similar ones):
The ins and outs of copyright pages, the different sections of a book, ISBNs and how to get them, how to register a copyright, how to create a barcode, physical elements of books, LLCs

What I decided to do with this information:
1. I paid for 10 ISBN numbers from Bowker instead of just one (and I've used 5 of them so far, so that was the right call).
2. I registered the copyright for Tipping the Scales.
3. I registered with the Library of Congress for an LCCN.
4. I almost paid money for barcodes, but I thankfully discovered that my aggregators will provide the barcode for free with their templates for paperbacks, hardcovers and ebooks. (As an alternative, Canva also has a barcode generator.)
5. I chose not to start an LLC for my book. It didn't seem to be worth it as a debut author.
6. I compared recent novellas published by big publishers. I modeled my book's layout and size on those examples.

Would I have done anything differently? I would have loved to have embossed words on my cover, but I didn't find a print-on-demand service that offered that.

Pricing (Regular Prices and Sale Prices):

What I learned from these articles (and similar ones): About how other authors determine the list price for their books, price promotions and wholesale discounts.

What I decided to do with this information:
1. I compared the prices of novellas published in the past five or so years. I compared self-published books and traditionally published books.
2. I also used Draft2Digital and IngramSpark's compensation calculators to find out how much royalties I'd be getting depending on different list prices.

Would I have done anything differently?
1. KDP is not as useful as I'd hoped for promotional pricing. Most of their promotional tools are only available to exclusive content. I published my ebook on KDP and Draft2Digital at the same time, instantly making me ineligible for those promotional tools. (I have recently removed my ebook from my personal KDP account and have granted permission to Draft2Digital to handle my ebook on Amazon. On the customer side, there is no difference.)
2. If you want to run a sale, IngramSpark will not publish sale prices on retailer websites. The only way to run a price promotion through IngramSpark is with Share & Sell Links. These can be useful, but they are also limiting, and can only be offered to customers in the United States or the UK.
3. Pricing is still not something I fully understand. Did I price my book too high? Did I price it just right? Should I discount it more when I do a promotion? I have no idea.

The Book Launch:

How to Pick Your Book Release Date - 5 Things You Need to Know
How do you decide the launch date for your book?
When Do I Launch My Book?
When is the best time to publish a fantasy novel?
Why Books Come Out on Tuesdays
What I learned from these articles (and similar ones): How and when to launch my book.
What I decided to do with this information: I chose to release my book on a Tuesday, during the second to last month before what was supposedly the "dead" season for selling fantasy books. I chose not to have a launch party; there didn't seem to be a point when I was a debut author. I did advertise on social media.
Would I have done anything differently? I have no idea if doing something differently would have helped or not.

Marketing & Selling:
What I learned from these articles (and similar ones): Various tools to market books to readers and to bookstores.
What I decided to do with this information: I've followed some of the advice, but there's a whole swathe of advice I still want to try out.
1. I paid for spots in two mailing lists that have their own subscribers, but not much came of either ad.
2. I considered for a while starting my own mailing list, but ultimately decided against it; as a debut author, I didn't have the audience to justify a mailing list. The useful mailing list services charged fees, and I wanted to save my budget for marketing that I felt would be more worth my money.
3. My greatest advertising success so far has been through Facebook/Instagram ads, but although that gets me attention from my audience, the majority of them have been made any purchases. If I had a bigger budget, I could devote more money to ads, reach more people, and then (statistically) I'd be more likely to find my readers.
4. I've made a sell sheet and have used it to solicit a few libraries and independent bookstores.
5. I discovered that an emailed mailing list is required by U.S. law to include a physical mailing address in every email. I also wanted to include a physical address on my sell sheet and other materials. I have no physical business address (other than my residential address), but I didn't want to share that. So, I purchased a USPS PO Box for the first time in my life.
6. I have not paid for reviews, and at this time, I don't plan to. If that's a route you're interested in, they will have no trouble finding you on social media. Lots of marketers have contacted me on Facebook messenger about paid collabs, and there were other paid services that I came across in my research.
Would I have done anything differently? If there's a guaranteed way to reach my audience out there, I would absolutely love to hear it. In the meantime, I'm trying various things and hoping they'll stick.

More Advice Sources:
- Mailing Lists by Publishers, Aggregators and Social Media Platforms (i.e., IngramSpark, Metricool, Draft2Digital, Facebook Meta, Constant Contact, MailChimp and more): I discovered that, once I finally chose aggregators and started publishing with them, that they also send out regular advice emails through their mailing lists. A lot of it is repetitive, but there are gems here and there.
- Writer's Digest: Every issue has an indie publishing section that includes at least one article about an aspect of self-publishing and an interview with a self-published author. I've found a lot of great bits of advice in these pages. If your local library has CloudLibrary, you can even find free copies of the magazine through that app.
- Writer's Market book series by Writer's Digest: Published annually, these books contain lists of literary agents, publishers, and author resource websites; ads for editors and upcoming conferences; a half dozen or more articles about different aspects of publishing; and more.
- The Writer's Digest Conference: Held annually in New York, this is a fantastic conference with several keynote speakers, a pitch session with dozens of agents, and dozens of seminars on all aspects of writing, editing and publishing (self-publishing, traditional, hybrid and more). I was able to attend in 2022.
- Udemy: There are a lot of courses about publishing. I found a great course that walked me through how to use KDP, how to create headers and chapter indexes in Word, and how KDP fees work.
There's a lot of advice out there. The good news is that a lot of overlaps. The bad news is that some of it is contradictory. There are aspects of this process that advice articles did not prepare me for. I'm blundering through every week, which is why I recommend you read and research as much as you can until you're satisfied you can proceed on your own. Good luck to you, and good luck to me, too!
I talk more about my self-publishing experiences here, here and here.

Danielle Ducrest

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