July 16, 2025
Are you looking to self-publish your book? Many writers love the freedom to self-publish their book content rather than going through the traditional publishing route, which can be lengthy and often limits the author’s input over their work. One of the barriers for some authors is uncertainty about what it takes to self-publish your book. If you are considering turning your ideas into a book but don’t know where to start, our primer on the 12 basic steps every writer can take to self-publish your book can help you begin.
Of course, the first step in self-publishing your book is to develop the book concept you want to bring to your readers. Since you are the publisher, you can be as creative as you want to be, but don’t forget to keep your readers in mind. When you choose a topic or story idea, keep in mind two key principles to ensure your book is as successful as possible.
Your target reader is the person you are writing the book for, and the person you expect and want to read it. It’s a great idea to actually come up with the specific demographics of your target reader so you can ensure that they are engaged with your book and excited to read it. A vague description, like “a child,” encompasses all kids from toddlers through young adult age.
But a narrower target reader description like “a tweenager, between the ages of 10 and 14” helps you to create a story that appeals to them, using words and themes that are relevant to that age of reader, increasing the odds of them enjoying your book.
An author should determine ahead of time what their goals are with writing the book. Do you want to write about a topic that you feel passionate about, so you can help others? Do you want to write a series of books so you can work toward becoming a full-time writer?
Determining what you want to get out of writing your book will help you decide on things like how much time you want to put towards the effort, what your timeline will look like and what support systems you need to seek out to create the best possible outcome for your goals.
Before you begin writing down your book idea, most authors create some sort of structure that the book’s contents will follow. You can write out a formal outline of the ideas and the logical flow of ideas for a nonfiction book, or for a fiction book, many authors create a loose timeline of the events in their story and adjust as the story develops.
Laying out your ideas ahead of time can help you determine if you have enough content for a book or, in some cases, if you have holes to be filled with creative thinking or research, to complete a book in your genre. To know how much content is traditionally expected for each genre, consider some of these genre norms as you create the plan for your book.
Now that you are ready to write, think about when you want your book ready for your readers, and consequently, when you need to have your writing finished to meet that date.
Book Launch: If your book’s contents match up with a specific time of year, like a book about school, summer, or the holidays, you may want to plan your book’s launch for the months leading up to that time frame.
Writing Plan: Once you know your ideal launch time, work backwards from there to plan out how much writing you need to do daily, weekly or monthly to accomplish the date, leaving room at the end for polishing your book’s final manuscript and working with a quick turnaround printer that can get your book copies printed fast to meet your launch date.
Keeping your writing schedule in mind, begin the writing process so you can get your ideas down on paper. Set up a comfortable location to write in and create rituals to help you create a mental mindset of creativity and productivity so you can complete your first draft in a reasonable time. If you have never written anything lengthy before, be careful not to set too difficult writing goals for yourself, like “I will write for three hours every day,” as not meeting those goals can put a damper on your book-writing enthusiasm.
Once you have completed your first draft, it’s time to go back over it and look for improvements and changes. Asking yourself a few questions as you do this can help you make progress and clean up the draft more quickly and efficiently.
When you have reviewed your first draft completely, the best way to make sure that the book’s content looks great is to enlist outside help in editing and revising it. Hiring an expert book editor to go over your manuscript will ensure that your book looks ready for readers and is free of small writing errors. This relatively small investment is the best way to make sure your book looks professionally produced.
When you self-publish your book, you have to make all of the design and formatting decisions for it. You can use a professional book designer to guide you through this process, you can use a program like Atticus (for PCs and Macs), Vellum (for Macs) or a free tool on a site like Reedsy, or you can do it yourself. The physical aspects of your book to be designed and formatted include:
One of the best ways to make sure that your book looks great and potential readers will want to snag it off a bookshelf is to create a cover and title that fit with genre norms. Review the popular books in your genre to see what readers’ expectations are when they look for their next book to read, and craft your book’s cover art to fit with that style.
Of course, you want your book to stand out from the rest, but if your gothic horror novel has a cover that looks more like a summer beach read, you are likely to disappoint plenty of potential readers who pick it up just on the cover’s design and color scheme alone. Professional cover designers are a resource to help you make these critical decisions, and even conducting a small beta test with friends and trusted readers with potential cover art options can help you make an informed decision so you can reach the right readers with your book.
To work with a printer, self-published authors will need to put their manuscript into a format that won’t allow for distortions or problems when the printer begins production. Usually, your work will need to be converted to a PDF with the correct trim size (how big the outer dimensions of the book’s pages will be). The cover art should be submitted as a full wrap design (front, back and spine) in a separate, high-quality PDF.
Get your launch team ready to go so you can ramp up excitement for your book on different fronts. Contact a few trusted readers from friends, family, or literary connections who would like to read your book right away and post honest, authentic reviews on sites like Goodreads or Amazon to promote your book. Contact local bookstores, libraries, or other retailers about carrying your book or hosting an author’s book signing to help you get the word out.
A writer can self-publish book content on their website and social media platforms to connect with potential readers, promote their work, and interact with their audience. Create a plan to begin marketing before your books are completed to get a head start.
When your manuscript looks great, partner with a printer like Publishing Xpress so you can be sure that all of your hard work as a self-publishing author will result in a gorgeous book that you will be proud to get into the hands of readers. Then, sit back and congratulate yourself on a job well done as a writer who can now add published author to their bio.
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