How to Write and Publish Your Novel - Self-Publishing 101

There are probably a million tips out there for how to publish a novel. There are definitely a million plus one tips on how to actually write your novel.

Well, let me give you the short and sweet answer:

There is no right way to do either of these things. The only thing that matters is that you actually do it.

That being said, I definitely have some hard-won wisdom from my own experience of writing and publishing an Amazon Best-selling novel. And I am more than happy to share it - lucky you!

Before we get started, I do have to state that the absolute easiest way to know everything there is to know about self-publishing, aside from all the fluff, is to buy my Ultimate Self-Publishing Guide. Everything I talk about in the blog and online can be found there in detail. What’s even better with the Guide is that you can print the 18-step Self-Publishing Checklist and the Publishing Timeline to keep you on track.

But if you prefer little nuggets of information, then keep on reading!

How to Write A Novel

Some of the best advice, and something I will repeat countless times, comes from one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman.

“Write down everything that happens in the story, and then in your second draft make it look like you knew what you were doing all along.”

This is exceptional advice for many reasons. Let’s go through them quickly:

  • The first draft is meant to be a dumpster fire in the oceanic garbage patch.

A lot of new writers (and very experienced writers) get caught up in the final version of their story that they see in their minds. They strive for perfection, not knowing that perfectionism has killed more novels than writer’s block. In fact, writer’s block is often caused by the pressure of perfection we all expect in ourselves.

It makes sense; if you’re going to write a book, you’re not going in thinking, “I’m going to write a mediocre novel.” No, you have this grand idea in mind of the kind of world and story you want to share with the public. That’s nice and all, but forget about it. Leave that thought behind. Or else you’ll only ever be an aspiring author instead of the real thing.

The first draft of a novel has only one purpose: to make the story in your head real. You’re just writing every thought down into something resembling a story. That’s it. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It doesn’t even need to be readable. It just needs to be there.

So don’t get caught up in specifics like plot and story structure and best practices for novel writing. Just write. The drafts after the first one are where you start chipping away at the clay, revealing the true novel under all the rubbish.

  • Don’t feel like an imposter; no one knows what they’re doing, even Neil fucking Gaiman.

If one of the most prolific and celebrated authors of our time only pretends to know what he is doing every time he starts a book, then you’re fine.

Remember when you were 12 years old and looked up to an 18-year-old and thought, “Wow, they’re so grown up.” Then you turned 18 and realized that you’re still very much a child and have no clue what you’re doing. And how you probably continue to do that when looking at people a few years older than you. You have to realize, and maybe you already have: No one knows what the hell they’re doing. We are all literally freestyling life.

The same goes for careers. The CEO was probably making it up as they went until they got into a good routine. The same goes for parenting - your parents sure as hell didn’t know what they were doing when they had you. They were experiencing life for the first time, same as baby you.

All this to say, don’t compare yourself to others. You’re doing just fine, wherever you are.

As for writing, we’re all still figuring it out. Whether you’ve written one book or 30. Allow yourself to make mistakes, to write silly things. You can always change it in the next drafts. Again, the most important thing to worry about is finishing writing a book.

  • Write all your thoughts down.

We were trained how to write stories in school, and while story structure is incredibly important for a coherent novel, it can also create blocks in your writing process. Use an outline, by all means, but don’t be afraid to color a little outside the lines.

When drafting your novel, write down everything that comes to mind. Even if a week later you decide to scrap that scene you spent hours meticulously crafting, the practice of writing in those hours won’t be lost. Not to mention that any orphan scenes (scenes or ideas you don’t end up using in the final product) can be used in other books.

Another big thing that we weren’t usually allowed to do in school was to write out of chronological sequence. We had to write Act I, then II, then III. However, one of the best ways to write up your first draft (in my opinion) is to write those big scenes that made you want to write the book in the first place and then find ways to connect them into a story.

Momentum is a powerful thing. Once you start writing those scenes you’re excited about, you can use the momentum of that excitement to write the less exciting bits of your story. Again, you don’t have to adhere to every rule in the book. Write the story as it comes to you, and then use later drafts to make it into a coherent story.

Humans, intuitively, are storytellers. Sure, we often get lost in the details and ‘best practices’ of storytelling that were taught to us in school, but we know what a good story is versus a bad story. You don’t need to be a perfect writer in order to write a book. In fact, as long as you know how to string words together, you can get started on writing your first book. The cleaning up and making it presentable comes after.

I may not have given you steps A, B, and C for writing a novel, but that’s because I think you already know how to write a story. The other stuff can come later, after you finish that first draft.

How to (Self) Publish A Novel

There are three main types of publishing:

Traditional Publishing

Traditional publishing is what people think of when they think of ‘publishing’. This is where a publishing house agrees to publish your book and their in-house team of editors, marketers, and cover designers help you put the book together. Authors are usually paid an advance (in four installments) while their books are being readied for publication, which can take anywhere from 2-4 years. You sign over most of the creative and licensing rights to your book, but you don’t have to pay anything out of pocket. You also don’t make anything in royalties (books sold) until you’ve made the publishing house their advance back. This usually means that many authors don’t make anything for years, if at all, after the initial advance.

Hybrid Publishing

Hybrid publishing is somewhere between self-publishing and traditional publishing. You may have to pay a small fee upfront for the crafting of your book, but the publishing house does take on editing and cover design. As for profits, you can usually make a deal of splitting profits so that both you and the publishing house get paid royalties.

Self-Publishing/Indie Publishing

Self-publishing is quickly becoming a popular route for publishing a book, and for good reason. You get to keep 100% of the licensing, creative rights, and all of the profits made. Sure, you do have to pay for your own book cover artist and editor, but you're in charge there too. Self-publishing also has a much shorter timeline between the first draft and the release date. Another big reason is that thanks to social media, the marketing playing field has been leveled - meaning that self-published books can be just as easily picked up by the algorithm and pushed out worldwide as traditionally published books.

Self-publishing is the answer to the exclusionary and often profit-minded process of traditional publishing houses. In today’s online world, self-publishing is a very viable and accessible way to get your work into the world. And that is why I will go into full detail on how to self-publish - especially since that is the route I decided to go down (and have absolutely no regrets about).

Now, how do you self-publish a novel?

There are so many ways. Today’s world caters to online entrepreneurs and so there is a plethora of Print-On-Demand options that extend to novels. The most popular websites to publish on are Amazon KDP and IngramSpark. Both serve a different purpose and should be utilized together.

Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publisher) is a print-on-demand service powered by Amazon that will produce and sell your books. Amazon is a worldwide marketplace and incredibly accessible, which is why it’s the most popular option for a marketplace to sell your books through.

IngramSpark is a printer and distributor that will put your book into a worldwide distribution catalogue so that your book can be bought from anywhere in the world. IngramSpark is how you can get your books in bookshops (although it’s not as simple as just inputting your book and then you’ll see it on the shelf at your local bookshop. There is a larger process called consignment that needs to be done to see physical copies of your book on shelves).

The next thing to consider is hiring people to help you craft a book that will actually sell. Contrary to that popular quote, people do judge books by their covers. You need to have an eye-catching and high-quality book cover for your book to stand a chance. Next, you also need to make sure your book is readable. Having impeccable grammar and spelling is critical to securing long-term readers (and many places won’t sell your book if it’s not up to standard). So you’ll need an editor.

Before any of that though, you need to have done at least four passes of self-edits through your own manuscript. Before you hand off your manuscript to any editor, you need to polish it. This is for two reasons - 1) Editors are usually the last ones to go through your manuscript so you’ll want to finalize everything so you don’t end up paying for another round of edits later on and 2) You can save on costs depending on what kind of editor you hire and how ‘messy’ your script is. If the editor has to do less work, the better for your wallet.

Under each of the pros of going with hybrid or traditional publishing, there is a rather large caveat: you are in charge of marketing. Sure, you may receive limited marketing help in that your book is announced internally and shared on interior channels, but unless you’re famous or a very popular author with a large following, you won’t see your book on billboards or Times Square. The same goes for self-publishing.

Using social media as a marketing tool is imperative to ensuring the success of your book. Sorry, there’s just no way around it. Everyone spends a majority of their time and attention online, and thanks to algorithms on TikTok, Instagram, and even Pinterest, you can potentially reach millions of people with a simple video or post.

While that may seem overwhelming, it truly is a blessing. You can look at other authors and see what kind of videos they make to promote their books and take inspiration from them to create your own. You don’t even need to show your face (although that usually helps since people want to connect with people).

In total, all the steps taken to self-publish my debut novel Hey, June took about nine months. Throughout those months, I did extensive research to teach myself everything to know about self-publishing and how to make my book successful. Thankfully, that all paid off, and my book consistently ranks on Amazon in three different categories and is considered a bestseller.

I now have a viable passive income stream as well as many opportunities opened up to me since publishing. I don’t regret self-publishing Hey, June since I did it for both logistical and personal reasons, which I talk about in earlier blogs.

If you want to learn exactly what those steps were to get to where I am today (18 steps total!), you can find the checklist in my Ultimate Self-Publishing Guide available on my website! I wrote the guide to help others in their dream to become published authors and also for myself, knowing I will continue to self-publish novels and didn’t want to start from scratch again.

Self-publishing used to be a last resort for publishing and sometimes still carries the stigma of being ‘less than’ traditionally published novels. However, I am here to change that stigma and show you how beneficial and accessible self-publishing is and how it can lead to great success in your author journey!

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How I Became a Best-Selling Self-published Author