Self-publishing?

[perpetualconfusion]

Hi!
Apologies if this has been covered already.
I want to know more about how to go about publishing a book myself. I can't really wrap my head around it.
I want to produce hard copies of my blog that I could sell to anyone who is interested.
What should I do?
Thanks for any advice!

There are a few things to consider.

Kindle (Amazon) is easy enough. You set up an account, fill in the tax info (there's even a YouTube video to guide you through the steps), upload the book and it'll be online for sale within a few hours.

You can set up paperbacks through them, too.

You can put your book in Kindle Unlimited (so it's available for KU subscribers with their subscription) or you can 'go wide', in which case you'll be looking at also uploading to the likes of Kobo, Apple, maybe Draft2Digital and Smashwords, etc. They all have their own storefronts and tax info to sort out.

For hardbacks I believe you'd have to go through someone like IngramSparks and buy your own ISBNs. Canadians and Australians get theirs for free, I believe. In the UK (like the US) we have to pay, unfortunately.

If you're only selling via the likes of Amazon and Kobo and other storefronts, they'll take care of the VAT side of things, and you'll just have to report your income from your books via self assessment (and register with HMRC as self-employed). If you want to sell directly via your website, you'll have to collect VAT and pass it on to HMRC.

There are also book covers (including a wrap-around cover for paperbacks), blurbs and other marketing things to consider.

Thanks so much for answering this query. After posting, I realised this is a perennial question.
This all seems very complicated.
I'm mainly interested in hard copies, rather than e-books, as the reader could already find the material online in blog form if they wanted to. But some people prefer a physical book, so am exploring my options.
Do you have to pay VAT on printed books? I thought these were zero-rated for some reason.
I'd quite like either a print-on-demand service so people could theoretically order online from my website/somewhere like Amazon, or just a cheap and cheerful way to print a bunch of books that I could sell on stands at various events.
Really just a super DIY set-up.
I'll check out Ingram Sparks.

Apologies—I think you’re right about physical books being zero rated!

Was rushing a response when I should have been writing for NaNo.

Tbf it’s more complicated from the outside, so to speak. You might want to check out the Writer’s Cafe on Kboards for more help.

Good luck! 🙂