Can you self publish without paying out a lot upfront?

[Theresabookinme]

I want to self publish a book. But there seems to be very little reliable information out there, or you have to buy an expensive book which tells you the steps.

i would buy one of the books, but they often look of poor quality and don’t get great reviews.

can Anyone recommend a platform where I could sell an ebook where it has a chance of being seen and bought?

id also be interested in self publishing on demand- is that expensive?

Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) - make sure you don't fall for any of the scam sites which offer to publish your book for £x. KDP is totally free.

Google Amazon KDP and join up.

THEN read through the rules. - I cannot emphasise this enough!!

Once you have your book formatted and ready to publish (ebook or print) you need a decent cover. And that's it.

Well, there's a HELL of a lot more to it, but that's the basics of putting a book out there. You still have to do all the publicity, advertising, etc. which is the real hard work. It works for me.

You can also publish through D2D (Draft to Digital) - Apple books, Kobo, etc

Thanks so much for this @ThisReplyHasBeenDeleted

i did have a look and thought kindle looked the best bet. There are so many charlatans out there, aren’t there?

@Theresabookinme
Oh yes, there are far too many sites offering to publish your book for you and then scarpering.

I've been very happy with kindle. It's nerve-wracking but worth learning how to do it. There's not much to beat having a print copy of one of your novels.

Good luck ;)

If you download the free trial for Scrivener I think you can use it to export your work into an epub file ready to load onto Amazon.

@Theresabookinme

If you have a Mac, you can export your 'pages' file to create an epub or pdf file and also export your work to Apple books. I use Vellum (only for Macs) to create e-books and print versions – expensive to buy but pays for itself after a while.

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions. I'm not an expert though!

Self publishing can be done on a tight budget, but it can mean some things fall through the cracks. Editing, for example. A good editor can definitely cost a fair bit, but most authors struggle to catch everything in their own work, myself included. Cover art is another thing that can be unwise to DIY, unless you’re an artist. There’s a major backlash against AI, so unless you can design a great cover without it, I’d strongly recommend hiring an artist who doesn’t use AI.

I do layout and design for self publishers. You definitely don’t need to spend a lot of money. Cover and editing are where you should spend if you’re going to (personally I think interior is very important because it’s my favourite, but money should go to cover or editing first!). Canva is decent for free cover software. KDP is a pretty easy platform to set up on.

If you can’t afford an editor, have a look at ProWritingAid - if you get the premium one month subscription for £36 you can use it for a month and get one full manuscript analysis done.

I’m using it for a second pass on my novel before it goes to my editor and it’s been invaluable in picking up repeated
words and phrases as well as some clunky phrasing where I’ve switched things around.

Yes, I reworked and self-published some of my old blog posts, in book form, with Kindle Direct Publishing and it was simple as can be. The only cost was for a professionally designed cover because I’m terrible at that.

There is a wealth of information on the kindle publishing (Kip) forums

KDP, not Kip, sorry!

Canva does cover design.

There are a few authors who have achieved considerable success as self-publishers via Kindle, the obvious example being Peter Grainger whose excellent detective novels featuring DC Smith have sold over 5m "copies" worldwide despite never appearing in print.

@Theresabookinme listen to The Creative Pen podcasts and audiobooks by Joanna Penn, she is a fantastic source of info on everything for Independent authors.

I'm a freelance editor. If you want to PM me I'd be happy to discuss what you need, offer advice and provide any service required.