Writer Series: Let’s Publish a Book
We’ve made it to the end of the line. Finally. The Legend of Valtera was edited, complete and ready to be released into the world. I’d done some research and let me tell you there are many websites detailing out the self-publishing process, even more than what I’ve done here. I suggest researching all available options in all possible formats before beginning the publishing process.
To start off, I knew I wanted to offer my book in both paperback and ebook form. I had heard about both Createspace and Kindle Direct Publishing through my web searches and knew that I was definitely going to use these two, Createspace for paperback and Kindle Direct for ebook.
Both are user friendly with helpful guides and templates to make the process as easy as possible. I focused on the paperback first as there was more involved in the process, for example dimensions, margins, formatting, etc. The cover art and the interior layout were more important than for the digital version. But all in all, pretty self-explanatory.
Once the paperback was finished, I moved on to Kindle. Again, simple and easy to use, the steps detailed out and helpful guides here and there. There is also a program choice called Kindle Select that, if enrolled, offers a 90 day exclusive period where your book is only available on Amazon. I didn’t find it to be all that valuable, but it did mean that I couldn’t publish in any other ebook formats.
A few months later, once the Kindle exclusive period was over, I looked at publishing in other ebook formats. I remembered reading the book Unenchanted by self-published author Chanda Hahn which was released through Smashwords. So I looked into it. Smashwords is a platform that allows for your book to be published across many retailers, basically all the major ones besides Kindle.
This one took a little more effort to complete because there are certain formatting standards that need to be fulfilled before you can submit your book for publishing. The good thing is, they offer a free Smashwords Style Guide that explains all the requirements necessary. So if you follow the guide, you’re good to go.
If you’ve written an entire book, made it this far, I suggest going all the way. If nothing else comes of it, you’ve still accomplished something that not everyone can claim. You’ll be a published author. It is something that you worked hard for, something to be proud of.
