What To Know Before Publishing Your First Book
In November of 2021 I officially launched my first book “Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence” — as I’m working on writing a second edition version which is coming out next November, now would be a good time to share what I learned and wish I knew when I started.
Manuscript Preparation
Your main focus will be on producing your manuscript. You’ll obsess to fine-tune each and every detail, ensure grammar is right, and your book is cohesive and formatted properly. I’d recommend using tools like Grammarly and ChatGPT to review for mistakes.
Speaking of ChatGPT, use AI to help you plan, review, and research information but don’t let it write FOR you. The only time I let AI do the heavy lifting like that is for press releases and formatting articles that I feed the info about.
Self-Publishing or Traditional Publisher
Are you planning on self-publishing or going through a publisher? If you go through a publisher you’ll often have higher revenue splits and if you’re a first-time author may struggle to land a partnership. The barrier to self-publishing is lower than ever before.
Distribution Strategy
Where do you want your book to be featured and distributed? The answer should be EVERYWHERE. Each platform can help generate exposure, and sales, and lead to opportunities to network with the team and get your book spotlighted or social posts made.
To get your book distributed you’ll need to go through a business like Amazon KDP, Draft2Digital, Bookbaby, and Ingramspark. This is for the paperback. Each platform has its own terms, pricing, and requirements for publishing through their platform.
For my first edition’s paperback, I used Amazon KDP and used their expanded distribution feature. It was fine to start with but retailers like Walmart, Target, and Barnes & Noble won’t carry your book because Amazon is a direct competitor.
ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
Your book needs an ISBN or International Standard Book Number for each format and version of your book. This means you’ll need one for your paperback and hardcover. Ebooks don’t require one. Many times a distributor will offer a free one, but I’d recommend using Bowker to purchase your own ISBN and barcode. It will be up to you to place them on your book’s cover. For the sake of convenience, I won’t go into the details of formatting your book but know you’ll have flexibility on how large your book is. My Manifesto is 5.25 x 8 inches.
In the next part, I’ll get into marketing, but the planning stage is just as important because you don’t want to have a lackluster final product. You’ll have to consider cover types (matte or gloss), page texture, and print size. It’s a lot of freedom and that’s great!
Launching and Marketing Your Book
In my own book, I reference the relationship between your brand’s quality and marketing channels. If your brand sucks, you’ll struggle to get conversions. If your marketing sucks but you have a great brand, you’ll go broke or never recoup any investment.
So you’ve packaged up a wonderful book, have ordered author copies, and are probably wondering “What now?” — this is where having an aggressive marketing strategy comes in. The months leading up to your official launch you will want to begin hinting at your book.
Three months prior make an official launch saying that your book will be coming out in several months. You can go on a podcast tour to promote it, create content surrounding it, and send out copies to reviewers who can write genuine breakdowns.
If you have an emailing list start sending an email out and accept preorders. I’ve seen people grow and use Facebook groups specifically based on their upcoming book. The first 24 hours after launch are going to be your most important.
Those 24 hours give you an opportunity to earn something. A New Release and Best Seller spot. I must emphasize this, being a Top 10 Best Seller in Public Relations on Amazon is not the same as being a Top 10 New York Times Best Seller, but is impactful nonetheless.
The day of launch you’ll want to use every tool at your disposal. Direct messages, social media posts, email lists, affiliate links, going live. This footwork will help you earn a #1 New Release spot. Having these titles give you something to promote down the line and take pride in.
Let other people in on your successes! Thank and show gratitude. Two weeks after launch, consider offering signed copies for a premium price that you can send out to your network. Distributors usually allow you to purchase your own copies at print pricing.
As people are receiving and reading your book ask for pictures and selfies of them holding it! Send them links to your Amazon page and ask for genuine reviews. The more reviews the better as the higher Amazon will rank your book. Other sites follow similar algorithms.
Now it is up to you to maintain your book’s momentum and continue promoting and getting something from your hard work. You can put “author” in your social media bios and update email signatures to a link to your book.
Hand out copies of your book when you’re out networking and see potential partnerships arising from that relationship. In the next section, I’ll discuss publishing an ebook version.
Creating an Ebook Version of Your Book
When I launched my book back in 2021 I was astounded by how many people asked me for a digital version. I myself can’t stand reading books on my phone or devices, but I knew that it was something I needed to offer.
The process of publishing an ebook version is basically the same. You have to format your manuscript into an epub or PDF document and distribute it to the market. Depending on what business you used for your paperback distribution, they can likely handle the digital one too.
At first, I exclusively offered my book on Amazon Kindle which allowed me to enroll it in Kindle Select and gain organic readers. The problem is, that it has to be exclusive. The moment I uploaded it to the Google Play store, it was no longer eligible for those incentives.
It was nice generating the traffic from Amazon but I wanted to make my work accessible to everyone. You can manually get your ebook uploaded to sites but are limited to your options. I chose Draft2Digital to handle my digital distribution.
Within 48 hours my book was available on Apple, Kobo, Scribd, and a ton of other high-authority and high-traffic platforms. They walked me through formatting and allowed me to select which retailers I wanted and I didn’t want, to avoid having duplicate copies available.
Recording Your Audiobook Version
More often than not, it is uncommon for a self-published author to take the time to record and offer an audiobook format of their book. It took me two years to do my own and frankly, it was easier than I anticipated.
Do you want to record the audio version yourself or pay someone too? You’re going to have to decide between spending the time or spending the money. There are specific requirements on how loud your audio needs to be, the frequency, decibels, etc.
You’ll need to have a basic knowledge of how to record or know someone who can help you. Amazon’s ACX is the pickiest of all audiobook platforms so I’d recommend uploading your audiobook there first. If you pass ACX’s quality control you will pass everyone else’s too.
Interestingly enough, contracts are more important with audiobooks. When you upload to ACX pay attention to the choice they give you of making your audiobook exclusive or non-exclusive. I opted for the lower royalty, but higher freedom option. I’m not a fan of contracts.
ACX distributes your audiobook to Audible, Amazon, and iTunes which leaves a lot of platforms on the table. This is why I used Findaway Voices to handle distribution to the other 40+ platforms. They gave me the choice of where I wanted to upload it just like Draft2Digital.
For your audiobook version make sure to spend time reviewing the formatting requirements and how they expect you to upload your files, what you can say and promote, and the finer details.
I hope this breakdown proves to be insightful and helpful! I’d be honored if you considered picking up a copy of my book, Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence from Amazon or anywhere else!
Originally published on Memo’d
