For a lot of fresh authors, one of the most intimidating things about the business is sending your work out to publishers. Where do you start? How many requests should you send? How long do you wait to hear back? Sure, Google has countless articles on how to go about submitting requests, but it's never a surefire method.
I spent the better part of two years trying to figure out how to get my first book published. At first, I tried to submit to publishing agents in my genre, but sending out a minimum of ten emails a day wore me out. On top of that, most of those emails were either rejected or ignored. Then, I tried submitting to the publishers directly, which went about as well as you would think. Sometimes it would take three months to hear back from just one publisher, and the fatigue finally took its toll. By working full-time as well, I did not have the time every day to dedicate submitting manuscripts to faceless publishers.
In the summer of 2018, I gave up on trying to get The Maven Knight published by traditional means. Instead, I began researching the process for self-publishing on Amazon. This was no easy feat either, as I had to invest, edit, and announce everything from scratch.
So what are the first things you should do when deciding to self-publish?
Make sure your book is edited by a 3rd party! My first mistake in self-publishing was putting my book out there without a thorough round of edits from a fresh pair of eyes. Ensure your grammar, spelling, and formatting are 100% cleared from your editor.
Set a release date. As authors, we love to procrastinate and we have to set goals if we are to get anything done. A release date will kick you into gear and make sure you stay consistent.
Submit your manuscript to the US Copyright Department as soon as you can. It's only $50 to secure your work's copyright, and it'll make you feel so much more confident when you put it out to the world. Our greatest fear as authors is to have our work stolen, and this process can help ease that feeling.
Have an idea for your cover design. Fiverr.com has incredible and affordable artists willing to get your book cover done in record time. Simple covers cost $5-$15, but if you've got more complex designs and money to spend it can range to $100-$150.
Invest in an ISBN. This is where the process can get expensive since ISBNs are not cheap, but they are necessary. Boworker.com is where you can register an ISBN and one usually costs $125.