Self-Publishing Update and Tips

I finally finished formatting and uploading all the components of my book to Amazon, complete with all the blurbs and keywords. Now, it is under review. I will order a copy for myself before it goes live.

In the meantime, I thought I would share some things I learned along the way. I have been learning a lot in this process.

If you are self-publishing, I hope you find these helpful!

1. Think about all the book components you want to include at the beginning and it will make the process go much faster! Remember that you need a copyright page, a title page, a table of contents, etc. I suggest doing an author page because you can’t fit much about the author on the back cover.
2. Consider adding an excerpt of your next book (or one you’ve already published) as a “teaser” at the end. Keep your readers coming back for more 🙂
3. Make sure your book is at least 100 pages, or Amazon will tell you it is too narrow for the spine.
4. The rule of thumb with book formatting is, don’t try anything fancy. Save your creativity for your content. Professional book formatting will allow for easy reading. Pick simpler fonts, align paragraphs and headings, etc.
5. Use Google Ads Keyword Planner and Amazon searches to find good keywords. You want low or medium-competition keywords. There are some great tips here.
6. Though many people advise you to download a template, plug it in to Canva, and make your book cover there, Amazon has a tool that allows you to create your book cover with less steps, and more checks. I’ll let you know how it turned out when I get the preview copy in my hands, but so far I’d say that method is easier.
7. Make your fonts match. This is an easy way to make your book look a little more professional. Since my book is fantasy, I went with Baskerville. If you use Arial, Times New Roman, or another basic font, you could make the title a bit of a fancier font. But for the most part, especially if this is your first book, I’d say use the same font/ family of fonts.

That’s all I have right now, but I’ll share more updates, tips and resources along the way.

My middle grade fantasy novel, The Land in the Woods, will be launched June 4th. I am very excited!

Happy self-publishing, aspiring authors!