7 Things No One Told Me About Self-Publishing (Part 1)

Last week I released my first self-published book, The Artist’s Suitcase: 26 Essentials for the Creative Journey. It was such a great joy to finish the book, hold it in my hands, and finally get to hear people’s reactions. I’ve even had people ask for a signed copy! (That’s kind of surreal.)

But I have to admit that at times it was also a frustrating experience. There were moments when I wanted to quit and just chuck the whole thing. Over the last couple of years I have done lots of research and even taken a few courses on writing and self-publishing. But nothing really prepared me for going through the process on my own.

In this two-part post I’ll share the seven most important lessons I have learned about self-publishing. Writing and publishing a book is an incredible accomplishment, and I hope you’ll give it a try. Knowing these seven truths before you begin will make it a much smoother process.

1. Give yourself at least twice as much time as you think you’ll need.

Once I had the first draft of The Artist’s Suitcase finished, I thought I could take care of the editing, formatting (both for the Kindle and print versions), audiobook creation, and launch week planning all within a couple of months. (Anyone who has self-published a book is laughing hysterically right now.)

I grossly underestimated the time and effort all of these tasks required. As a result, I kept having to push my launch date back. While that helped me create a better end product, it made me look like an amateur who didn’t know what he was doing. It’s much better to give yourself a lot of lead time on the front end to make sure you do things with excellence.

2. Don’t try to produce e-book, print, and audio versions at the same time.

I am a chronic overachiever, and it was important to me to make The Artist’s Suitcase available in all these formats. But that means I had to learn all the systems required for each format. For the e-book, that meant learning how to use Scrivener. For the print version, that meant learning how to navigate CreateSpace and create a visually appealing layout using a Microsoft Word template. For the audiobook, that meant setting up Audacity to record and edit for the very specific requirements of ACX, the platform used by audiobook creators.

The result of trying to do all this in a short amount of time was that I felt overwhelmed most of the summer. In addition to preparing for my book launch, I was also trying to get ready for my Fall college classes, one of which is a brand new course.

I would recommend that if you’re just starting out with self-publishing, do an e-book first because it’s the simplest way to get your book in front of an audience. Then once you’ve gained some confidence, tackle the print version and possibly the audiobook.

3. Set aside funds for cover design and editing.

I made a lot of mistakes with this book, but something I definitely did right was deciding to get help with the cover design and editing. It can be hard for authors, especially those just starting out, to justify the extra expense. After all, who wants to spend money on a book before you’ve even made a penny of it back?

But let me assure you, cover design and editing and worth paying for. Kristi Griffith designed my book cover and did a fantastic job. A striking cover is absolutely essential because people do judge a book by its cover. A lot of good self-published books have died a quick death because of bad cover design. I was determined that I would do everything in my power to ensure that The Artist’s Suitcase looked as much like a “real” book as possible. The nice cover design definitely helped.

Jim Woods did a couple rounds of editing for me, and I can’t speak highly enough of the value he provided. He responded very quickly and gave literally hundreds of notes on the book’s content. He asked great questions and made suggestions that improved my writing. He was also honest about the parts that weren’t working. I ended up with a much better book as a result.

Do not—I repeat, DO NOT—skimp on this area. If you are serious about being an author, and if you want people to take you seriously, you need to invest in cover design and editing. The only exception might be when you are great with graphic design and can do the cover yourself. (But honestly, very few people are truly gifted in this area. Just because you can use Powerpoint or Photoshop doesn’t mean you should design your own cover.)

I would also add that you don’t necessarily have to pay for editing if you have great people who will help you for free. I have a good friend who is fortunate to have a professional editor volunteer her services for each book he writes. Most authors don’t have that luxury, so you will probably need to pony up for editing (or find a good editor who is willing to volunteer their services . . . but don’t count on locating such a person easily).

Whatever you do, don’t just pick a friend or relative who will only say nice things about your book and tell you how wonderful you are. Find an editor who will push you and tell you the truth, but will do so in an encouraging way.

If you want people to invest their time and money into your book, you have to invest in it first. 

In the second part of this post, I’ll cover four more things I’ve learned from self-publishing The Artist’s Suitcase. In the meantime, join the conversation by answering the question below!

If you have self-published a book, what advice would you give an aspiring author? If you haven’t published a book, what part of the process intimidates you the most?