Simple Self-Publishing Tips

September 15, 2022

By Steven Spatz -

In this interview, BookBaby’s Steven Spatz lays out some basic self-publishing tips for the aspiring author.

Jackie Haley, award-winning author, speaker, and entrepreneur, launched “Dream to Author” to help aspiring writers become published, providing assistance through online training and coaching services. She spoke with BookBaby President Emeritus Steven Spatz to get some pointers about the publishing process, especially for first-time authors.

Jackie Haley: You have seen so many authors get through the publishing process, from experienced traditionally published authors to first-time book writers. Can you speak to some of the common mistakes that are made and how new writers can avoid them?

Ask a lot of questions

First thing: ask a lot of questions. There really is so much complexity to this process and there’s a lot to learn. So, number one, ask a lot of questions before you jump in.

Books are a business

Once you become an author, it becomes a business for you, and you need to approach it as such. If you just want to put a few books out there for your family, that’s great, that’s a legitimate motivation to write and publish. But if you are planning to sell books, you have to approach this like a business person. It’s going to take some time, and it’s probably going to take some money if you want to market your book.

Take your time to publish your book

You cannot rush a book to its conclusion. You have to write, you have to take the time to get it edited, and even after the editing, you’ve got to accept all the edits and make sure you’re comfortable with the suggestions. Has the editor changed the tone or are you happy with it? It’s not a quick, one-step process, it’s a real collaboration. Then, every step of the publishing process takes time. Take the time to go through the proofs — don’t just check “yes” because you’ve looked it over 20 times before. Are you happy with the trim size you chose? Are you happy with the final product?

Size your book appropriately

Jackie Haley: I get a lot of those questions from my clients. For one, they don’t always know what size their book should be. I usually tell them to go to a bookstore and see what other authors in their genre are doing.

Well, that’s excellent advice. Go to a local bookstore, go to Amazon and look into the metadata to see what trim size books in your genre tend to be. There’s a ton of information out there on blogs that can help you find the usual trim size for a children’s book, a romance novel, etc. The authors who say, “I want to be different — I want my children’s book in coffee-table size” are likely going to be disappointed. People are used to buying books in the format they recognize, expect, and feel comfortable with. This is one area where going against the grain is almost always a bad idea.

Find the right way to publish for you

Jackie Haley: What should writers do when they’re considering publishers and publishing options and they don’t know where to go — or even what questions to ask?

After being in this industry for so long, the really good news I’ve come to learn is there’s almost no bad way to publish your book. There are scam artists out there you need to beware of, but between the legitimate self-publishing options available — with BookBaby or going direct to Amazon or even working with one of our competitors — there are a lot of great options out there. The worst way to publish a book is to not publish your book. Get it out there — everyone has the opportunity to get their books out into the marketplace. There are no gatekeepers, there are no excuses why you can’t be on Amazon in the next four to six months if your manuscript is close to finished.

There’s lots more to the conversation — watch the entire interview!