Publishing Your Own Book

Publishing your own book can be easier than you think. Read our article and discover which publishers can guide you in this process.

Take the Initiative: Publishing your own Book is Easy and Smart

If you’ve written a book that you want to start either selling or distributing to your friends and family, publishing your own book is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to go. If your goal isn’t to be a widely published author with some major company, then why bother going through a third party to get your book in print? You can do it all yourself—or at least with your check book, and for relatively cheap. If you get started today, you can have copies of your book in hand within just a couple of weeks.

To start publishing your own book, here’s what you have to do:

1. How many? First, figure out how many copies you need. If you’re planning to market and sell your books, try not to overestimate your potential, because you probably don’t want to have boxes of hundreds of books sitting around your house for months. Decide on a nice, round figure—say, 250, 500,  or 1,000—knowing that you’re going to have to invest anywhere between $5 and $15 per book, depending a variety of factors.

2. Do your research. Look into on-demand print publishers. If you just want to receive some boxes full of books, these publishers will be happy to deliver if you’re willing to pay the price. And everything can be done over the web. All you have to do is send the publisher a digitized copy of your book, let them know how many you want, and you’ll receive your books in the mail. To figure out which press is for you, do a Google search for “print-on-demand publishers.” You may ultimately decide not to use these services, but it’s good to know about them.

3. Seek printers in your area. On the other hand, if you want to go for a higher-quality product, look into printers in your area, and work with them in person. Call or send emails out to local printers and ask them what they would charge to print your book. Also, ask if they have an in-house designer for covers and other design elements. If they don’t, you can find a local designer to help you put together your book.

4. Deliver your design and book to your printer. After you have your design and your book, bring it to the printer you’ve chosen. They may suggest certain changes, and they probably have guidelines for you to follow, but if they give the go ahead for the printing process, you may have your book within a few days.

5. Distribute your book. When publishing your own book, you generally have to take care of distribution and sales yourself. Maybe you’re not even interested in selling your book, and you just want to hand it out to loved ones and colleagues. If so, your work is done. But if you want to see your book, there are web-based services that allow you to promote your work. Alternatively, you can take it around to local bookstores (try the small ones, not the large chains) and ask if they would put it on their shelves for a commission.