How To Keep Yourself Sane When Self-Publishing

On By K.M. Allan

Almost every step of the writing process has elements that can mess with your head.

There are the characters that won’t stop talking when you’re writing. The endless editing that has you correcting words in your sleep. Writing queries or a one-page synopsis (one page!) and dealing with generic rejections that give no clue about whether you’re a good writer or if your story works (always leaving you to think the worst).

Lately, I’ve waded into a new kind of insanity; trying to self-publish my book.

If you’re about to embark on the same path, hello, my friend. Pack some chocolate, leave your ego behind, and learn from my mistakes/lessons/takeaways…

How To Keep Yourself Sane When Self-Publishing

Know What You Want

Are you just going the ebook route? Do you want print and an ebook? Hardcover options? Author copies? Do you want your friends and family to be able to buy your book without taking out a loan to cover the shipping?

These are the things you need to think about so you can plan accordingly and go with the publishing provider that’ll give them to you.

When I first started researching, I decided to go with Draft2Digital. They have a very easy-to-use system, no upload fees (they take a percentage of your royalties) and free ISBN’s.

What they don’t have is their own print option (although it’s coming), meaning I had no way of getting author copies to check the print book before release. They also don’t currently produce and ship their own POD books, so any book ordered would rely on third-party shipping, which can get expensive when you live on the other side of the world.

That left me with my other option, IngramSpark. They ticked my know-what-you-want boxes with author copies, reasonable shipping (they have a printer here in Melbourne), and print books as well as ebooks.

Their process for uploading files, though, is not for the faint-hearted. It’s work and plain confusing for a newbie. Ingram also charge to upload your files and make any changes once your book is “live”, but you can currently get around that with the coupon code NANO2020.

The takeaway: decide what you want from self-publishing, research your options, and pick the right fit.

Be Organized… Early

I made the mistake of starting with my MS as a document in Scrivener, ready to be made into the ebook and print files, then signed up to start the publishing process a month before I planned to release. Don’t. Do. This.

Find out what the specifications your print and ebook files are, get them and your cover done, and then start the process. Ideally more than just a few weeks out from putting your book into the world. Why? The stress.

To self-publish you need to know (among many other things) the book size for your print book (called a trim size), the kind of paper and color options to go with, and the number of pages (something you won’t know when your MS is still just a Scrivener file). You also need to get an ISBN.

If you’re using a service that requires you to buy your own ISBN (which I am), you also have to fill in even more forms to assign it to your book, and you need one for every book option you’re planning to release (ebook, paperback, and hardcover).

There’s a lot of stuff to learn, to decide upon, and to do, including knowing the category of your book and all the metadata/tags so readers can find it when it’s published. You also need your blurb and a short description of your book handy.

I did not know these things when I started the process, making it difficult and stress-filled, especially when I’d stupidly picked such a tight deadline.

The takeaway: research/find out what you need to self-publish both your print and ebook and get it ready before giving yourself plenty of time to learn and work through the process.

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help

Google is your friend when it comes to researching, finding how-to articles, and the meanings for some of the publishing jargon you’ll come across, so make sure to use it.

It also helps to have someone read through the forms with you, discuss the options, explore your questions, bounce your thought processes off, or hear you complain in real-time about how frustrating the process is (may or may not be a true story).

Writer friends are also the best (shoutout to the #6amAusWriters crew!). Chances are high someone in the writing community has been through the process and can answer any questions/call-outs for help on social media. You’ll also always find writers to vent to who have a sympathetic ear for the writer-life.

The takeaway: don’t be afraid to ask for help or find people who will help you get a handle on the process without losing your sanity.

Keep It Simple

When it comes to creating your files, keep it simple and go with the programs you know.

As much as I love Scrivener, it was only good for compiling my epub for my ARC and the ebook. I could add front and back matter (title page, copyright, dedication, acknowledgments, about the author, etc) and the cover with relative ease because I already knew how to use Scrivener for those things. I could also use Scrivener to compile the Word doc for my print book.

I went with Word for the print version because it’s so much easier to set your margins, page size, and add a header (once you’ve sorted the waking nightmare of starting your page numbers and headers on the book pages and not the title page, that is). You can then save the file as a PDF, and that’s your print book.

There are other programs too, such as Kindle Create, and Draft2Digital, that have free, easy-to-use ebook creators.

It took some trial and error for me to realize which programs would give me what I needed. For example, I used both Kindle Create and D2D to put together my ebook before realizing they wouldn’t do. Kindle Create only makes files that can be uploaded to Amazon, and D2D kept stripping out my spacing, changing the way I wanted things to look.

The takeaway: go with the programs you know so that you don’t waste time making files you ultimately can’t use.

By now you might be thinking that it’ll be a miracle if I get Blackbirch: The Beginning out by release date and that I’m an idiot or insane (or both). As with anything writing-related, it’s a learning curve, and as frustrating as it is, I’m always grateful to learn new things.

I’m also grateful for the wonderful ARC readers who gave me both positive feedback and constructive criticism so my book can be as good as I can currently make it.

Will it be completely error-free? Probably not (but not from lack of trying, we’re all human and humans miss things). Do I wish I was more organized/knowledgeable/not on a self-imposed tight deadline? Yes. Do I also wish I’d researched more/understood things better/didn’t waste time creating files that weren’t useful? You bet.

The process of self-publishing may tip you over the edge, but it’s in a writer’s soul to put words together and share them with others. Ultimately, that’s what will keep you sane, even if the process to get there does its best to drive you crazy.

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

34 thoughts on “How To Keep Yourself Sane When Self-Publishing”

  1. Kate. You’ll be my go to, since you’re the only author I know that is willing to share her knowledge. This may change over time, but I don’t care that you’re on the other side of the world. Your suggestion last year to use Scrivener was great advice and I’m sure you have even more to provide once I get into publishing mode. My plan for now is to get all of my book ideas out of my head and into MS form, then worry about rewriting and publishing later.

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  2. I had a question for you: how do you set financial goals for self-publishing? I work on my books around my full-time work schedule and I’ve wondered how I should consider my publication a “success.” What do you do?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Is it bad if I say I haven’t even thought about it? This will be the first thing I release where I could potentially make money, and honestly, I’m just putting it out there and seeing what happens. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful, Whitney. That might be a question I could answer in a years time when I have more releases, or at least the first release, under my belt 😊.

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  4. Good luck with your book!
    I went with Amazon for my short story collection, because it was there and I didn’t want to spend any money up front (other than the ISBNS. If you use Amazon’s that edition belongs to Amazon.). We used KDP to put together our writing group’s anthology (mostly purchased to give to our families for Christmas) so I’d tried it before and templates were available to get the sizing and margins right (although they can be flaky too if you want to change anything they’ve set).
    I didn’t like Kindle Create either – it didn’t look the way I wanted. I’d already looked into Smashwords for e-books and it is really helpful. Mark Coker explains why you’re doing it this way and his formatting guide is free.
    And there I was thinking I’d finished when I’d written the stories…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for sharing your experience and tips, Cathy 😊. I hear you on the whole thinking the work was done just getting stories written. Self-publishing is a whole other game with new rules to learn.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. There are indeed many lessons to learn with a first book! It is also a shock when you realise that writing it is the easy bit. Marketing is another big learning experience. However, the blogging community is a HUGE help and very supportive. I went with Amazon and then went wide with Ingram after six months. It was the best route for me, and helped get my book into libraries. Best of luck on your journey.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you! Congrats on getting your work out there 😊. I haven’t even tried book marketing yet, but I’m sure that’ll be full of more lessons. I agree that the blogging community is so wonderful and supportive too.

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      2. Totally agree with you again. My writer friends have talked me down from many a ledge. There’s been lots of moments over the years where I’ve wanted to give up and they helped me to keep going.

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    1. I’m sure you can do it somewhere in Scrivener, but I was using Word long before Scrivener and that’s the place I know how to easily set margins and headers/footers and page numbers 😅.

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  7. You’re so inspiring, Kate! Your commitment and hard work is incredible. You should be so proud, and I’m excited for Blackbirch to be released into the wild so many other readers can enjoy it ❤ YOU GO GIRL!!! xx

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  10. Never used Scrivener, but I certainly won’t entertain it now!

    I think any would-be self-publisher should read the Smashwords Guide to Formatting your ebook file, since whether the system has improved or not, it gives you the best chance of writing your original file in the easiest way to get the format right when it comes to uploading it. You don’t have to use Smashwords if you don’t want to. (but I do as I get more sales from iTunes via them than I do from Kindle)

    I struggled with all the issues of using Createspace that drove non-US authors mad, including the three month wait for any shipments to arrive. THREE MONTHS TO SEE MY ‘PROOF’!! Once Blurb decided to have a UK site and printing, it all became much easier. I don’t know if they’ve gone Australian yet, but why not ask them to? Typically my paperbacks arrive within four-five days of order, usually just before I get the email telling me they’ve been despatched!

    New stuff on KDP means they now take a LOT of different file formats, which means I can save my Mac-typed version into ePub, check it’s just how I want it, and upload it to KDP – where it stays the same. Hallelujah!!!

    Ten years on, uploading your file is nowhere near as hard as it was 🙂

    Thanks for your saga – it brought back memories of the pain!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Jemima! Scrivener is excellent for writing and putting together epubs. I just needed to use Word for the print file. Thanks for the tips about Smashwords. Three months to see a proof is ridiculous! I’m glad to hear you’ve found other solutions now.

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