Discover Your Path to Publishing
Resources for Aspiring Authors
Explore a sampling of tools, classes, and blogs designed to help you get to the next step in your indie publishing journey.
Understanding the Publishing Journey
Navigating the Path to Indie Publication
Embarking on the journey to publish your book can be both exciting and daunting. Understanding the various stages of the publishing process is crucial for aspiring authors. From drafting your manuscript to packing up pre-orders, each step requires careful consideration and preparation. Stay informed about industry trends and continuously refine your writing skills to increase your chances of success. Above all, pray on it! The road to publication is not for everyone.
Being a writer means you’ve got to be writing. Going the indie route isn’t for everyone and certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, and there are a myriad of ways to execute a successful book launch. But first things first: finish that manuscript! If the Lord is leading you down this path, He’ll make the way clear in His time.
Once your manuscript is done, the next best thing is to come up with a budget. Indie authors make more money on royalties than trad authors, but all the costs are yours alone to bear, right up front. A side hustle and a smart budget are often what it takes. It’s important to ask the hard questions: how much am I willing to spend, what is my realistic budget, and how will this affect my family? If you can answer those questions, you’re ready for the next step. Editing!
There are typically three rounds of editing a book goes through. While professional edits often end up being a large chunk of the publishing budget, don’t forget to be brave and ask for help from readers in your own circles. Put your story into the hands of willing beta readers and listen to their feedback with an open mind. Make the changes you think will strengthen your story.
A professional cover artist is worth every penny, so ask around and find a good one. After editing, the focus shifts to marketing and promotion. Building an online presence through emails, socials, and an author website can significantly boost your book’s visibility. Engage with your audience by sharing insights into your writing process and upcoming projects. Finally, celebrate each little achievement along the way and remember that publishing a book is a marathon, not a sprint.
Much like the Christian walk, we aren’t meant to go it alone, nor is putting out a quality book something we can rush. Find your writing community, invest in your readers, and lay your heart’s desires before the Lord. As with anything we do, it’s got to be His will first.
After the marathon of hard work, when your launch date comes around, celebrate! And thank the Lord for His faithfulness in your life.
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Resources for Indie Authors
(A handful of my favorites to get you started)
Writing Craft
Self-paced class by Jerry Jenkins.
- Jenkins is the author of over 210 books (including the Left Behind series and the The Chosen series), with more than 73 million copies sold and 21 New York Times Bestsellers.
- Dreamer to Author was the most affordable of his classes when I took it.
- Helped me push through my fear of queries and got me to the finish line of my first book.
- Jerry’s blog is THE BEST! Rich in free resources for writers.
- POV selection, active/passive voice, showing not telling, and ferocious self-editing encouragement.
- Definitely start there.
Marketing
Webinar by Erin Phillips
The Indie Author’s Book Launch Workbook
- When I took this course, I had already finished writing my book, and I was ready to take the plunge into indie publishing. Erin’s marketing webinar came at just the right time, and I highly recommend to any creative who has a mind for selling their work. This is books, but the principles still ring true. Game-changer for me.
- The most convincing part? Erin is already a successful indie author. She’s got the sales numbers to back up what she’s saying and most important, her heart is the Lord’s and He’s using her mightily.
- The Book Launch workbook was invaluable. It kept my timeline mangageable, helped me juggle all the publishing to-do’s, and got me through smiling. It was so helpful and is a steal at $7.
The Business of Writing (plus tech savy help)
by Thomas Umstadt Jr.
- The longest running book-marketing podcast in the world.
- Courses, webinars, classses
- Patron exclusive content with a JUNE special every year.
- Seriously, just go over there. I am not tech savy in the least, but I was able to build out my website, learn how to enrich my pages with metadata, and understand how best to help AI recommend my books.
- There’s a tax course, web design course, novel writing, email marketing, I could go on. Just go. You can come back here later and thank me.
by Dave Chesson
- Atticus is a formatting software that will dazzle the eyes. Easy to use and super profesh looking, it has the capability to layer in all those amazing illustrations you’ve been wanting to add.
- Publisher Rocket is tailored as a Amazon keyword search tool. It’s all about the keywords, and Rocket will save you a ton of time in the long run.
- Free tools like QR code generator, book blurb help, and amazon sales estimator are super helpful as you’re starting out.
- The main thing to know: you don’t have to buy it all at once and a lot of it is free. In the end, you’ve got to budget it out and spend wisely.
- With that said, Chesson and the Crew are super helpful and all their products have excellent customer support.