Self-publishing your ebook
For many writers wanting to share their work with the world, self-publishing – now commonly known as independent or ‘indie’ publishing – their manuscript as an ebook is a viable alternative to working with traditional publishing company. Self-publishing digitally gives you full control over your work—but that also means you take on all the responsibilities of publishing.
In comparison to self-publishing a physical book, the overhead costs of publishing an ebook are low, so there is no major investment required up front, other than time and effort.
This information sheet is intended to serve as a starting point to help you understand the process, and evaluate whether publishing your work independently in a digital format might be a good choice for you.
Some background on the ebook market
Sales of ebooks are difficult to estimate. The vast majority of ebooks sold are self-published by many millions of individual authors, rather than via traditional publishing houses whose results are reported to sales-tracking organisations, so ebook sales aren’t reliably reported.
Additionally, most ebook sales go through bookselling platforms such as Amazon, Apple, Kobo and Google, which do not generally report their ebook sales publicly, or in detail.
What we do know, is that many people are reading digitally. Australian data is scant, but reputable US research group, Pew Research Center, released a report in 2022 showing that 30% of American adults reported that they had read at least one ebook in the past year. This was an increase from 25% in the previous report in 2019, showing that while still smaller than print-reading, the format is continuing to grow.
For some genres of writing, it is widely believed that digital sales vastly outnumber print sales. More on that later.
Writing, re-writing and editing
Before diving into the publishing process, it’s critical that you ensure your manuscript is in its best possible shape. For most, this will have started with peer feedback, either from a structured course like the ‘Online Feedback’ courses at Writing NSW, a formal manuscript assessment, or more informal feedback from your writing group.
Once you have gathered feedback, you may choose to edit the book yourself. If you go down this path, we have more information on how you can structure that process here and a low-cost online course available here.
Alternatively, you may choose to hire a professional editor to polish your manuscript. While it can be expensive, many writers find engaging a professional editor worthwhile as they will help you identify and eliminate errors and weaknesses you may not notice yourself, increasing your book’s chances of success. A more detailed information sheet on editors can be found here.
Formatting and cover design
Formatting your ebook properly is essential to provide a seamless reading experience. Most readers will download a free sample of your work prior to committing to purchasing it, and if they find it is not formatted to a professional standard, they will not proceed to purchase the book.
While there is specialised ebook-formatting software available, you may find that your existing word processing software will now export your work to a common ebook format. The most commonly accepted format is ePub. At time of writing, applications like Scrivener, Pages, and even Google Docs will convert your document to an ePub format.
You will need to ensure that you proofread your work thoroughly, looking not just for typographical errors, but ensuring that you maintain a consistent style and structure throughout. Be sure your book is uniform in terms of font size and style, line spacing and chapter headings.
Distribution Platforms
Selecting the right distribution platforms can significantly impact your book’s reach and sales. It’s important that you investigate these yourself to determine which will help you achieve your goals.
Amazon is currently the largest ebook sales channel. Its Kindle Direct Publishing platform (known as KDP) offers various options, including being part of its subscription service, Kindle Unlimited, where readers who subscribe to the service can read any books in the platform for one monthly fee. You can also just sell your books individually (known as ‘a la carte’ in the industry) but terms may be different depending on which option you choose, so read the fine print carefully.
Apple Books allows authors to make their books available to readers with Apple devices in over 50 countries. Similarly, Google Play Books allows you to make your book available to Android users. Kobo is an international platform with a strong presence in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Naturally, when considering sales platforms, you should carefully read the agreements you are entering into, and ensure you understand their terms and conditions. Organisations such as the Australian Society of Authors via their Authors Legal arm, and Arts Law Australia give legal advice to writers, so you may wish to consult them if you have concerns.
Pricing
Choosing the right price for your ebook is crucial for maximising sales. You might be surprised by the fact that ebook prices are generally substantially lower than physical book prices. It is important to research the market and note the prices of comparable books in your genre in order to set a competitive price. While it may be tempting to set a high price, if no one is buying the book at that pricepoint, then the benefit is purely theoretical. It may be worthwhile to consider the higher number of copies that could be sold at a lower, more accessible pricepoint.
In the ebook space, pricing is very rarely static. This is not something you “set and forget” but something that needs to be monitored and updated to maximise sales. Self-published authors, and now even traditional publishers, experiment regularly with limited-time price promotions to help boost the sales of their books. One of the benefits of these temporary price promotions is that it means your book may climb the bookseller’s charts, which in turn makes your book much more visible to browsers. More readers also means more people leaving reviews of your work, which is considered critical on online platforms.
Both charts and reviews are vital ingredients in an ebook’s success.
Genres
Some genres tend to perform better than others in digital publishing, although there will always be exceptions, and trends can move quickly! Genre fiction, such as Romance, Sci-Fi and Fantasy are traditionally strong performers as ebooks, with Crime & Thrillers following behind.
Children’s books tend not to be such strong sellers as kids (especially younger ones) tend to enjoy holding a physical book and may not have access to a device where they could read the book, nor an account to purchase it. Similarly, highly illustrated books tend to still work better in physical formats.
Marketing and Promotion
Marketing is a vital component of self-publishing success, and given that you won’t have a publishing company’s marketing heft behind you, you’ll need to consider how you’ll market your work yourself. A few key ingredients to consider:
- Build an author website: Establish your online presence with a professional author website that showcases your books and provides valuable information for readers. Provide direct links to your ebooks on your site to ensure the journey to purchase is as seamless as possible.
- Utilise social media: Engage with your audience through social media platforms, sharing updates, insights, and behind-the-scenes content. Engage with other writers to build community and online presence. This is generally a generous and helpful community, and often other writers can form a wonderful support network and help you spread the word about your work if you’re willing to do the same in return.
- Email marketing: Create an email list to keep in touch with your readers, promoting new releases and special offers. If you’re running one of the price promotions mentioned above, be sure to let your readers know, and ask them to help you spread the word too!
Tracking performance
So your book is now up for sale. Is this the end? No, no, no.
Monitoring your book’s performance is essential for understanding your audience and making informed decisions.
It’s important to regularly review your sales data on distribution platforms, identifying trends and areas for improvement. Keep an eye on the charts and look for patterns with regards to pricing, genres and the way other, similar books are presented. If you find over time that your cover isn’t resonating any longer, perhaps it’s time to update it? Are there keywords you should be using in your description (romantasy, recently, is a good example!) to help readers who would be interested in your book to find it via the Search function of your online sales platforms?
When you put effort into marketing, be sure to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing strategies by tracking website traffic, email open rates, and social media engagement. You’ll be able to see fairly quickly if there’s one particular method that works best for you, and you’ll know to invest more of your time there.
Over to you!
Self-publishing your ebook can be an empowering experience, granting you control over the entire publishing process. While it can initially be daunting, and there’s always change in an online environment, it can be incredibly rewarding to get your book out into the world, and know that you have ultimate control over how it appears.
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