Category Archives: self-publishing

Self publishing. Notes

This post does not address hybrid publishing, indie publishing houses, or services that you pay to self-publish with.

Except to note this: as you travel through reviews of various hybrid publishing companies, you’ll invariably see people screaming IF THEY’RE ASKING FOR MONEY THEY ARE NOT LEGIT. Caution is advisable but this remark simply doesn’t reflect the current publishing landscape which is peppered with legitimate hybrid publishing outfits. Similarly, using the adjective “vanity” to describe such services is both outdated and insulting.

There are a lot of ways to go with each step of the self-publishing process and your choices will depend on your budget and skill set.

Here are a few online resources that I used.

How to self-publish in ten steps. Gaughran is very generous with his expertise and stays current with changing rules on FB, etc.

Jane Friedman offers classes on self-publishing, marketing, and on the publishing industry generally.

Amazon walks you through the steps pretty well. Amazon KDP

Reedsy — expert marketplace. All kinds of editors, cover designers, book formatters, and more. They make collecting bids for services efficient.

I also learn a lot in an ongoing way from self-publishing groups on Reddit and Threads.

Best possible manuscript.

So many typos! Wish I’d hired a copy editor.

Formatting

Electronic and paper have different formatting requirements for both the covers and the text.

ELECTRONIC

We created a WORD FILE, submitted it to D2D, and they converted that to an epub file. Once that’s done, you can review and make adjustments before publishing.

In the first 90 days (after going live), you can make as many adjustments as you want for free. After that, they’ll give you one free change per 90 days and charge you for more than one. (NB each manuscript update can fix multiple typos).

You can then download their epub file and submit to ebook sellers directly. We did this with Kobo, Apple, and Google.

For Amazon, we used their KINDLE CREATOR to make a Kindle book from the WORD FILE. (Kindle Creator program can be downloaded from KDP to your desktop).

Amazon lets you do unlimited revisions although each revision has to be resubmitted for review (once the first review is done, all subsequent reviews happen quickly, generally within 24 hours).

For all electronic versions, the cover is a JPEG and is limited to the front cover.

Much less formatting for ebook.

No headers, no footers. Be you do need consistent title headings.

KDP will create a Table of Contents automatically and you’ll have some limited ability to fine tune.

PAPER

We created a different WORD FILE then converted it to a PDF for submission to Amazon, D2D etc.

This as good a place as any to say that Reddit has been a useful resource. They organize posts by topic. I follow “self-publishing.” Below, the co-founder of D2D chimed in to correct the misinformation his staff gave me.

(All are POD —print on demand.)

Determine “trim” or page size (I chose 6×9).

Margins (rt and left margins will be different in paper version)

Font size

Space between lines / (space between letters)

These measurements affect both the look and feel of your page and your PAGE COUNT. I really wanted to keep my page count under 350 pages.

You’ll need to decide how to treat chapter names and where to put headers with title/author and page numbers.

I recommend looking through paperbacks and seeing what they do and what you like.

FOR THE PAPER COVER — we submitted one PDF of entire cover (open — meaning, including front, back, and spine). see below

There was a slight difference in paper weights between Amazon and D2D and your book cover designer will need to know that.

More on cover creation below.

Administrative steps

Set up separate email address for business. Some authors set up a publishing company or an LLC. I didn’t do either.

PS don’t set up a “publishing company” in order to be able to claim that you’re not self-published without doing some research. I think your company might have to actually publish someone besides you.

Purchase ISBN’s — Bowker.com. It’s the only place to get them. I bought a ten-pack.

Hardback, paper, audio — all need separate ISBN’s. I needed a fourth ISBN for an independent bookstore listing on IngramSpark because they want a bigger discount and a return policy.

(This is really in the weeds here but D2D “publishes” their POD books through IngramSpark, meaning without even listing with that distributor I was in their catalogue. But because of the huge discounts required by bookstores, I listed a second ISBN with the requisite discount attached (and a return policy too which most bookstores want). Every bookstore I approached therefore needed to have this made clear).

D2D and Kindle can supply ISBNs but even though they don’t technically own your work, I don’t advise using them.

Bar code — do not buy.

Copyright— though not necessary, I copyrighted my manuscript. Main advantage: looks more formal in your title page and as a self-published author you want this.

Catalog with Library of Congress. They’ll supply you with a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN).

Book Cover

SPINE — to calculate dimension of spine, you’ll need to know your paper WEIGHT

ISBN — for the back cover

Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) for copyright page

BLURB and BIO

You’ll need a catchy book blurb for back cover and for Amazon. A short bio too.

Lately I’ve seen some amazing AI summaries of books and I have the question: if you use AI in your marketing materials does that count as “using AI”? Another self-published author has done preliminary research with the answer: “No” it doesn’t count.

Many fine fiction writers suck at blurbs, which is — ahem — why I wonder.

Also a good time to consider categories and keywords. Do your research by examining comparable titles.

COVER DESIGN

Three second rule. Impact matters. Genre matters. Needs to look good in a thumbnail.

Do it yourself — Plenty of authors design their own using Canva or some other platform. I don’t advise it. Also if you use AI, you can’t honestly say that AI was not used to produce your book.

Professional — they know genre standards, know how to size and position type, how to produce files needed for various platforms.

I had tons of preliminary cover ideas and a strong visual vocabulary and still hired a designer.

Actual publishing

Consider LAUNCH DATE (impacts contests you can submit to).

Going wide with an aggregator and direct placements vs KU

KU — Kindle Unlimited — exclusive for set term (90 days?); paid by page views.

KDP — Kindle Direct Publishing. Not exclusive. POD — print on demand.

Aggregator — I used D2D (Draft To Digital).

Went direct with Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo (but not Barnes and Noble because of their fussiness about ISBNs).

D2D offers a menu of outlets. I picked: Hoopla, Overdrive (two library sourcing sites), Barnes & Noble, Everand, Fable, Tolino and more. Some of those cater to European markets.

Recent changes to IngramSpark have lots of authors deciding to list books wholesale on their own sites. BTW, you learn a lot about recent trends and controversies by following self-publishing on Threads.

I’m not going to do sell wholesale directly. It would mean having books on hand and dealing with shipping AND informing independent bookstores that you’re doing this. And since my D2D listing would remain on IngramSpark, it would just generate confusion.

Haven’t thoroughly investigated Inkventory but it might afford an alternative to IngramSpark and do-it-yourself wholesale.

Once you’ve hit publish, you can order advance copies to supply to readers.

I only supplied one ARC but it was a strategic choice and connected me to my local bookstore. After she posted an incredibly positive review on Instagram, Newtonville Books immediately ordered 20 copies through me, made my book their January Book Club selection, and scheduled a reading.

NB: author copies from Amazon inexplicably take WEEKS to arrive, so if you’re planning a reading and want to sell copies of your book, be sure to plan ahead.

Send “your best” copy to the Library of Congress.

Marketing

Work on your website. I’ve been blogging since 2008 and my domain name is deemallon.com so I had a leg up. I set up several PAGES (as opposed to blog posts) with long and short bios, a landing page with order info, and other links.

It was important to me to share historic facts and sources with readers, so I provided both a lengthy Historical Notes link and a Bibliography.

Since I’d cut a lot from my book and also wrote many novel-adjacent pieces, I provided links to some of those.

Approach local libraries. Find the adult acquisition contact and email a blurb, author bio (stressing that you are local), and offer to gift them a copy.

I also gave a copy to the Wellesley Library. Friends gave copies to libraries in Austin, TX and San Francisco. Hoopla purchases are all library buys but you can’t tell where they’re going from your dashboard.

Approach local bookstores.

TL;DR It’s the right thing to do but it’s A LOT of work with very little return.

Post to social media.

Run an ad campaign on Facebook.

I ran three ads for a couple of months and then two since January (12 months at writing). Your ad will include a link to a buying platform (Amazon for me).

When you’re making so little return per book, it’s hard to subtract the substantial ad fees, but given that it’s likely no Amazon sales would’ve transpired without the FB ads, I have to keep perspective.

You have to have a Facebook PAGE in order to advertise.

NEWSLETTER — Many stress the importance of a newsletter. I haven’t done one. Also I don’t post to TikTok and probably should.

(My blog has 600+ subscribers and Insta has about 1200 followers. Modest but active).

Much marketing advice is geared toward writers of series, things like: 1) write newsletters to whet readers’ appetite for the next installment or 2) make first volume free to drive sales to second and third volumes. Obviously not applicable to a stand alone work.

Writer vs Reader spaces

It’s tempting to comment when readers post snarky things on your FB page (mostly insinuating that I ripped off The Indigo Girl), but it’s important to let those things lie. Amazon comments, Goodreads reviews, FB comments etc. ARE MEANT FOR OTHER READERS.

Having said that, though, be sure to strenuously remind friends that reviews matter and that you hope they’ll post one. A star rating of four or five stars even without commentary helps your book be seen.

THE WEIGHT OF CLOTH spent most of its first year in the top 10 – 15 of BIOGRAPHICAL LITERARY FICTION.

I just checked and today, January 10, 2026 it’s at 14. I don’t actually know how or if this translates into sales. What you want to be is an Editor’s Pick. Not sure how you become an Editor’s Pick.

Amazon screens for review-packing. So if you share a Prime account with someone or share a last name, those folks shouldn’t leave reviews. Although I’ve read horror stories of books being taken down, I’m really not sure how carefully they monitor reviews.

Goodreads is owned by Amazon and people are pretty disgusted by it and moving over to other apps like StoryGraph.

If you use Goodreads, you’ll want to set up an Author’s Page.

I’m not very active on the app and I’m not sure what difference it would make if I was.

On bookshop DOT org, you’ll need to upload a blurb and thumbnail.

Celebrity book groups, BTW, do not accept unsolicited novels. Obviously to be chosen by Oprah or Reese would be life changing

Felt and typos

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Backed with black felt only. It helps to not be a purist in this case because that felt is acrylic.

The recycling bin this morning is a lesson in why you should hire a copy editor. Some of these author copies were ordered early on and are full of typos. *Some were ordered after a batch of typos were fixed but then additional typos were discovered. Repeat from * to end three times.

“Batch of typos” is a phrase that will forever give me the chills.

As recently as last week I found, not one, not two, but THREE, more typos.

So I’m to be commended for chucking the old copies which honestly had become a form of clutter.

Jan 26 reading

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Well, it kind of was a blast. The space was packed and I got to see many faces I’d not seen in years. A very gratifying turnout.

Guna praising the heck out of me which is why my arms are crossed!

Who did I see? One of the boys’ elementary school teachers. A writing friend who dropped out of the Thursday class long ago. Friends from Arlington and Watertown. Neighbors from down the street, around the corner, and a friend from Maine. Parents from the boys’ elementary school days. My sister-in-law, with her friend. My therapist was there!

There was one young person there. Very mysterious. She stayed for the whole thing and at the book signing refused to supply her name. Who was she? And why the secrecy?

I’d say there were about 40 people there, 30 of whom I knew.

I brought a handwoven indigo cloth with me. Bought in Colorado years ago but probably from the west coast of Africa. Benin? Nigeria? It sat on my lap during the signing and the book group portion.

There were really good questions, lots of positive feedback (hard for me to take it all in, honestly), and very good snacks during the book group portion of the afternoon.

A few remarks? They learned a lot (x7). The writing was beautiful (x8). They liked how well-developed the characters were. There was an interesting layering to the story-telling.

Welp. While I was writing that paragraph, our water heater failed. I smell gas, Ken! Why do I smell gas, Ken?

And meanwhile, the upstairs furnace didn’t come on at all last night again. Discovery: sleeping in a 60 degree room is tolerable. It’s getting up in a room that cold that’s hard.

So what’s next? A roof collapse? Fridge failure?

Off goes husband to buy a new furnace. He’s installed the last three.

Go dark or ?

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I guess I’m in Solnit’s camp when it comes to closing out of Zuck-accounts. She thinks letting them silence us and destroy our online networks give them a win. I personally think someone worth 200+ plus billion is not gonna miss my accounts.

Is AI gross? Yes. Does late stage capitalism have a way of degrading everything online? Yes. Are these platform vehicles for democracy-destroying lies? Yes. End-times climate denialism? Yes.

Still.

All self-published authors have to make peace with Amazon. Period. It’s that or go dark.

But I’ve made sure I’m in libraries and available in independent bookstores and on bookshop.org and a half a dozen other outlets like google play and Apple — so that people rightfully shunning the bald coward Bezos can still get my book.

Going forward, I’m ordering books for myself from bookshop.org even though it’s a pain in the ass and I now run out for my own groceries (something I pretty much stopped during during COVID).

Did you see Jeff’s gross girlfriend, BTW, with the fat MAGA lips and exposed underwear and the gross Zuckerberg staring down her bra? Gawd these people! (And no, I didn’t watch the inauguration, it just came up elsewhere).

I exited Twitter months ago and haven’t missed it. I wouldn’t miss threads either. At all. Even though Bluesky lacks … something. Engagement I guess. In that way Bluesky feels like Twitter (for me anyway) where either I was shadow banned or just not interesting enough to warrant responses. I’m saying: threads feels friendlier. I hope Bluesky improves.

Here’s another thing. Ken and I just spent the better part of last week figuring out Facebook ads for my book which is supposedly how to keep sales going. AND I have this reading this week to remind people about and everyone is going dark. Damn! I hope I’ve posted about it enough (probably).

This, by the way, doesn’t mean I don’t have enormous respect for people wiping their boards clean of these fat cats. I do.

Saw this on Bluesky today. Not bad, eh?

Lastly, with one exception the people least outwardly supportive of my book have been, wait for it … my IRL writing friends. It’s baffling. Beyond disappointing. Last night I realized that publishing a book is like losing a parent. You just don’t know who will step forward and who will sideline themselves. It’s not always what you expect.

Neighbors, family, Tuesday-call friends, Wednesday-call friends, and YOU GUYS have been stalwart and amazing and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that fact. Thank you.

Bookstore order!

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Pink, orange, and red tinge leaves and petals this time of year.

Black walnuts drop like artillery — thuds if they hit the ground, slap-tangs if they hit tarmac or a car. I’m so glad that the two walnut trees on the lot line don’t overhang our driveway. Thankfully, the neighbors who park in the driveway captured below disabled their car alarms.

No, I won’t be dyeing cloth with this bounty. I’m still too busy and/or drained by figuring out book sales and distribution networks.

The happy news is that a local book ambassador’s review of The Weight of Cloth caught the eye of my local bookstore. Within minutes, they ordered 20 copies!

Now independent bookstores need a deep discount, making my teeny royalty even teenier, but I think it’s worth it. Can’t wait to see my book on their table.

Before ordering the 20 copies, I had to fix to a bunch of typos — those elusive fuckers — and by I had to fix I mean Ken had to fix. A patient man, lucky me. Next time I will hire a copy editor.

There were so many typos, in fact, that I could rank them a little. My favorite? The one in the acknowledgments where I’m thanking my editor. I’m not sure if that’s more embarrassing than hilarious or the other way ‘round.