New writers:
It costs $0.00 to self-publish a book.
However, that doesn’t mean publishing without spending any money is the best option for you.
If you have enough technical skill to create a social media profile for yourself, you have enough technical skill to publish your own work.
For example:
- Go to KDP.Amazon.com
- Create an account.
- Complete your identity verification and royalty deposit information.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to fill out your book info (title, author name, blurb, etc.).
- Upload your book files (interior and cover).
- Select your preferred pricing and distribution options.
- Submit for publication.
All of this can be done in less than an hour. Your ebook could be on the market for sale in as little as 12 hours. Your paperback could go live in as little as 24 hours.
The process is similar for platforms like IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, and Lulu.
There are many authors who publish their work with only these two steps: (1) write a first draft, (2) publish.
Generally, they do this either because they don’t have the budget to get professional help or they don’t understand their options for cheap or free assistance.
I don’t generally recommend that my clients just write their first draft and publish it, even though I recognize that it is an option available to them.
My rationale is that it’s difficult for us to be objective about our work. Because it came from our own brains, it’s hard to tell if what we meant by a word, phrase, or scene is what was understood by our readers. The only way to figure that out (that I know of, anyway) is to make sure that we get other people’s eyes on our work before publication.
Hiring seasoned pros is our best bet (just like with medical care, interior design, legal counseling, cooking, etc.). However, that’s not always feasible. If you don’t have the budget to pay an expert, you’ll need low-cost or no-cost options.
Fortunately, they are available and relatively easy to come by! While I have yet to see someone who took this free / cheap route do as well as people who hire professionals, getting any kind of third-party assistance is immensely more beneficial to your work than trying to revise your work all by yourself. Book development is a team sport! ^_^
PAYMENT PLANS
Ask professionals you find or are referred to if they would be willing to set up what essentially amounts to a layaway plan. For instance, if your book is long enough that a manuscript evaluation would cost you $100, ask the pro if they will take ten weekly payments of $10 and complete the manuscript evaluation after you’ve made the last payment. This ensures that they get appropriately compensated for doing their job, while also making sure that you don’t go bankrupt trying to get the service that you need. Everybody wins! Most professionals won’t advertise this option, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. The worst they can do is refuse. Just move on to the next pro or another option.
CRITIQUE GROUPS
The writing groups that you attend in your area or participate in online are great places to start when looking for people to review your entire manuscript and give you feedback on the piece as a whole. You’ve likely been part of these groups for years, or several months, and have an idea of who reads your genre. I’ve found that the members of my critique groups are warm, caring, and generous to the point that they don’t hesitate to volunteer to help people in this manner. I can’t speak for the members of your groups, of course, but closed mouths don’t get fed. If you ask for volunteers and no one bites, you’re no worse off than you were before. But if they do, you’ve got the beginnings of a free book development team that (along with your own hard work!) can help take your writing to the next level.
ONLINE FORUMS
There are Facebook groups, Subreddits, Twitter Spaces, and other digital gatherings of writers that you can participate in. Once you’ve gotten to know some of the regulars, you can reach out to those you trust who seem to be interested in your genre. Ask them to read your full manuscript and give you feedback.
FAMILY and FRIENDS
I don’t recommend this unless you’ve given the other two options a solid try and they have both failed miserably. My concern about having friends and family critique your work is that they simply won’t do so. Because they want to spare your feelings and protect their relationship with you, they will tend to tell you the book is great. In the best cases, I’ve seen people get a few copy editing comments (a misspelled word here, a misplaced comma there), but nothing substantive that will help with structure, character development, world-building, and other “big picture” issues.
Another issue is that of familiarity. For instance, you are probably best friends with someone because you both think so much alike. Therefore, when it comes to critiquing your work, there is a highly similar brain looking at the piece. Yet, the people who are going to be purchasing and reading the book are not going to know you, have shared any opinions or life experiences with you, etc. So, having a best friend, sibling, or parent review your work—while technically not your exact brain—does still present some issues with objectivity.
If you do decide this is the best you can do right now, there’s a trick you can try in order to help you get stronger feedback. I can’t guarantee it’ll work, but it’s something to start with. Tell your family member or friend that you’d like to get at least five questions from each of them about the story. You want to know what’s most confusing about your magic system, or what your main character does that doesn’t make sense, or what about the city you created seems unrealistic. “While you were reading, which parts did you have questions about?” would be an example.
For those of you who have the means, consider compensating anyone who steps up to help. Even buying someone a brownie, new pens, or a $20 bookstore gift card can be a great “Thank you!”
Is publishing for free possible? Yes.
Is it going to result in the best version of your work being published? Probably not.
Is using volunteers as good as hiring professionals? Not that I’ve ever seen.
Is using volunteers better than getting no outside help at all? Absolutely.
I hope you feel encouraged to move forward with starting your indie author career based on your current position in life. There’s no such thing as a perfect book. Develop your book as best you can, publish, start making money. At some point, you may find that you want to circle back and republish those first few books (applying your experience, knowledge, and financial resources to enhance the work). As an indie author, that’s your prerogative! I, and many of my fellow full-time authors, have done the same with our very first books.
Good luck to you! ♥
