NOTE: The best place to find editors, proofreaders, cover designers, and more is to look at the copyright page or acknowledgments of your favorite self-published books!
And again, I highly recommend reading The Naked Truth About Self Publishing by The Indie Voice *Currently a FREE ebook on B&N and Kobo here. I can no longer find it on Amazon. You can order a used copy of the 1st edition from places like Amazon and Abebooks.*
Join a Facebook Group:
- I was floundering around on Youtube and Twitter for a year when I started writing. While I still highly recommend YouTube for learning, I had no idea how to connect to my writing community, find editors, cover designers, and people I needed in the self-publishing world. Facebook groups really are the place to start in my opinion. Just post, ask your questions, find a writing buddy. Be cautious and use good judgement. You want people who align with you and have a positive mindset. You don't want to be in negative spaces. You will walk away feeling drained. Use these groups wisely, and remember your writing time comes first before Facebook groups. And also remember you don't have to follow what's trending and what everyone else is doing. Trust your gut at the end of the day.
Writing & Publishing FB Groups:
Book Cover FB Groups:
- Remember to always verify if a cover designer uses AI or not. (I support human artists, and will not buy a cover made with AI.) Look through their portfolio and look and see if they are recommended a lot in groups you are in by searching their name. Make sure you are getting a qualified, professional designer.
- You can get a top notch premade cover. Some for less than $100. Especially if there is sale. Watch for premade cover sales as designers do them often. I have gotten fantastic premade covers for $50 on sale. You do not have to spend hundreds or thousands on a custom cover with models. But if you have the money and want to do it, go for it! I will list the photographer groups below as well.
Premade Covers & Designers:
PLEASE NOTE: I have not used all of these designers. These are ones that have been recommended to me. I only hope this list gets you started in your search. Do your own research! This is just some I picked whose groups I’m in. You'll find hundreds.
Note: Mine will be mostly romance specific because that is what I write. There are groups for any kind of cover. Just search your genre + premade covers on FB. I can personally recommend Amanda Walker. She’s absolutely fantastic and professional!
Photographers FB Groups for Custom Photographs:
Book Formatting Help Groups:
- I believe that formatting is the one author service every author should not hire out. It is super easy to learn, and then you have the power to go in and update your file's backmatter and editing changes at any time instead of waiting on a formatter and then paying them every single time you need a minor update.
You can format for free on
Amazon (Kindle Create) Reedsy, D2D, or other programs. (
Note: Kindle Create only works for books uploaded to Amazon. If you are going wide, you can't use it for everything. ) I recommend buying a program if you can.
Use Vellum (Mac only) or
Atticus (PC & Mac). There are youtube videos to walk you through the programs, but they are super easy and do most of the work for you. I am a Vellum user and absolutely love it.
This of course excludes formatting for a special edition or something where you need to get really fancy. By all means, hire that out. But for your standard paperbacks and ebooks, you need simple formatting for readability. There's a reason we print books on plain cream paper with black font. It's easiest to read!
FB Help Groups:
Formatting Services I recommend for if you do need to get fancy:
Goodreads Help Group:
-Need a cover switched out? Is your book listed twice? This group will get you sorted.
Watch a YouTube Video:
- I can't tell you how many hours I spent watching youtube videos when I first started writing. It's a great place to start, with tons of information out there. Type in your writing or publishing question and there will be a video to answer it. Below are a few of my favorite channels. Shout out to Alexa Donne who was my first to watch, and taught me everything when I started writing. She's a good one to watch on Trad Pub too. It's good to know both markets even if you self publish.
Alexa Donne And if you do want to learn more about the traditional publishing route check out her website here for more information. And along with that check out Susan Dennard's Writing Academy here.
Jenna Moreci
Abbie Emmons
Kindlpreneur
Take a Free Class, Read a Blog Post, or Listen to a Podcast:
- I can't tell you how much I've gotten out of free guides by subscribing or free workshops. And all the free content in articles, blogs, podcasts, books, and more. There is gold in these things. If you see one that interests you, click or sign up! I highly recommend being on Alessandra Torre's Ink
email list as they will notify you when free classes are coming up and she sends out good tips in the newsletter! I personally love to buy and read books vs. courses, but pick whatever method works for you!
The amazing thing is, there are no gatekeepers to self-publishing. The information is out there and you just have to search for it.
Alessandra Torre Ink
Book Blurb Magic Free Guide -Good for writing your blurb!
Written Word Media has an article for everything under the sun and I've found them helpful. Here's a link to my favorite one on Marketing.
Bryan Cohen does a free challenge on Amazon Ads.
David Gaughran has tons of free resources on how to self publish! His book Let’s Talk Digital has it all.
Listen to a podcast like The Self Publishing Show by Mark Dawson
The Creative Penn - Joanna Penn has a ton of free learning resources as well. And a podcast!
KDP University - Amazon has all the learning and tools you need on their Kindle Direct Publishing Website.
Golden Angel’s “Just the Tip” videos for authors on TikTok are fantastic bite sized pieces of information that are so helpful. Also, here is her blog post on craft books she recommends.
Sierra Simone’s personal resource recommendations and tools from her website.
Kandi Steiner did a fantastic IG video series called Wrangling The Writer. I highly recommend it along with her blog post here. And this one on character depth.
Editors & Proofreaders:
- When searching for an editor, start in the FB groups. Search "editor recommendations" in them. Find the ones recommended over and over again. Look at the copyright pages of your favorite self-published books as well. Check out their website, pricing, and read over a few chapters of the last few books they edited to make sure they read well. Get a sample edit. If an editor won't do a sample edit for you, red flag. Move on. You will have a professional working relationship with this person. The sample edit will help you see if you are a good fit or not. Get samples from several different editors and choose from there. Also, ask if their service includes at least 2 passes through your manuscript. I find this to be necessary.
From Alessandra Torre on Pricing:
“How to know an editor is reasonable: Get 3-4 quotes from different editors.
Pricing: PREFACE: If you do not have funds to pay these amounts, do not stress. If you cannot afford an editor, that’s fine. You will one day.
Developmental Editor: $600-$2000 (Most expensive because they are diving into your plot and characters and how your story is told. They may say “Hey your story is really slow in the beginning, can you cut this?” or “Your MC is super unlikable, we need to fix that. Chapter 14 doesn’t make sense with the rest of the book.” This is a special skill set. If you feel like the issue is the building blocks of your story, this is an editor you might want to consider.
Copy Editor: $400-$900 (Work on individual sentences.) Ex. “This dialogue is really clunky here.”
Proofreading: $100-$400 (advanced spell checker. Fixes commas. Typos.)
The reason these editors prices have a big range is because they are going to charge based on your book's word count. It is X per 1,000 words. Also, it depends on if you are getting an experienced editor, or a newer editor who has only been in the business a few years and growing clientele. When you reach out to editors they need to know your word count, and make sure they like your genre, read it, and love that genre. Know the norms for your genre and what readers are looking for.
If editors quote you widely outside of the prices listed about and unless they are working with wildly successful authors like Stephen King or something, it’s a red flag and they are probably over charging.”
PLEASE NOTE: I have not used all of these editors. These are ones that have been recommended to me. I only hope this list gets you started in your search. Do your own research! This is just some I picked at random. You'll find hundreds.
LGBTQ+ Books Friendly or Prefered: (Not that the others above aren't.)
Self Edits:
-be careful not to let a program like this change your voice and style. Use it for commas and typos. Things like that.
ISBNs: (USA)
-You want to buy your ISBNs if you are able to. You want to own your book, and be able to accurately track sales. Using a websites free provided ISBN is just chaos and your book sales will not be accurate. Buy your ISBN and own your book.
Copyright: (USA)
-While filing for a copyright isn't necessary, I find it helpful to have once your book gets taken down from Amazon for being pirated. It helps prove your ownership. It costs $35 to copyright your book and you can do that
here. It won't hurt.
For Delivering ARCs or Bonus Content:
- This is the service you will use when sending out advanced reader copies.
-To get ARC Sign Ups, create a
free google form and share about it. If you want to spend money, you can work with a PR Team.
Here's an Example of
my ARC Form, but you can customize this to you. Every author does it different.
PR Companies Recommended To Me, But I haven't Used Yet:
Piracy Protection:
-especially needed if your book is in Kindle Unlimited
Comments
Post a Comment