3 Lessons I Learned from Self-Publishing My Sci-Fi Novel Online

You’ve finally done it—you’ve put the finishing touches on your dystopian or steampunk novel and are ready to share it with the world. But as you begin to look into your publishing options, your head fills with questions. Even once you have made the decision to self-publish over traditional publishing, things still seem overwhelming. A publishing house will usually handle a lot of the heavy lifting of putting your book out there, while with self-publishing, you’re on your own. And as you Google article after article on how to get your sci-fi novel self-published online, you feel more lost than ever.

1) Do Your Research

One of the most important lessons I learned while working to get my sci-fi novel self-published online is the importance of doing your research. As an indie author, there are several promotional components of your book to consider—your genres, your keywords, your book description, your book cover, and more. These are all aspects that will get eyes on your book and potential readers clicking the “Buy” button.

The best thing to do when it comes to figuring out how to sell your book is to see what has worked for others. Before publishing Viable, I spent a lot of time looking at the covers, genres, and descriptions of successful self-published sci-fi novels on Amazon. After a while, I started to see commonalities between them, which helped me to decide how I wanted to handle my own cover and description.

2) Save Up

This lesson depends a bit on how exactly you plan to self-publish your book. There are plenty of fiction platforms where you can publish your book 100% for free. You don’t have to pay anything to post your story chapter by chapter on Wattpad, and they even have a cover maker you can use. You won’t be able to earn money right away, but you may catch the attention of a traditional publisher. Fictionate.Me is also totally free, and you can make money off your work right off the bat. The site handles the formatting for you and you can easily make your own cover with a free image off Pexels or Pixabay.

But I had a completed, polished manuscript and wanted to publish paperback copies in addition to ebooks. So I chose to publish on Amazon KDP, where you really need professional formatting and a sleek cover to stand out in the crowd. I was extremely happy with the work Ebook Launch did on both the books I’ve published, but it did set me back a few hundred dollars. So, depending on what your plans are, you should have a decent stack of money put aside for these expenses, as well as hiring an editor, illustrator, and any other professional help you might need.

3) Don’t Rush Things

Once I decided to self-publish my sci-fi novel, I became pretty impatient to see it in print. That was one of the advantages of self-publishing, right? I didn’t have to wait a year or even two for a traditional publisher to get the wheels in motion—I could publish my manuscript in just a few minutes.

But my boyfriend, who also acts as my editor, helped to keep me from hitting that “Publish” button too early. He reminded me that there were still revisions I could do to my book to make it better. Just because you can self-publish your novel quickly doesn’t mean you should. Another great advantage of self-publishing is that you’re not confined by a publisher’s rigid deadlines. You’re free to take as much time as you need to make your sci-fi masterpiece the best book it can possibly be. You owe that to yourself and to the story you’re trying to tell.

Sponsor Ads

• Ad Space Available - Rent it Now!

Report this Page

Created on Oct 19th 2021 13:02. Viewed 324 times.

Share on APSense

Comments