Kayla Robinson

When I started writing, I was just putting an idea I had in high school into a google doc. I shared that google doc with a trusted friend and she loved it, so she encouraged me to continue and to publish it. That kicked off the wild journey I’ve gone down to get to where I am today, and since I’m sure there are many other people in that same boat I thought I’d share my mistakes along the way so you don’t have to learn the hard way either.

Let me start off with this: If you want to publish the easy way and don’t care whether or not you become a best seller or end up in a book store then do the easy thing and publish with KDP (Amazon). Seriously – it’s the easiest method out there.

If you want to end up in a book store or you want to be a best seller, there’s a lot more to it than what KDP can give you, so now we’ll get into the lessons.

Do you want your book to end up in a book store?

If your answer is yes, then here’s the part you really want to focus on. Getting into a book store if you publish through Amazon or Barnes & Noble is not impossible, but is a much more manual process. If you publish with Amazon, they do have an “external distribution” option, but I cannot speak for how well that works. What I have found is that most shops will offer to buy the books on a “consignment” basis, or offer to buy them at a discounted/bulk price rate. They’ll sell it for the price you listed on KDP. So you do make some money initially, but if they don’t sell them they might ask you for a refund.

Getting into a book store is easier if you publish through Ingram Spark. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that publishing through Ingram is easy, but that’s the easiest way for book stores to order your book without you putting in the leg work to get it to them. (And yes – even Barnes & Noble will be the same way. Publishing with Barnes & Noble Press will not get you into their stores.) You can set your price and control how much of a royalty you will get based on the discount you set for certain regions. Ingram will recommend a 55% discount, which gives the stores more incentive to bring your book in, but you can set it as low as 40% if you want to. You also have the option to allow for refunds. This means if they don’t sell your books the store can ask for a refund and either destroy or return the unsold books to you. If you opt for return, you’ll have to pay the shipping too. I personally set everything to 40% and do not allow for returns, but this will make stores not want to stock your books, so make the choices that make the most sense for you!

Do I need my own ISBNs?

No. If you publish through KDP or Barnes & Noble you will be given a free ISBN through that service. You can provide your own if you prefer. HOWEVER – If you publish through Ingram you do need an ISBN. You can either buy that from Ingram, or from Bowker. If you plan to publish multiple books or multiple versions of the books, I recommend purchasing them in bulk from Bowker. It will cost more up front but it amounts to about $20-30 per ISBN if I recall correctly. I purchased a set of ten.

Do I need to hire an editor?

This is going to be a controversial take, but no, you do not need an editor. Even traditionally published books that go through several rounds of editing will have mistakes in them. (I’m looking at you Fearless, by Lauren Roberts with “untied” instead of “united”) That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hire one, but if you don’t have the budget for it, do not hold yourself back just because of that. I would strongly encourage having “alpha” and “beta” readers, which can be a small group of close friends or a few trusted readers that you found on TikTok, Instagram, or Threads. This should go without saying, but be very careful who you trust on social media, and make sure you set clear expectations with them. In my experience, my handful of close friends do a fantastic job of calling out certain things that an editor traditionally would. You can also go through and have the book read to you by a screen reader and that will help you find issues with it. One of my betas caught an autocorrected word that was incorrect that way when everyone else missed it.

Do you recommend any specific writing platforms/apps?

You do you as far as what your preference is here. Word is the only application I’ve found to be useful for formatting as well as the headers and footers for the book if you want it to look like something that was traditionally published. That said, I primarily use Google Docs until I’m ready for the final formatting edits. This is because I have lost work before when my laptop died, so I like to keep everything safely stored in the cloud.

Okay, I wrote the book. Now What?

Congratulations! That is honestly the hardest part. Now you need a cover. There is nothing wrong with making your own. You can use Canva and other similar apps to put something together. There are plenty of resources out there for new/indie authors to find a cover artist. I suggest finding an artist that has the art style you’re looking for. Alternatively, the trend now is just a lot of words on a cover with a cool looking background, so really Canva could be the way to go.

I will never recommend an AI cover or AI elements for anything book related. Canva can be used without using the AI features. There are a lot of readers who will not read books with AI art. Please keep that in mind when you are working on your cover art and be sure to vet your artist carefully too.

Another very helpful program I like to use is GIMP. It is a free photo manipulation software very similar to Photoshop.

I’m ready to send this to ARCs and publish. What do I do now?

Cool! Now you need to decide what service to use to send out your ARC copies. I use BookFunnel, but I have also used BookSprout. Both are about the same price, with the difference being that BookFunnel is a little bit more secure. Choose what works for you and for your budget. BookFunnel, for example, will do a watermark on the files so that if someone does share them somewhere and they shouldn’t have, you’ll at least know who it was!

Publishing is where you need to make a call: Do you want to be in book stores or do you just want to publish this and have it available to order online for whoever wants to read it? If you want to be in stores I strongly encourage Ingram. If you don’t care whether or not it ends up in a store, I liked both KDP and Barnes & Noble. Be aware though that Amazon/KDP does not offer dust jackets.

How do I do pre-orders on paperback & hardcovers?

Amazon will only do pre-orders on e-books if you publish through KDP. If you want pre-orders in other formats you need to publish through B&N Press or through Ingram. Either of those sites will allow for pre-orders. Typically, Ingram will get the book onto all other sites within a week or so. B&N will publish to their site as soon as it is approved.

How do I get into a book store?

Go in and ask to do a signing! Typically, if the signing goes well they will be more willing to stock your books in the store. You can also do some research and find indie book stores. If you can manage to get in contact with an indie book store and they have room on their shelf for the genre you wrote, you’re much more likely to get into those stores than the big box stores.

What if I want to go the traditional publishing route?

Here’s what I’ve learned through a few TikTok lives: Literary Agents are vital to getting into the traditional publishing world. They will help you connect with the right publishers, however, getting an agent is very challenging. It involves sending out query letters to each individual agent and they all seem to have different preferences. Some want you to include your word count, comparable titles, and other information, while others don’t find word count very important at all. So, in short, it’s going to take you a long time and you should expect to get a few rejections. Even when you do get an agent and then you do get a deal it will still take a while to get it out into the world. It’s a long game, and requires a heavy dose of patience. The royalty rate, by my understanding, is much less than if you were to go it alone, but sometimes you can get a payout up front. It really depends on the individual deal.

DO NOT DO VANITY PUBLISHING. If they’re making you pay to get published, run away and never look back.

You can also opt for indie publishing houses, which are smaller and typically easier to get into. They will usually help you get cover art and get the editing done. Some of them may even help with audio narration. It really depends on the publisher.

No matter what you do, I hope this helps. I am no expert, but I can at least pass on the knowledge that I have now and wish I had when I was first getting started.

Have a question I didn’t cover? You can join my Discord and I’ll be happy to help, or you can comment it here and I’ll answer it in another post in the future. My Discord (link on the home page of my site) is for authors, readers, and lovers of all things fantasy. I have a channel dedicated to authors supporting other authors, where we can all share our experiences, tips, tricks, and whatever else!

Happy Writing!