An introduction to Self-publishing..A guide to effectively publish your own books via KDP and the like.

1. A Simple Guide To Becoming an
Indie – By Varun Prabhu

2. 1. What is Self-Publishing?
2. Writing and Publishing Process
3. Cover Design
4. Editing and Proofreading
5. Formatting and Typesetting
6. Print on Demand
7. E-publishing and Digital Content
8. Kindle Direct Publishing
9. Kindle Unlimited
10. Other E-Book Publishing Sites
11. Smashwords
12. Amazon Createspace
13. POD India – Pothi
14. Vanity Publishing
15. Offset Printing
16. Royalty Structures
17. Marketing and Promotions

3. Self-Publishing is a process where the
author writes and publishes book all on his
own.
The author does so by his own or by hiring
an indie publishing company.
Prefer to do it on your own.
Usually makes books available in digital
format and sometimes in print, as per
demand.

4. Advantages:
• Greater Control over Process
• Freedom of choosing book content and genre
• Higher Royalties
• Flexibility of choosing when to publish what.
Disadvantages:
• Marketing falls to the author.
• Lack of resources
• Could require investment on the author’s part.

5.  The process is simple:
• Write your manuscript until you are satisfied that it is
publish ready. Would require editing on the author’s
front.
• Send manuscript to an editor. If you do not have the
budget, at least have your manuscript read by
unbiased beta readers and test readers. Preferable to
have it edited by a professional though.
• Design your cover.
• Upload to websites that publish books by indie
authors. Like Amazon, etc.
• Market and promote.

6.  Should be relevant to theme of your book.
 Cover is an attractive feature. Draws your
reader in.
 Design it yourself or you could hire cover
designing firm or freelance designers. You are
typically charged 4000 INR to 20000 INR
depending on the artist and whether you have
chosen stock image or illustration.
 Make sure the cover fits the requirements
specified by book publishing websites.

7.  An edited manuscript reads much better than
an unedited one. Hence, necessary to have
your manuscript undergo this process.
 An author could edit his/her own manuscript.
However, remember that an author may not
find all the mistakes. Hence the need of a
professional editor.
 Editors can be costly. Typically charge by the
page or by the number of words. Depends on
editor.

8. There are several types of editing:
• Proofreading: This is done last. A proofreader
catches spelling mistakes and typical grammatical
errors.
• Substantive Editing: Checks for plot holes,
consistency, etc.
• Line Editing/Copy-Editing: Checks for flow,
grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, sentence
structures. Make it publish-ready.

9.  Before publishing, make sure your manuscript
is correctly formatted.
 Each website has their own formatting
requirements. You are expected to follow
them.
 Usually the Standard Manuscript Format
Works.
 For e-books, use Serif fonts
 For paperbacks, use Sans Serif.
 Use only one font.
 Recommended: 12 font size for text, 14 for
chapter titles/headings.

10. Print on Demand (POD) is for paperbacks
and hard covers.
It can be expensive as the printing costs
are transferred to customer.
However, there are good royalties.
Author/Publisher sets book MRP.
Book prints only when customer places an
order.
Example: Createspace, Pothi.

11.  E-publishing means publishing books via the
Internet.
 Typically uses digital content.
 Digital content usually means e-Books.
 E-books can be available in the following formats:
• PDF
• EPUB
• MOBI
• TXT
• DOCX
• NOOK
• RTF

12. Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP is an
Amazon indie publishing venture.
Most popular among indie authors.
Easy to publish
KDP has enormous competition.

13. You require a KDP account to publish a
book via KDP. Goto http://kdp.amazon.com
If you already have an account, sign in.

14. Even an Amazon buyer’s Account would
be enough to serve as a KDP account.
If you do not have an Amazon Login, sign
up.
Click on Sign up.
You will be redirected here:

16. Enter your email address.
If you have an id, let the choice of the radio
button be and enter your password and
say sign in. Otherwise, click on “I am a
new customer.”
Then click on Sign in.
If you are a customer already, it will take
you to your author dashboard. Otherwise,
it will take you here.

18. Enter the fields required.
And then press Create Account.
Do as directed then.

19.  Once you login, you will be redirected to
Author Dashboard.
 Amazon KDP has a new look these days.
 It has got following elements:
• Bookshelf: Show you the list of books. Also helps in
creating a new title.
• Reports: Shows royalty payments and sales reports.
• Community: KDP Support
• KDP Select: Information on KDP Select and how to
enroll.

21. As you see, my books are listed. There is
only one at the moment.
In Your books, it shows title, the status,
Price, and Book Actions.
There is also a button with three dots.
Clicking on that will allow you to edit book
details, pricing, enroll in KDP Select or
Matchbook.

22. Go to author dashboard.
Above the list of your books, there will be a
create Title button.

23. Click on Create Title.
Should redirect you to a form.
The first thing after, Amazon asks you to
enroll in KDP select or not. KDP select is
optional. We will get into that later.

25. Click check box to enroll.
Next step is to enter book details.

26. Enter the book name. Only enter the exact
title. No taglines.
Subtitles are optional.
Check whether it is a part of series. If not,
enter edition number. This field is optional.
Publisher is optional also.
If you check part of series:

27. This box opens.
Enter series title and Volume.

28. Fill in the description. Limit is 4000
characters.
Add the book contributors.

29.  Add contributors and save.
 Select the language your book is written in.
 Enter an ISBN number. This is optional.
 You can purchase your ISBN number from
Bowkers at a mentioned price. In India, it is a
tedious process where you got to download a form
and with required attachments, mail it to Raja Ram
Mohun Roy Institute, after which it will take two
months for you to procure your ISBN.
 ISBN helps you identify your book.
 ISBNs are separate for each edition, each format
(pdf, epub, mobi, etc). ISBN is separate for
paperbacks and hard covers also.

30. Verify your publishing rights. Identify
whether your book is a member of the
public domain or whether it is an original
work of art.
Select one of the options.

32.  Choose categories. Amazon allows you to
choose two. These categories indicate the
genres of your book. Click on Add Categories
to select.
 Choose an age range. This is optional, but
helps if you are publishing material of the
adult kind.
 Choose the US Grade Range. Optional.
 Enter the search keywords. You can enter up
to seven. Optional, but helpful. Increases
visibility.

33. Choose book release option.
Here you can select whether you are ready
to publish instantaneously or make book
available for pre-order.
Pre-order might increase your sales,
especially if you are a well-known author.
In any case, pre-order setups are good
marketing tactics.

35. Next: Upload Book Cover
Upload your cover file to the website. The
cover file should match the cover
guidelines. After you upload, the site will
automatically check for errors. If not, it will
display success.
You could also use Amazon’s cover creator
feature.

37. Upload your book file.
Select whether you want to enable Digital
Rights Management. By default, do not
enable is selected.
Click on Browse for uploading content file.

38.  Pricing is one of the most important aspects.
 With self-publishing, pricing is under an
author’s control.
 You can price whatever you want.
 Decide what price depending on the number
of pages and how much royalty you would
want.
 For new authors, it is good if you start low.
 Amazon doesn’t provide a free option unless
you enroll the book in KDP Select.

39. Verify publishing rights.
Select worldwide rights or territorial rights.

40. Select royalty option.
• 35% royalty
• 70% royalty

41. Enter your Amazon.us Price in $$$. Other
currencies will automatically convert based
on this price.
Then choose whether you want to enroll
the book in matchbook program.
Choose whether Lending is allowed.
Click on conformation statement and click
on save and publish.

42. Clicking Save and Publish will publish your
book.
Give it 12-24 hours for your book to appear
online.

43. KDP Select is a relatively new venture by
Amazon.
It allows author to earn higher royalties,
maximize sales potential, reach new
audience.
You can make your books free for 5 days
during the 90 day enrollment period.
During these 90 days, your book must not
be made available on any other digital
books website. Means it is KDP exclusive.

44. Like Amazon, there are others in the
market as well.
• Barnes & Noble (NOOK)
• Apple IBOOKS
• Scribd (Subscription Service)
• Oyster (Subscription Service)
• KOBO
There are many others as well, but these
are the main.

45. It is an e-book publishing and distribution
platform.
Easy to publish.
Simple steps.
Allows your books to be distributed on
many e-publishing platforms.
85% royalties if books are sold through
Smashwords store; 60% if sold through
online retailers.

46.  Createspace is a POD platform.
 Even though the digital content is popular, print
books are still very much in demand.
 Print on Demand is explained in previous slides.
 Createspace offers paperbacks in various sizes.
 It also distributes to major online retailers.
 Easy to publish if all its requirements are met.
 Free of cost unless you avail of their services.
 Createspace earns a chunk of your sales.

47. Pothi is the Indian counterpart of
Createspace. It is not an Amazon venture.
It is an Indian startup.
Easy to publish if it’s requirements are met.
Takes 1-2 days to publish.
Free of cost unless you avail of their
services.
Pothi earns by taking a chunk of your
sales.

48. There are other POD sites:
• Lulu
• Ingram Spark
• Lightning Source
• Cinnamon Teal India

49.  Vanity Publishing is a kind of publishing where
publishers ask authors to pay up front money to
publish books.
 Generally expensive.
 Most do not Provide no valuable services.
 Chances of getting scammed.
 Only a real few are worthwhile. Run away from most.
Why Vanity Publish when you can self-publish for free?
Or approach a traditional publisher?
 They mostly have packages: diamond and the like.
 Not worth your time.
 Also take a portion of royalties.

50. Other than POD, authors can choose the
offset option.
Copies need to be produced in bulk. Most
require a minimum of 1000 copies.
Needs up front investment. Authors better
be able to negotiate deals.
Book price may be lowered.
Choose this option if you are pretty sure
that your book will sell more than 400-500
copies. Otherwise go for POD.

51. Amazon gives you either 35% or 70%
depends upon your choice and price
listing.
Smashwords pay 60% or 85% depending
on purchase mode.
Createspace usually deducts printing and
their share before giving you yours. You
can estimate the price using their price
estimator.
Same goes for Pothi.

52. One of the most important aspects of self-
publishing.
Most authors are not good marketers.
Authors need to be inventive and creative.
Visibility is important.
Distribution is a chore especially when it
comes to print books.

53.  There are various channels. Some of them:
• Facebook (Groups and Pages)
• Goodreads (Author and Book Pages)
• Forums
• Blogger Reviews and Blog Tours
• Newspaper Coverage.
• Self-Blogging
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Other Channels
 Choose whichever channel suits. Word of Mouth is
the best however. Gain more reviews and ratings.

54.  Self-publishing means publishing by author
 Has both pros and cons
 Editing and cover design are the first
important steps in e-publishing.
 Can publish both e-books and print
 Print copies can use POD or offset
 E-Books can be published via KDP, Nook,
Apple IBOOKS, Smashwords, etc.
 POD sites are Createspace, Pothi, etc.
 Marketing and Promotion are important
aspects of publishing.