Today’s post is a quick-and-dirty outline for “publishing yourself” in 2026 and beyond, based on presentations I’ve given for writers organizations and at Rainforest Writers Retreat.

Once upon a time self-publishing meant sending your manuscript to a printer to do a run of copies which you would hand sell at various events. However, today self-publishing has evolved into a digital means of publishing eBooks and print at various retailers online, as well as potentially making your books available in bookstores.

Digital Self-Publishing

• “Digital” because every part of the process, from writing and editing the book, to formatting and publishing, can be done via computer apps/programs and websites.
• Publication can be in multiple formats: eBook, print, and audio, again all done digitally.

Publication Formats

• eBooks are electronic books, readable on a mobile device, e-reader, laptop, or desktop computer.
• Print books are physical books which can come in a variety of formats—trade-sized paperback and hard cover being the most common currently. Print on demand and print runs are both possible.
• Audio books are what used to be called “books on tape.” A narrator reads the book aloud while an engineer records them. Because it’s time consuming and involves other professionals, this is a relatively expensive format to produce.

The Process of Producing Your Book

• Write and edit your book.
• Receive feedback on your book to improve it, utilizing beta readers, critique partners, and/or developmental editors.
• Further revision based on that feedback.
• Not every writer uses this process, but many do.
• This process helps make your book be the best it can be.

Different Sources of Feedback for your book

• Beta readers read 2nd or subsequent draft of your book, provide reader feedback.
• Critique partners are other writers, usually also writing in your genre or form, who you “trade” critiques with.
• Developmental editors are freelance editors who do a story evaluation of your novel. They are typically the most expensive sort of editor you can hire since they do a close read of your story.

Copy editing and proofing your book

• Copy editing checks your book for grammatical errors, usage problems, missing words, typos etc.
• Proof reading generally looks strictly for errors like typos, missing words, missing punctuation etc.
• Copy editors are generally less expensive than developmental editors.
• I use volunteers for proof reading, but you can find paid ones as well.
• Reading your book aloud will also help you catch errors.
• Note on editors: I highly recommend utilizing a copy editor. I did use a developmental editor for my first two published novels, Mary Rosenblum, an award winning SF and mystery writer who also taught writing and did freelance editing. Mary’s editorial input greatly improved those novels.

Formatting your book for publication

• Two options: hire someone to format your book or do-it-yourself
• Hiring someone to format your book for you costs money on a per-book basis
• Do-it-yourself will cost up front for the software you are using, but then you are able to format as needed going forward, and also easily make updates to existing books.

Software Formatting Options

• Vellum for Mac, Atticus for Windows, and Draft2Digital’s website allow you to format eBooks, with a print option now available.

Your Book Needs a Cover I

• Covers give the first impression of your book to a prospective reader.
• Publishing yourself means you choose your cover.
• It’s worth taking some time to view covers for books like yours at online retailers.
• Professional cover designers make the magic happen.
• Covers can be created using photo-manipulation or be illustrated.
• Photo-manipulated covers use stock photos which the designer uses to create the cover design.
• Illustration is more expensive.
• A cover can be for an eBook, or also include a “wrap-around” for a print version.

Finding a cover designer

• Look in the interior of a book to see if the artist is listed
• Internet searches using your genre as a keyword, plus cover designer or simply, “covers.”
• Author groups you might belong to.
• During your cover research, looking to see if the designer’s name is listed either on the book description page, or by “looking inside” either the eBook or print version at Amazon or another online retailer. The copyright page is one place, but of course acknowledgements as well. I always acknowledge my cover designers as well as editors and beta readers.
• Facebook author groups can also be a source for authors.
• For me, it is a combo of internet searching, some research, and serendipity which is worth the time.

Premade covers are another option

• The Book Cover Designer: https://thebookcoverdesigner.com is just one example
• Advantages are that they are usually less expensive.
• Usually, the only changes the designer will make are to replace the generic title and author name with your book title and your author name.
• Bonus tip: searching these sites is another way to find a designer who can create a custom design for you.

Publishing Choices

• There are two main choices for digitally publishing your eBooks.
• Wide: which means everywhere.
• Exclusive with Amazon.
• Print is a different matter.

Going Wide

• This is making your eBooks available at all the major eBook retailers, as well as libraries ETC.
• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble’s Nook Press, Google Playbooks, and Kobo are the six major eBook retailers.
• You can either publish directly through each retailer’s publishing portal or use a distributor, like Draft2Digital or Ingram Spark.
• You don’t have all your eBook eggs in one basket. Multi-platforms mean multiple streams of sales.

Additional notes on publishing platforms

• Each platform has its own specific method for uploading a eBook. It will be an ePub format, and you’ll upload a cover file separately.
• For print books your options are Amazon’s KDP Print, Draft2Digital and Ingram Spark.
• If you want ISBNs, you’ll need to buy them from Bowker. However, D2D and Ingram Spark will provide you with one for free for your print book.

eBook Exclusive With Amazon

• Kindle Unlimited is Amazon’s subscriber service for readers, who pay a monthly charge to read as much as they’d like. They are limited to ten books borrowed a time.
• eBooks published in Kindle Unlimited may not appear anywhere else.
• For eBooks read in Kindle Unlimited, authors are paid on a per-digital-page-read formula, with the money coming out of a monthly pool.
• KU books can have greater visibility on Amazon because it costs the reader nothing to borrow an individual book, and each borrow is counted as a “sale” on Amazon’s Kindle sales charts.
• Amazon allows you to make the book free or discounted (Kindle Countdown) once during each 90-day period.

Book Discovery

• There is very little “organic” discovery by readers on the various retailers in 2026.
• However, there’s another way. One that you own: an email newsletter.

Email Newsletters

• You can reach your readers directly via their email inbox. You own your list, which means it isn’t dependent upon the vicissitudes of social media.
• You can build it both organically and through shared promotion.
• An email newsletter typically uses a service like MailChimp, Mailerlite, Constant Contact, Aweber, ConvertKit etc. I use Mailerlite.
• Typically, you will pay a monthly or annual fee depending upon either how many subscribers you have or how many emails you send on a monthly basis.
• You compose email “campaigns” to your subscribers, sending them updates about your writing, pictures of your pet, a short piece about an interesting subject related to what your book is about etc.
• Tip: You are not your reader. You might not personally subscribe to newsletters, but readers interested in the sort of book you are writing would love to hear what you are up to.
• At first, your list is likely to be small.
• You can grow your newsletter by putting a link to it in the back of your book which links to your newsletter signup page, which will typically be on your own author website.
• You can offer a reader cookie AKA reader magnet—such as a prequel to your series, a bonus story, an epilogue, an essay, etc. for folks who join your newsletter.
• You can provide content that’s strictly publishing news, new releases, but also share free or deals. I like to provide something more, and my mystery NL discusses mysteries, library lore and stories, etc.
• Tammi LaBreque’s Newsletter Ninja is a terrific guide to building a newsletter. She has also written a sequel, Newsletter Ninja 2, which is all about creating a reader cookie. This is the main way I connect with potential readers.
• You put together a short welcoming sequence of emails, say 3-4. This helps familiarize a new subscriber with you. If they find you via a link in the back of your eBook version of your novel, then they’ll be learning more about you. If they found you via an author promotion and agreed to give you their email address when you gave them a free story, they likely don’t know who you are. Folks who found you via your website might be somewhere in between.

Advertising

• Another way to find readers for indie authors is via advertising. Traditionally published authors may do this on behalf of your book, but tradpubbed authors don’t typically do this on their own.
• Promo newsletters like BookBub, FreeBooksy, RobinReads ETC.
• Promo newsletters send your book to the subscribers for its genre.
• Your book is price discounted.
• You typically schedule your book for a particular day, and the promotion site includes that book in that day’s email sent to subscribers to that promotion site’s daily newsletters
• BookBub Featured Deals has been the proverbial 800 pound gorilla of promo site newsletters, allowing readers to select which genres of books they receive daily deals on. Many feel BBFDs no longer have the same level of impact on sales they had a few years ago, but it’s still worth checking them out as an author.
• David Gaughran has a detailed explanation and rundown of some the best promo sites: https://davidgaughran.com/best-promo-sites-books/
• Another approach is to Pay-Per-Click Ads: Amazon Ads, FaceBook Ads and BookBub PPC (not to be confused with their featured deal newsletter promotions mentioned above).

Additional Information

• Just yesterday the Writers In the Storm blog featured the latest post in a series on self-publishing, which goes into more detail on certain aspects of the online self-publishing process.
• “Self-Publishing Words of Wisdom.”

There you have it, the Bullet Point Guide to Digital Self-Publishing, an overview which can also double as a checklist of sorts.

How about you? Have you thought about self-publishing your work? If you have self-published, please let us know any additional tips, thoughts and/or advice you might have.