The Ultimate Publishing Checklist
No matter if you plan on self-publishing, querying a small press (like this one), or querying agents for traditional publishing, here are the steps:
Step 1: Read books. If you don’t read, you won’t be a writer. Shockingly, I meet a lot of people “too busy to read” who also want to write. It should come as no surprise that writing takes far longer than reading, so if you are already pressed for time on step 1, you really should not go any deeper down the list.
Step 2: Read books in your genre. This step can also help you determine which genre you want to write. I personally started in thriller / horror and then realized that wasn’t the ticket after writing two books.
Step 3: Study books. This is much different than reading. Use those high school English class skills and study some of your favorite books as well as the leaders in your genre. Why are those books successful? Break down the plot structures, map out character arcs, etc. Basically, write a few book reports.
Step 4: Study grammar and sentence structure. This is a huge step. A lot of newer authors skip it. Sure, your editor will clean up a ton of mistakes, but you aren’t even close to editing yet. Producing a clean rough draft is a massive component of success. Take those same books from step 3 and analyze sentences. Learn how to format dialogue. There are free writing and editing guides all over the internet (like this one) that can help immensely. The number of samples that every press receives containing extremely simplistic errors is staggering. Don’t be one of those.
[Optional] Step 5: Outline your manuscript. Not everyone uses outlines, and that’s fine. Give it a shot. If it works for you, great! If not, that’s great too!
Step 6: Write. Do not attempt to edit and polish in this phase. Just write. My office has a poster with a skeleton at a typewriter that says: “Write something today even if it sucks.” That’s the philosophy. Unless you get a full manuscript on paper, nothing else really matters.
Step 7: Put that manuscript in a drawer. Your first novel should be a learning experience, not something to publish. You wouldn’t film your very first basketball shot and send it to the Indiana Pacers as a tryout video, right? Every skill in life requires practice—years of it if you want to be professional. Writing is no different.
Step 8: Repeat steps 5 and 6. It can be the same plot as your practice novel or something completely different. Get a second manuscript on paper. That’s the one we’re going to use moving forward.
Step 9: Find some beta readers. There are online groups to help you find volunteers, or just use some friends. Ideally, you want your manuscript read by people who aren’t going to blow smoke up your ass. My best beta reader was a guy from my college who was friendly to me but honestly didn’t like me. He wanted to read my manuscript just to tear it apart. That’s ideal. You want to gather as much negative feedback here as possible. Getting useless affirmations from mom and dad is just that: useless.
Step 10: Self-editing round 1 with beta reader feedback. Make changes.
Step 11: Learn the industry. This step is twofold. First, you need to give your eyes a rest. Step away from the page for a month or two. I highly suggest learning from trusted sources like the /r/Selfpublish wiki. Talk to some other authors, especially people who have done what you want to do (i.e. selfpub, small press, trad). I have met countless authors who have skipped this step, and it always goes poorly for them. Don’t make that mistake. Also, pay attention to “writing to market.”
Step 12: Identify at least 3 editors you wouldn’t mind working with. Pick your editors based on their portfolio. Do they frequently edit your genre? Start there. Send in a sample to one of those editors. Get their feedback and make changes. Rinse and repeat—one at a time, not simultaneous—with the other editors you identified. Make a note of which editor you felt was the best for your manuscript, because we will need them later.
Step 13: Go back and self-edit the entire manuscript using all the edits from the previous step. Learn from the sample edits, and polish the hell out of your manuscript.
Step 14: Hire the line editor you picked from step 12. Getting a full line edit at this point is huge. Do not skip this step.
Step 15: Figure out your goal. What do you want to do now that you have a decent manuscript? Your choices are essentially: self-publish, small press, or agency / traditional publishing. The fourth option of serial release (Royal Road, Wattpad, etc.) also exists, but we’re going to ignore it.
If you pick self-publish, keep going on these steps.
If you pick small press, write a query letter and start firing off queries.
If you pick agency / traditional publishing, you need to meet some people in that industry. Having personal connections is one of the key ingredients to landing a deal there. Writing conventions with a big enough pull to bring in those kinds of people will be your next step. Put on your networking hat.
Step 16: Begin writing the next book. No matter what you plan on doing, you have to start writing book 2 at this point (or earlier). The good news is you can start over at step 8 instead of step 1.
All the steps from here on out apply to self-publishing. If you’re going the other two routes, you’re done. Congrats!
Step 17: Study the cover art in your genre. Look at the top 100 books in your genre and figure out the style of art that sells. Identify some top artists from those books if you can.
Step 18: You should have had one full professional line edit at this point. Now you need proofing. Go to one of the other editors you identified in step 12 and get a professional round of proofing. A key here is to not use the same set of eyes that did the full line edit.
Step 19: While the proofing is underway, hire your artist for the cover. Don’t forget the back cover too. Sometimes you wrap the front art all the way around, sometimes you get 2x pieces of art. It depends on your genre.
Step 20: Write your blurb. This is not a one-time process. Most people go through 5 - 10+ blurbs before settling on a good one. Shop it around to the same beta readers you used in step 9.
Step 21: Hire a formatter. Obviously, your proofing has to be finished before this one makes sense. Make sure you have all your front and back matter squared away. That means dedication, ‘also by’ page, copyright notice, call to action, etc. Your formatter will help a lot here.
Step 22: Start getting your social media in order. You need hype like a movie release. There are tons of marketing guides out there. Remember when you learned the industry in step 11? Do it again with a focus on marketing.
Step 23: Purchase an ISBN. Only buy from Bowker. There are tons and tons of scams that sell ISBNs to unwitting authors at outrageous prices. Along those lines, scam sites also sell barcodes. Don’t do that. Barcodes are free from any number of sites. I personally use Bookow.
Keep in mind that you have already secured your copyright just by writing the manuscript. “Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.”
Step 24: You have a barcode, now you need your artist to format your print cover. Get your spine dimensions correct (again, I use Bookow here), get the blurb on it, and get the barcode placed. If you’re going to use a publisher logo (not required), get that on there too.
Step 25: You should be upload ready at this point. You have all the materials ready to go. Sit down and take a breather. You aren’t even close to being release ready yet.
Step 26: Get your pre-order link. Upload the eBook to Amazon so you have a link. Without the pre-order link, you can’t progress through the next steps. And set your pre-order ~3 months out. Remember the movie analogy. Most blockbusters start driving the hype train at least 3 or 4 months in advance.
Step 27: MARKETING. This is when the real wheels hit the pavement on marketing. If you don’t spend a large amount of effort and resources right here, then everything you did previously was for naught. Use your social media to tease the book. Get on some podcasts. Schedule author interviews. Read a bunch of marketing guides and follow them. Get some Facebook ads cooking.
An aside: There is another method generally called “rapid release” where you get your entire series (3+ books) ready to go before even submitting your first pre-order link. If you have the upfront funds to pull it off, it will be better than doing one book at a time. Just be ready to sink $1,000+ into each installment without seeing a penny of return for a while. Honestly, rapid release works better than one at a time to a large degree. 5x - 10x the profits of single release. If you can do it, do it.
Step 28: Upload your paperback and get a proof copy.
Step 29: Actually read the proof. Inspect every single inch of it. Fine-toothed comb. This is your last chance to not make a fool of yourself. Anything that needs fixed has to be done right now. And since you have a pre-order link, time is ticking.
Step 30: Schedule the paperback release.
Step 31: Put together launch day marketing. Are you doing a release party? At the very least, you need a ton of marketing to drop on the day of your release (especially for rapid release). New rounds of Facebook ads, maybe an ad stack, interviews on other author sites, etc. Again, follow some marketing guides.
Step 32: Remember step 16? Your second book should be nearing first draft completion by this point. You should be ready to drop into step 12 and get editing for book 2 right about now (a few weeks after book 1 releases). Remember the age-old maxim: series sell. It doesn’t matter what your genre is or how you got your words into the world. Think of all the successful authors who have ever existed. Very, very few wrote one book and then quit. They wrote series. You need to do that too.
Step 33: Keep doing it. If you want writing to be a full-time income, you have to work it like a full-time job. It never ends. I generally recommend the 10% rule for time management. For every book you have out, spend 10% of your time marketing and the rest of your time writing more books. After first release: 10% marketing and 90% writing. Second release: 20% marketing and 80% writing. You get the idea. At some point you’ll hit the sweet spot and know how to delegate your time perfectly. A lot of writers I know typically get to about 50/50 and end up thereabouts for their entire career.
As a final word of wisdom: there is more than one path to the top of the mountain. This is one method. Other people have other methods. That’s totally fine. Keep in mind that writing books is a multi-year process that can truly take a lifetime to master. Nothing in the publishing industry is a fly-by-night operation. You have to put in serious effort to see returns, and that might mean trial and error over the course of 5+ years.
This article was written by Stuart Thaman. Check out his books and tons more free advice!