How to Self-Publish Online - Part 1

I've had a few people ask me how you go about publishing online. It's actually pretty simple.

The First Step, of course, is to write something you think is worthwhile. Then edit it thorougly, get some feedback and rewrite as necessary. That's the same as any other kind of writing really. In this situation it is perhaps a little more crucial, because there are no editors between you and the world other than the ones you yourself insert into the process.

That means it's very easy to put something out containing embarassing mistakes, and who wants to do that?

The Second Step, before you can be published, is to commission, make or otherwise acquire a cover for whatever it is you're publishing.

It's probably smartest to get something you can use without getting into trouble. You know, don't use other people's copyrighted work without permission and so on.

The Third Step is to go to Smashwords and upload your work. Smashwords has fairly comprehensive step-by-step guides of their requirements, plus some tips. Definitely read those before you upload anything.

Once you upload your work, it takes about twenty four hours before it becomes available, but then that's it, you're published. Smashwords takes about 30% of what you make, the rest goes to your paypal account.

Now, to get people to download and read your stuff that's a whole other thing of course.

That said, if you followed the instructions they gave you, not only are you published, but eventually your work will be available on Amazon and through the iBook store.

I'll go into a little more detail about the process at Smashwords in a later post.