With self-publishing encompassing everything from book formatting to cover design, marketing principles and launch tactics, where does a new author start?!
Publishing your own book is much more efficient, affordable and achievable than going down the traditional publishing route, but the process doesn’t come without its own set of hurdles.
The good news is that there is a wealth of self-publishing blogs out there that are equipped with the valuable resources, tips and tricks to help first-time (or second-time, third-time, fourth-time!) authors navigate through the writing and indie publishing process. As the self-publishing field is constantly evolving, we like to revisit these blogs on a regular basis to keep ourselves up to date with what’s happening in the industry and constantly continue to learn from our knowledgeable peers.
Here are 10 of the self-publishing authorities that we follow and love, in no particular order of preference.
Self-Publishing School
5-time bestselling author Chandler Bolt is the man behind the Self-Publishing School blog. Despite dropping out of college, Chandler quickly became familiar with the tips and tricks involved in publishing high-value, popular books and used those published works to develop a 7-figure business within two years. The Self-Publishing school blog is a great resource for authors at any stage in the writing process, whether they’re looking for tips to help them with the basics or hoping to find pro marketing advice. This is an especially great site for author-entrepreneurs hoping to translate their book’s success into increased sales of their business’ products or services.
The Creative Penn
Founded by Joanna Penn, the Creative Penn is an incredibly valuable blog that provides a number of resources for authors writing their first or even subsequent books. Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author who has written over 20 books and sold 450,000 copies of them in 74 countries and 5 languages. She’s an independent (indie) author who knows her stuff! Visit the blog for 1000 useful articles about anything you could possibly need to know that was related to self-publishing.
Kindlepreneur
Upon discovering the potential of self-publishing on Amazon, US Navy veteran Dave Chesson realized that he had stumbled across a lucrative market. Combining the online marketing skills he had been learning, he used his SEO knowledge and website development experience with Kindle Direct Publishing and began to grow a successful business. Today, his blog, Kindlepreneur, helps authors boost their eBook rankings on the Amazon results page, tap into markets to gain new readers, build author authority, validate book ideas and even understand any legal risks associated to self-publishing.
Authority.Pub
Founded by two best-selling authors (Steve Scott and Barrie Davenport) and the CEO of a boutique marketing company (Ron), the Authority Pub helps teach authors how to do everything from building productivity to creating sustainable businesses, developing themselves personally and professionally, optimizing their content and growing their books’ marketing reach. You’ll find everything from grammar tips to book structure advice, bestselling ideas and marketing practices on their all-encompassing blog.
Jane Friedman
With over 20 years of experience in the publishing industry and an expertise in digital media strategy for authors and publishers, Jane Friedman is an authoritative resource in the self-publishing sphere. From start to finish, she is extremely well versed in how to create successful books and market them to audiences. In addition to being the co-founder and editor of The Hot Sheet, an essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, she is also the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. Visit her blog for all of the self-publishing tips you didn’t even know you needed.
Goins Writer
Jeff Goins is one of the authorities when it comes to writing about how to make a living as a creative writing professional. He teaches aspiring and current authors/freelance writers about what it takes to get published and how to pursue your passion without burning yourself out. He publishes valuable articles and podcasts two to three times per week, featuring titles such as “4 Mistakes Every New Writer Makes”, “Why You Need To Let Go Of Your Ego” and “The More Books You Write, The Harder It Gets”. Everybody can learn something from Jeff’s writing.
Self Publishing Formula
After having several novels published the traditional ways fifteen years ago, nobody read Mark Dawson’s books. He subsequently learned about self-publishing and how it was a more viable way to get his books into the hands of the readers he was targeting. Today, he is a bestselling author on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Apple and pens a fantastic blog teaching authors how to grow their mailing lists, turn their readers into fans, build launch stories and multiply their income from their books.
Tim Grahl
Tim Grahl is a self-publishing expert who has dedicated the last seven years of his life to helping authors get their books into the hands of more readers. He has worked directly with over 100 authors, launched numerous New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post bestsellers, had five clients on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time and built the platform and campaign that debuted books at the #1 and #2 spot on the New York Times Bestseller list. His blog teaches authors a variety of skills, from marketing to productivity and time management.
Z Books
Z Books’ aim is to help independent authors create an eBook for free, without any middlemen. To do this, they publish a variety of valuable posts covering everything from manuscript formatting, cover design, project management tools, business validation and marketing and book launch tips. Their all-encompassing blog will help authors through each step of the self-publishing process, even including valuable advice for the smaller details such as setting up Facebook ads.
BookBub’s Insights
Much like the other useful blogs in our roundup, BookBub’s Insights is a well-curated list of helpful articles for authors. What we really enjoy about their posts is that they provide concrete, visual examples of everything they discuss. For instance, their 17 New Release Marketing Examples We Love post gives the reader a clear, engaging overview of what they’re discussing. In addition, their 19 Fantastic Book Cover Design Resources allows authors to see book covers that performed well and caught audiences’ attention. We like how engaging BookBub’s Insights’ blog is!
Visit these blogs to learn everything you could need to know about the self-publishing process. Do you think there is any other blog on self-publishing that should have made to this list? Please let us know in the comments below. Feel free to check out our other articles here as well.
On the hunt for help in the self-publishing process? Check out our list of services here.
