How to Publish a Book in 7 Steps: An Author's Advice

This post is written by Angela van Liempt, author of the Atlas Cliffs series and the upcoming romance novel, Shattered Secrets Between Us.

When I set out to publish my first book, Wandering Souls, I knew I had a lot to learn. But navigating the publishing process myself turned out to be an invaluable education! I’ve since gained so much knowledge about how to write a book I’d love to read, attract new readers in addition to my baseline fans, and test different strategies to get more downloads and sales.

My first book came out in 2022; today, I’ve published four books total in the YA paranormal romance genre. I also have a new novel forthcoming in the romantic suspense/mafia romance genre. At the time of writing, I’ve gotten around 50,000 digital downloads of my YA series (free promotions and sales combined), and even sold hundreds of physical copies through Amazon and in bookstores.

In this post, I’ll show you what I did — in hopes that my publishing journey can help you, too.

Here’s how to publish a book in 7 steps:

1. Commit to finishing the draft

Wandering Souls came about because, simply put, I wanted to write a book. In 2019, I signed up for a writing workshop where we would submit 2,500 words each week — ultimately producing a full-length novel.

At first, I honestly wasn’t sure I could do it. What was I supposed to write about; how would I write that much? But on the advice of a fellow student, I started with something simple: a quote. I happened upon these lines, from Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Premature Burial”:

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?

From there, I dove deep into the world of paranormal fantasy, building everything around my main character — a young woman who can see beyond the veil separating life and death.

Ensure your concept is rock-solid

Now, if you’re looking to publish successfully, your core idea must be strong; it should evoke emotion and engage people right away.

I knew my protagonist’s name would be Drew Harlow, she would be a senior in high school, and she would be able to see the “wandering souls” of the dead. From this, I spun a story about what happens when Drew’s boyfriend dies in a tragic accident… but for some reason, she can’t find his soul. So is he really dead — or is something even darker and more sinister at play?

You don’t have to start with a character, like I did, but I do find it helps ground the story. As I developed Drew’s character and her motivations, I got a much clearer sense of my novel’s arc. To do the same for your own book, consider the following questions:

• What is unique about the world of this story, and/or its narrative POV?
• What does my main character want; what is standing in their way?
• What stakes will arise as they pursue their goal(s)?

Think about your book’s “vibes”

In addition to plot, it can also be useful (and fun!) to think about your book’s intended atmosphere or vibes. Wandering Souls, for example, was inspired by my love of paranormal shows like Ghost Whisperer, The Vampire Diaries, the Sookie Stackhouse series, and the mysteries of Nancy Drew.

I knew I wanted a “witchy” atmosphere and a compelling female protagonist like these stories had; my protagonist, Drew, wasn’t intentionally named after Nancy Drew, but it’s a fitting moniker.

In any case, consciously or subconsciously, these stories became a part of my novel — which I finally finished in the summer of 2022. The next step was figuring out which publishing path I would take.

2. Choose between self-pub and trad pub

Back in early 2021, I had taken a deep dive into traditional publishing. I thought about querying agents, going on submission, and hopefully getting picked up by a publisher. But I decided that I didn’t want to wait for someone else — an agent, acquiring editor, or what have you! — to decide if my story was worth sharing with the world.

I also knew that my publishing route would affect the editing process for my book. Traditional publishing means working with an in-house editor after they’ve acquired your book, while self-publishing requires you to do the edits yourself (or hire someone to do them). So I basically had to decide whether I would publish independently or traditionally before I got too far into editing.

Why I decided to publish independently

I chose self-publishing primarily to retain control over my timeline. But there are a number of other reasons to publish independently as well:

• 🎨 More creative freedom (you make the final call on all aspects of your book);
• 💰 Better royalties (up to 70% of your list price, as opposed to 5-10% with a publisher);
• 📜 Having full rights to your story (if you ever wanted to take it down, modify it, or even sell it someone else, you wouldn’t face legal issues); and
• 📚 Guaranteed publication (not only can a publisher delay your book’s release date, but on rare occasions, they can shelve it entirely — an author’s worst nightmare!)

I’ve also come to treat indie publishing like the business it is, rather than a hobby. This means investing time and money to a) absorb as much information as possible about writing and publishing, and b) pay for professional editing and design services, maximizing my chances of success. And for me, the more I invest, the more I get out of it!

That said, self-publishing isn’t for everyone. If you’re still on the fence, I’d recommend reading this article on self-publishing vs traditional publishing to help you decide. I’ve also pasted an infographic below, comparing the relative advantages of self-pub vs. trad pub:

But let’s get back to Wandering Souls. Having made the decision to self-publish, I was ready to throw myself into editing!

3. Edit your manuscript thoroughly

To give a full overview of the editing process, the earliest edits on Wandering Souls actually came from that writing workshop. My classmates served as great sounding boards, and I soon started working directly with the course instructor. He was basically my developmental editor, helping me work out “big picture” issues — such as character dynamics and plot holes — while also improving my writing skills overall.

My next step was to hire a copy editor to make sure my words were as effective as possible. I found a wonderful copy editor in Kayla Ramoutar. In addition to direct copy edits, she also provided commentary and reaction notes on my manuscript — which I’ll go into more below.

Editing for dialogue, atmosphere, and more

Kayla was particularly helpful for:

💭 Fixing my protagonist’s inner monologue – In early drafts, my MC was constantly asking herself questions, and it was taking readers out of the story. Kayla helped me refine and reduce these questions, turning them into more “thinking” statements, and varying the tone and sentence structure to reflect her changing moods.

🗣️ Contextualizing character dialogue – I’ve also come a long way with dialogue since Wandering Souls. Back then, Kayla and I gave my dialogue scenes more context by adding more action beats about what the characters were doing, as well as sprinkling in more setting details so readers wouldn’t get “lost”. Nowadays, I love writing dialogue — especially in a flirtatious, banter-y context.

🦇 Building atmosphere in my story – I pride myself on my ability to cultivate atmosphere, and Wandering Souls and its sequels have a decidedly “Gothic” feel. Kayla helped add to this by suggesting eerie, evocative phrasing, using gloomy or dramatic weather during important scenes, and balancing description with action to get the pacing right. Today, the atmosphere of Atlas Cliffs remains one of readers’ favorite (and most commented-on) parts of this series!

Lastly: one thing I’ve noticed after writing five books is that, when writing or revising, you often have a “gut feeling” about what will work. The right editor will help you articulate and execute your goals — but remember to listen to that little voice.

4. Get a genre-friendly book cover

My manuscript had been through multiple rounds of editing, and the text was publishing-ready! Now I needed a professional cover design.

Doing market research

To kick things off, I did a ton of market research in my genre. I was familiar with the big paranormal/urban fantasy books of the 2000s, like Kate Daniels, Mercy Thompson, and the Vampire Academy series; I also pored over Cassandra Clare’s books. I wanted a few newer points of reference as well, and was particularly taken by the covers for An Ember in Ashes by Sabaa Tahir and Legendborn by Tracy Deonn.

Looking at these covers, you can see what they have in common:

They tend to prominently feature the (female!) main character on the cover. What’s more, she often has her hair swept up in a mysterious, dramatic sort of wind — complete with a “magical” atmosphere around her. Bingo! I would do the same with my own cover design.

Next up, I had to find the designer for the job. After a bit more research, I reached out to Natasha MacKenzie, who’d done some brilliant character-based covers — like this one for a Firefly tie-in novel and this one for a Batman/Harley Quinn novel.

I told her I wanted to feature my own MC, Drew Harlow, on the cover of Wandering Souls. We started going back and forth on ideas: how Natasha would portray Drew’s fiery red hair, which market influences were the most relevant, and so on.

Nailing the final cover

Natasha and I had a design breakthrough when I sent her the cover for the 2015 video game Life Is Strange. I hadn’t played the game myself, but I loved the cover art: the haunted look of the female MC, the way she’s gazing out at the viewer, and how the designer uses shadows to hint at a lurking darkness.

With this concept in mind, it didn’t take Natasha long to perfect the cover for Wandering Souls. You can definitely see how the Life Is Strange artwork influenced the final design:

Throughout this process, Natasha and I had a fantastic working relationship. I collaborated with her on both Atlas Cliffs sequels as well, Seeking Haven and Braving Storms. Those covers were smooth sailing (no lighthouse pun intended!), as we’d already landed on the essential aesthetic and Natasha just had to tweak it a bit.

As Natasha has gotten busier, I’ve also worked with other designers on my newer books. I’ve even commissioned professional artwork for additional formatting and marketing materials! I’m a highly visual person, and I love having custom chapter headings and character art to play around with — especially on social media.

Pssst… check out my Instagram for sneak previews of my forthcoming book, Shattered Secrets Between Us — like this logo for The Magpie, the bar where the male MC works! 🥃🐦‍⬛

5. Format for ebook and print

The book was edited, the cover was done, and it was time to put everything together. For Wandering Souls, I hired a local author and formatter, Erika LeClair, to format the book for me.

Erika did an excellent job and definitely took the pressure off. However, for all my books after that point, I decided I would format them myself. I’d recommend that most independent authors do the same, given how relatively painless it is to format a book using software!

I used Atticus to format Seeking Haven, Braving Storms, and my Atlas Cliffs prequel, Aurora’s Amulet. I liked the interface and wanted the layout to be completely customizable, so it was a good choice for me. (Though I have also heard great things about Reedsy Studio!)

In terms of formatting tips for first-timers, here’s what I would say:

• Have your design assets ready ahead of time. Beyond just your cover, you will need a spine and back cover design for your print book — which your designer will also create. For the sequels to Wandering Souls, I even had chapter headings designed. I think they’re a nice aesthetic bonus:

• For printing, keep in mind you’ll need a second file. I always format two files for each of my books: one for the ebook and the other for paperback. Once you have the PDF for your paperback (having selected your trim size, fonts, etc.), you’ll give the cover designer your final page count and they can finish formatting your book’s spine — i.e., making sure it’s the right size to fit all your pages.
  
  
• Don’t wait until the last minute. Ensure you hire a professional book formatter well in advance, or face the challenges of your chosen formatting software. Give yourself plenty of time for formatting… especially if it’s your first book!

6. Publish and distribute your book

After Wandering Souls was formatted, it was ready to publish… almost. I’d decided to put my book on Amazon and enroll it in KDP Select. But before I could set it live, there were a few more tasks to complete. I had to:

💼 Form my own imprint – You don’t have to do this, but I wanted my book to appear under an actual imprint rather than simply “Self-Published”. I formed Dawn Publishing by registering it through my province in Canada and creating a website.

A friend helped me with the web design, and I now use Dawn Publishing as my main author site! I love having my own imprint because it feels like a professional way to keep my books within one business, and because — silly as it might sound — it’s really bolstered my confidence as an author.

👩‍💻 Set my book’s keywords, categories, and blurb – As with my cover, I did a lot of market research here. I looked at competitors’ Amazon categories and used Publisher Rocket for keyword and category comparisons. I also thought about tropes and instinctively “searchable” phrases — both to use as official Amazon keywords and to otherwise sprinkle throughout my marketing materials.

Furthermore, I wrote a strategic book description for the product page — a 150-to-200-word blurb that’s meant to intrigue readers without giving too much away. (Note: crafting the blurb is another area where I’ve since found it helpful to hire a professional!)

For context, here is the current blurb for Wandering Souls, with important elements annotated:

💸 Lastly, figure out the price and enable pre-orders – The last thing here was to set the price of my book. I set the ebook version as available “for free” via Kindle Unlimited (see below); otherwise, it was $3.99 to buy the ebook outright. As for my paperback, I used KDP Print to print individual copies on demand. Per their printing calculator, I ended up with a price around $16 (although printing costs have increased since 2022!).

You can also set up pre-orders at this stage. I’ve only ever done pre-orders a few weeks in advance of my launch, or a month at most. I prefer doing it this way so I can upload my book on my own time, without the pressure of an Amazon deadline.

Amazon exclusivity vs. “going wide”

As mentioned, I published my ebook through Amazon. That is, I didn’t “go wide” through other digital retailers like Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, etc.

This meant I could enroll my ebook in KDP Select, a program that offers advantages to Amazon-exclusive authors. And the biggest advantage of KDP Select is getting your book on Kindle Unlimited: a reader subscription service that pays authors based on page reads, rather than requiring every reader to buy the entire book.

In short, I started out Amazon-exclusive for simplicity’s sake, and have maintained it because I get a lot of readers on Kindle Unlimited. Most of my author income comes from KU! That said, I think weighing up Amazon exclusivity vs. going wide is a very individual choice. It certainly makes sense for some authors to go wide depending on their region, genre(s), existing readership, and other factors; it’s just not for me right now.

Also, print books are a different story. You’re still considered Amazon-exclusive as long as your ebook is exclusive to Amazon — meaning you can distribute print books through other means if you wish. So in addition to KDP Print, I also print and distribute my paperbacks via IngramSpark, which is a book distributor that many physical stores use.

Working with bookstores

A quick interlude on this topic: to get my books in physical stores, I basically just reach out to the managers and see if they’re interested. If they are, then they’ll stock some copies!

These days, I mostly have contracts with local independent bookstores. I order author copies from Amazon at their wholesale price and have them delivered to the stores, or to my home and I bring them in myself. They’ll then pay me based on the sales, while also keeping a small percentage for themselves.

This is called “on consignment” and I’ve found it to be the best way to work with physical bookstores. It does mean I have to pay the upfront cost of ordering those author copies — but when they sell, I’ve found the profits are much better than when the bookstore orders through IngramSpark.

So while I still allow the largest wholesale discount for bookstores that really want to use IngramSpark, I no longer allow returns. With IngramSpark, returns are a cost to the publisher — so when you publish independently, you are the one responsible for the return charge. I never want to take on that risk, and have found the consignment strategy tends to work out better for both me and the bookstores.

7. Market it on social media and beyond

Now for the last step of this process: marketing your book. Well, I say “last”, but marketing is really a constant process — you should ideally be thinking about it before, during, and after you publish any given book.

It’s also a bit of a shape-shifting beast. Just when you think you've found a post style that works, the algorithm changes and you need to adjust. But my motto is, never quit… so I try to approach book marketing with the same vigor and versatility as the rest of the publishing process.

Social media marketing

When I first published Wandering Souls, I was barely active on social media. How times have changed! These days, social media is a crucial component of my marketing strategy, and I try to post something almost every day.

I’ve found thriving reader communities on TikTok and Instagram, and do my best to engage authentically, always keeping readers in mind. I try to think… As a reader, if I’m scrolling, what will catch my attention? What posts and reels will make me take notice and actually read the book?

One thing I’ve observed is that readers love seeing the emotion in my stories, so I’ll often post excerpts of emotionally intense scenes (like the one above). I also post a lot of character art — again, it has paid to invest in these additional designs for my books!

I’ve also noticed that people love memes. Some of my most successful posts are “memeworthy” videos where I touch on my experience, or use funny clips to draw attention to my books:

Of course, the nice thing about social media is that there are so many ways to participate. You don’t have to post as frequently as I do, or even use the same platforms; just find some platform where you feel comfortable. I personally love TikTok and Instagram because they allow me to market my work and myself in an authentic way.

But they’re not for everyone… and luckily, if you’re truly social media-averse, there can be other ways to market your book effectively.

Email promotions and getting reviews

I’ve done a good amount of email marketing for my books as well. I send out my own monthly newsletter for readers, and I’ve used services like Written Word Media to promote my titles when I’m running free or discount promotions.

I also had an early stroke of good fortune with Wandering Souls; soon after publishing it, I managed to land a BookBub Featured Deal! For those who don’t know, this promotion is a bit of a golden ticket for indie authors. If your book is chosen, BookBub will promote it to all their subscribers in your book’s genre (which can be a million or more people!). However, there is a cost for the author — mine was around $300, and I believe it’s more expensive today.

Still, that 2022 promotion helped me hugely. In the five days it was running, I got over 10,000 free downloads of Wandering Souls, and it really got the word out about my debut:

And BookBub is far from the only way to get reviews for your book. On that note, the last “big thing” I’ve done on the marketing side was build an amazing author street team to help with this.

My street team consists of readers who get ARCs whenever I release a new book, so they can leave early reviews on Amazon and Goodreads — and that way, I get to launch with existing reviews. Members of my street team also create and share social media posts, tell their friends about the books, etc. They’ve been tremendously helpful to my publishing endeavors, and I’m so grateful I took the plunge and started working with them.

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Indeed, perhaps this is a good note to end on: the importance of sharing the joys, stresses, and responsibilities of publishing a book with others — whoever’s “on your team”, so to speak. I can’t overstate the value of this kind of connection and support.

There have still been many times I've felt discouraged, or as though I'm failing… but honestly, there is no quitting being an author for me. At the heart of this work is my unequivocal love for storytelling, and I will continue to write and publish books as long as I have that love.

For those who feel this same passion, I hope that hearing about my experience has inspired you to make a start. Remember: if you can get through that first draft, you can get through anything — especially with the help of high-quality professionals, great friends, and loyal fans.

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Angela van Liempt is a small-town girl with big dreams. Romance, yearning, and love will always be woven into her stories, and after completing a young adult paranormal mystery series, she’s excited to embrace a new genre. The Willow Grove series launches in October with book one, Shattered Secrets Between Us. This will be her debut adult contemporary romantic suspense with a mafia romance twist… along with a dose of spice.

A lover of the ocean, full moons, and sunsets, Angela would choose to be barefoot on a beach any day over big city life. Escaping into fictional towns with characters who feel like real people is one of her favourite pastimes. She is the author of the four-book Atlas Cliffs paranormal romance series and, as mentioned, the upcoming Willow Grove romantic suspense series. Angela has received over 50,000 downloads of her books and has over 10,000 followers on TikTok. You can subscribe to her author mailing list here and find her social media accounts here: Instagram / TikTok / Facebook. Thanks for reading!