The Self-Publishing Road Map

What are your goals?

What Are Your Goals?

Make money?

Promote yourself or your business?

Share your knowledge?

Leave a legacy?

What sort of book do you want to write?

What Sort of Book?

Fiction or Non-Fiction?

For children or adults?

What age range?

Illustrated or chapter book?

Find inspiration with a different format

https://apexauthors.com/category/book-ninja-academy/design-lab/

What are your interests?

Interests

What are your hobbies?

What skills do you have?

What is your profession?

Who is your ideal reader?

What is currently selling?

Markets

What categories fit your interests?

What are the current bestsellers?

How many sales are the bestsellers making?

Once you choose a topic...

Topic Choice

What type of book do you want to write?

Who is the ideal reader for that book?

What are some comparable titles?

How many pages are those titles?

What do the 1-star reviews on those titles say?

Resources

Kindle Bestseller Mind Map

https://apexauthors.com/kindle-best-seller-mind-map/

Book Research Rocket

https://apexauthors.com/members/software/research-rocket/

Book Rank Rocket

https://apexauthors.com/members/software/rank-rocket/

Book Review Rocket

https://apexauthors.com/members/software/review-rocket/

Kindle Bestsellers List

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-eBooks/zgbs/digital-text/154606011

Book Bestsellers List

https://www.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books/ref=zg_bs_nav_0

Planning your book:

Planning

How long will your book be?

Will you:

- Outline?

- Create a mind map?

- Write by the seat-of-your-pants?

What tropes do readers in your genre require?

https://apexauthors.com/favorite-fiction-tropes/

Create the outline for your book and start writing

https://apexauthors.com/ultimate-guide-to-outlining-your-book/

Producing your book:

Producing

Who will write your book?

Who will illustrate your book?

Be a more productive writer

https://apexauthors.com/training-276-productivity/

Put aside an hour a day for writing

https://apexauthors.com/make-time-for-writing/

Writer smarter, not harder

https://apexauthors.com/training-319-writer-tools/

Cure writer's block for good

https://apexauthors.com/training-318-writers-block/

Tools & Resources:

Writing Tools:

Microsoft Word

https://www.office.com/

Scrivener

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/

Google Docs

https://docs.google.com/

Illustrating Tools:

Adobe Photoshop

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html

Canva

https://canva.com

Gimp

https://www.gimp.org/

Tools & Resources

Writers & Illustrators:

Fiverr

https://fiverr.com

Upwork

https://upwork.com

Complete List of Outsourcing Resources

https://apexauthors.com/outsourcing-resources-for-writers/

Creating your cover:

Cover Design

Kindle vs Paperback vs Hardcover

Book Cover Rocket

https://apexauthors.com/members/software/book-cover-rocket/

99 Designs

https://99designs.com

Create a book cover that sells

https://apexauthors.com/book-covers-that-sell/

Book Ninja Academy: Book Cover Design

https://apexauthors.com/book-cover-design-quick-course/

Implement professional cover design strategies

https://apexauthors.com/professional-cover-design-strategies/

Expert Media Show: Designing Covers

https://apexauthors.com/ems-009-designing-covers/

KDP Paperback Cover Templates

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/cover-templates

Producing your book:

Production

What kind of book is it?

What format are your source files?

Book Formatting Rocket

https://apexauthors.com/members/software/formatter-rocket/

Kindle Kids Book Creator

https://apexauthors.com/kindle-kids-book-creator/

Review additional book creation software

https://apexauthors.com/training-270-book-creation-software/

Before publishing your book:

Pre-Publication

Choose a book title and write a book description that are optimized to make more sales

https://apexauthors.com/optimized-title-description/

Choose the best price to meet your goals

https://apexauthors.com/training-170-book-pricing-brain-dump/

Understand how copyright works for authors

https://apexauthors.com/copyright/

Do you need an ISBN or not? Should you buy one?

https://apexauthors.com/guide-to-isbns/

Publishing your book:

Publication

Amazon exclusive, or wide distribution?

What formats will you publish?

You should use Kindle Direct Publishing

https://apexauthors.com/kdp-quickstart/

Consider using Ingram Spark

https://apexauthors.com/training-225-ingram-spark/

Consider selling books in other marketplaces

https://apexauthors.com/training-120-other-marketplaces/

Review your options for printing physical books

https://apexauthors.com/physical-books/

Free Promotional Strategies

Free Strategies

Create an author page at Author Central

https://apexauthors.com/create-an-author-page/

Generate dozens of reviews from readers

https://apexauthors.com/generate-dozens-of-reviews-for-your-book/

Utilize social media to raise awareness for your book

https://apexauthors.com/ultimate-guide-to-social-media-for-authors/

Consider enrolling in KDP Select for promotions

https://apexauthors.com/kdp-select/

Generate dozens of reviews from readers

https://apexauthors.com/generate-dozens-of-reviews-for-your-book/

Build an author community

https://apexauthors.com/training-297-author-communities/

Paid Promotional Strategies

Paid Strategies

Give your book away for free (and still earn money!)

https://apexauthors.com/training-237-free-books/

Run an eBook discount promotion

https://apexauthors.com/training-316-ebook-discount-promotions/

Submit your book for a BookBub Featured Deal

https://apexauthors.com/generate-thousands-of-book-sales-using-bookbub/

Run Amazon Advertising sponsored keyword ads

https://apexauthors.com/amazon-advertising-2020/

Scale Up Your Book Sales

Scale Up

Build a newsletter of readers that love your work

https://apexauthors.com/newsletter-ninja/

Write your next book and build a back catalog

https://apexauthors.com/12-books-in-6-months/

Build a back catalog by creating new editions of your books

https://apexauthors.com/extra-editions/

Regularly update your keywords and categories

https://apexauthors.com/get-ranked-for-the-right-keywords/

https://apexauthors.com/get-ranked-in-the-right-category/

Use your skills to sell publishing services to clients

https://apexauthors.com/10k-books/