Self-Publishing

How it works

You publish directly to retail platforms with no publisher, keeping a much larger share of each sale than a traditional deal pays. A book that finds its audience keeps earning for years with no further work. The difficulty is discovery — millions of titles compete, and the market decides almost everything before anyone reads a word.

How to start

1. 01

   Research the category before writing

   Look at what actually sells in a genre and what readers complain is missing. Writing first and finding a market afterwards is the standard route to no sales.

2. 02

   Write for a genre with committed readers

   Genre fiction readers consume many books quickly. Non-fiction in a professional field sells at higher prices. Both beat writing something uncategorisable.

3. 03

   Invest in the cover and the blurb

   These sell the book, not the writing. An amateur cover in a competitive category makes the manuscript irrelevant, however good it is.

4. 04

   Plan a series, not a book

   One book is a marketing problem. A series means every new release drives sales of the previous ones, and the back catalogue compounds.

5. 05

   Learn the platform's advertising

   Paid placement is how most self-published books find their first readers. Treat it as a core skill rather than an optional extra.

Honest trade-offs

Risks and failure modes

• Platform dependence, where a policy or algorithm change affects visibility
• Advertising costs exceeding royalties, which is common for single titles
• AI-generated books flooding categories and degrading discovery for everyone

Common questions