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How to Publish a Self-Help Book in 10 Steps

If you are working as a coach of any kind, then you’ve probably read a few self-help books in your quest for your own self-improvement. Whether you wanted to get healthy, have a better relationship, be a star player at the job, or even build your business, self-help books can be a real boost to your self esteem.

According to Nielsen Book Research, 3 million self-help books were sold last year — an increase of 20%! So why are self-help books so popular? It could be a sign of the times. People are looking for ways to cope with the stress of life. There are literally millions of people all over the world who are looking for ways to show up better than they did yesterday.

So why should coaches write a self-help book?

  • Self-help books are a low-cost entry product to get to know you. Most self-help books–whether in print or ebook format–cost around $20 to $30. That’s price that people can afford. It’s a great way for people to own a piece of your work without feeling like they have to commit thousands of dollars to your coaching program.
  • Self-help books benefit your personal branding strategy. Coaches who write books are viewed as experts. It gives the media something to point to that says — hey! this person knows what she’s talking about! Your credibility goes high when you have a world-class book that speaks to your ideal client.
  • Self-help books sell your other products and services. If you can hook a reader in to buy your book, then they will more than likely be interested in all the other products and services you offer. People need more than just one book to solve their problems. What your self-help book does for people is give them a signal that you are here to support them to reach their goals.
  • A well-written self-help book separates you from other coaches in your industry. I’m quite sure that you’ve noticed that the coaching industry is growing everyday. When you get focused on your niche, it makes it possible to write a book that automatically draws you to the top of the pile. Why? Because not everyone is willing to put in the work to write a world-class book. But you do…

Lots of coaches have a strong idea of what they want to write about, but don’t know where to begin with the actual writing and self publishing process. Allow me to share my ten steps to publishing a self-help book.

Step 1: What Should You Do Before Writing Your Self-Help Book?

There are a few questions you should be asking yourself before getting down to the business of writing a self-help book. Skipping these questions could cost you time, money, and wasted energy on writing the wrong book for the wrong audience.

  1. What is your motivation for writing a self-help book?
  2. For whom are you writing this self-help book?
  3. How do you envision your book helping you grow your coaching business?
  4. How will you get your book into the hands of those who need it most?
  5. How will you continue to market your book once the initial excitement is over?

I discuss these BIG QUESTIONS with my coaching clients during our clarity calls. Why? Because it helps to talk these big ideas out loud with someone who can help you think big. Your self-help book is a legacy that can continue to help people long after you are dead and buried — if you do it the right way. Asking the right questions will help you clarify your vision for your book and help you develop a business plan that can keep you busy for AT LEAST the next 5 to 10 years.

Step 2: What Is the Main Theme of Your Self-Help Book?

Let’s start thinking about the major theme of your health book. Getting this right will save you from writing a book that no one wants to read. This means that you are clear on who you are and what your audience is interested in reading.

  1. What is your book about in 3 to 5 sentences?
  2. What result do you want your readers to experience after reading your book?
  3. Have you already written on this topic before (blog posts, presentations, etc.)? What kind of feedback did you get from your audience?

Don’t have an audience yet? Then you may want to hold off on writing a book and opt to do smaller writing projects instead. Blogging, writing an ebook, producing a podcast are just a few of the creative ways you can start creating free helpful content you can use to build an email list. The people on your list will clue you in on what they want to learn from you. I’m not telling you to put off writing a book for the next 5 years… It just means that you should put in the work of at least 6 months to a year of consistent audience building before you begin writing your first self-help book. I can help you with your initial audience building during a clarity call.

Have you already written your self-help book and still don’t have an audience? Make an appointment with me ASAP so I can get you started.

Step 3: Write Your Self-Help Book Outline

Writing an outline for your self-help book is essential to getting it done in the most efficient way possible. A book outline is a map of how you want to present your material in some kind of logical order. Your outline can be flexible throughout the book writing process. For example, if you need to rename a chapter, move it to another location, or add another chapter in at the last minute then you can do so without too much worry. You just want to create a solid outline from the very beginning to ensure that you narrow the scope of your book to something that won’t overwhelm you as a writer, or those who have to read it.

Step 4: Evaluate Your Self-Help Book Outline

Now that you have written an outline you are happy with, let’s evaluate what information you have versus what you need to research. Go back and gather the materials you already have written from step two.

  1. How can you plug these materials that have already been written into your outline?
  2. What other research do you need to do in order to complete the book?

This is the step where many coaches joyfully realize that they don’t have to start writing their book from scratch. It is perfectly acceptable to pull from what you have already created and build from there.

Step 5: Begin Writing Your Self-Help Book

All your book writing activities should begin with a schedule. If you want to ensure that your book actually gets completed, then you’ll want to create a writing schedule.

  1. Pull out your calendar and pick a date by which you plan to complete the writing of your book. Do you have an event coming up where you want to sell your books in the back of the room? Be sure to give yourself enough time to get your book edited, create a cover, and go through the process of publishing. Those final details can take anywhere from an added 6 weeks to 3 months — so plan accordingly.
  2. When is the best time for you to write? Morning? Lunch time? Late evenings? I recommend you write DAILY to ensure that you keep your momentum going — even if it’s just 15 to 30 minutes per day. If you stop and start every few days, you take the risk of getting distracted. I understand that life happens, however it’s up to you to do your best to honor your goal and your reason for writing your book in the first place. Pull out your calendar and create a writing schedule you can stick with.
  3. Write. It really all comes down to this one action. Writers write. Procrastinators get nothing done. Pick which one you want to be.

Step 6: Edit Your Self-Help Book

The reason why many people have trouble with the writing process is because they are censoring their thoughts and editing as they write. So you just want to make sure that you write first, edit later. Here’s some tips to get you through editing.

  1. You can choose to edit after writing each chapter, or edit after writing the entire book. I prefer the former simply because it allows me to chop up the process into manageable parts. However you may prefer to write the entire book, then go back later — it’s completely up to you.
  2. Hire a professional editor. Having another set of eyes on your work is invaluable to ensuring that your book is polished and professional.

Step 7: Design a Professional Book Cover

Never underestimate the power of a great book cover — especially in today’s internet economy. You can’t get away with book covers that look homemade anymore. There are several ways for you to get a great book cover at a variety of prices. Here are a few suggestions:

  1. Canva.com: If you are the least bit artistic, you may want to try creating a book cover on your own. Look at the ready-made templates to get you started. But only do this if you absolutely have to.
  2. Fiverr.com: Everything on this site is $5+ per service. However remember that you get what you pay for. Get recommendations from friends who say they got an awesome service for best results.
  3. GoOnWrite.com: The guy who runs this site creates beautiful book covers starting at $45 using stock photos.
  4. Hire a designer. You can go on sites like Upwork.com or do an internet search to find a graphic designer or illustrator who can create a great book cover from $50 to $200 or more.

Step 8: Get the Interior of Your Self-Help Book Designed and Formatted

Now that the outside of your book is beautiful, we can work on getting the inside just as lovely. Your book — whether in printed or ebook form — should never look like a Microsoft Word document. You can hire someone to use Adobe InDesign to create a proper design on the inside of the book for you. You can also choose a DIY option by purchasing a book formatting template using MS Word or Adobe InDesign. Click here to download your DIY Book Design Templates. Once the interior is designed, a professional book formatter can create files for both ebook and print versions of your self-help book.

Step 9: Final Proofread

Before you pay to print your book or turn it into an ebook file, it’s important to ensure that you get one final proofread to catch any last minute mistakes. You and a proofreader should give your book one last read before hitting the PUBLISH button.

Step 10: Publish

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the finish line! Now you are ready to publish. Here’s a few options I recommend to my clients:

  1. Ebooks can be published as a PDF on your website as well as published on other distribution sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can go to these websites to find instructions on how to do so.
  2. Print books can be published in a multitude of ways. You can go to your local printer and have it done old school style. You can also use a system like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Finally you can go to another publishing and distribution company like IngramSpark to reach international audiences.

And that’s it!!! {Can you sense my sarcasm here???}

Publishing a self-help book can be a bear. That’s why I’m here to help you through the process.

If you are ready to move forward with writing your self-help book, I’m ready to support you. The best way for me to support you is with a clarity call. Here’s a link to my schedule. Click now so we can get started.

How Much Does It Cost to Edit My Book?

How much to pay editors is often an issue of contention for many of the self-published authors I speak to. They want to write a book that is worthy of being published, however when they start to shop around for editors, they have no idea what they are looking for in a good editor or how much to pay.

It’s important for self-published authors to understand that no professional editor will ever work for a percentage of book sales. The reason is that you have no way of predicting whether any of your books will ever sell. Most authors interested in self-publishing believe that if they put the book on Amazon and link it to their Facebook page, the book will magically sell like hotcakes.

The truth is that most first-time self-published authors are lucky to sell $500 worth of books. How much of a percentage of that do you want to give to your editor? It is imperative that self-published authors educate themselves on how to build an audience that is interested in the kind of books they want to write, then be sure to pay your editors as part of your self-publishing team. Asking an editor to accept a percentage of book sales is just not logical.

What I find when speaking to authors who are interested in self-publishing is that they have no clue of what editing is. As a matter of fact, they often believe that editing is simply proofreading — meaning they fix a few errors in grammar and spelling. The truth is that proofreading is the last stop in the editing process.

What are the steps in the editing process and how much does it cost?

#1 The Self-Edit

The first step in the editing process is the self-edit. This is where the author, herself, takes her manuscript and reads it through several times answering the following questions:

  1. Does the book meet the needs of the reader?
  2. Is there consistency in the plot or story?
  3. Is there redundancy in language?
  4. Are my sentences clean and easy to read?
  5. Are there any blatant mistakes in grammar, spelling, and punctuation?

I often suggest taking a break from the book once you declare the writing portion to be complete. Leave the manuscript alone for at least two weeks so you can look at it with fresh eyes.

Next, print the manuscript and review it with a pen in hand. Mark it up as much as possible. Interacting with your own text is another way to help you look at your work from a new angle. You want to be confident that you hand over the best manuscript possible to a professional editor.

The price for the self-edit is absolutely free aside from the investment of your own time.

#2 The Manuscript Evaluation

The second step in the editing process is a manuscript evaluation. This step is NOT mandatory, but may be beneficial to the success of your self-published book — especially if you are low on funds.

The purpose of the manuscript evaluation is to give the author a critique of some of the more obvious issues going on with your book. This may have to do with holes in the story, consistency in the plot, etc.

I have known self-published authors to get the manuscript evaluation done once the book is completely written, OR when you have hit a wall in your writing process and you need some assistance to keep going. A good manuscript evaluation can pose some great questions that will move you out of your writer’s block and back into finishing your book.

You should note that the editor performing the manuscript edit does not read your manuscript from cover to cover. She is simply skimming for the obvious issues that need to be brought to your attention. It will be your responsibility, as the author, to take her critique and make the adjustments on your own.

The price for the manuscript evaluation can be in the low range from $300 to $500 all the way through several thousands of dollars.

#3 The Developmental Edit

The third step in the editing process is a developmental edit. This is where you, the author, hire an editor that specializes in developmental editing. The developmental editor looks for consistency in your story. Have all the characters been addressed in the book, or did someone magically disappear? If you are a nonfiction author, you want to make sure that the process or story you tell is consistent. Did you satisfactorily tell your story about how you became a gluten-free living enthusiast, for example, or did you jump right into how to bake a gluten-free cake? You may also see other editors refer to this step in the editing process as the ‘structural edit’ or the ‘substantive edit.’

The price of a developmental edit varies. I’ve seen editors charge per word, by the page, or even by the hour (which I do not recommend). As a developmental editor, I charge by the page. A full page in a manuscript is read at about 300 words per page as an industry standard. That means that if you hand me a manuscript typed in Microsoft Word, then it will be about 400 to 500 words per page. I will ask you to arrange your manuscript so that it will have about 300 words per page. I charge a minimum of $1500 for a manuscript of 75 to 100 pages (depending upon the topic). I ask the author to invest in the manuscript evaluation first so that I can get a feel for how much work needs to be done, then I let them know the price for a full developmental edit.

#4 The Line Edit

The line edit ensures the fluidity of your language. Some items the line editor is looking for is run-on sentences, misuse or over-use of words, tightening of language, and more.

The price of the line edit varies. However, you can expect to pay a quality line editor at least $1000 for their work.

#5 The Copyedit

This stage of the editing process is more technical in nature. This is where we get into spelling, grammar, syntax, consistency in facts, etc.

The price of a good copyeditor will cost you at least $500 or more for a manuscript of about 100 pages.

#6 The Proofread

The final stage in the editing process is the proofread. At this point, your manuscript has gone through all the other stages in the editing process. If you want to ensure that your book has a professional layout, you can pay someone to do that for you. You can also get your cover done by a professional graphic artist or illustrator at this time.

The final proofread is where the editor goes through the manuscript to ensure that there are no lingering embarrassing mistakes. Once the proofread is over, the manuscript is sent to a printer or ebook provider to prepare for distribution to the public.

The cost of a proofreader can be about $300 to $500 for a book of about 100 pages.

What does this mean for authors who want to be self-published and are strapped for cash?

If you are an author who is strapped for cash, that means that you have to leave room for mistakes in the editing process. I’m not saying that your book will be riddled with obvious mistakes. However, if you want a book that looks just as great as a traditionally published book, but are not willing to invest the money into the process, then you will be frustrated with the results. If you pay attention, you will find that even traditionally published books have a few mistakes in the final printed book. So don’t fret over what you can or cannot do with your budget. Your focus should be on writing the best book possible, then sharing it with those who need to hear your message.

At the very least, invest in a manuscript edit and commit yourself to making the edits on your own. Try finding a student in the English department at a local university that may be interested in editing your book for a lower price.

Remember that editing a manuscript is a group process that takes several months to complete, at best. Be creative with your resources and I think you’ll be able to publish a book that is worthy of being read by your audience.

Your Problem Isn’t Lack of Book Sales — Here’s the Real Issue

Halona Black Authorpreneur DigitalWellPublisher.com

If there was one thing that I want women business owners to know about how to use social media to market their books, it would be that YOU are in control of the conversation.

I was invited to do a group chat with Dr. Nicole Cutts of Vision Quest Retreats on Facebook on Wednesday evening on the topic of book marketing. The women had lots of thoughtful questions based on their experiences as authors or emerging authors who wanted to write books that promote their businesses.

The common thread throughout most of the questions was around how to sell more books. A legitimate question because, well, authors should be concerned about selling books. The problem with this kind of thinking is that people get caught up in the book sales hustle where they are showing up in social media begging their “friends” to buy a book they don’t want and will never read. So what is the best way to market your book without looking desperate?

Audience Building for Authorpreneurs

The best way for authors to sell books is to create an audience of people who want your book in the first place.

The internet has created an abundance of opportunities for authorpreneurs to control the conversation around their book and their work in general. Whether you support teens in losing weight, write books featuring children who are differently abled, or you are a therapist who is hell bent on getting people to understand that therapy is healthy — there is a way for you to use social media to create your own audience.

The Power of Your Cell Phone

Your cell phone can be used for a lot more than just making phone calls and playing Candy Crush on Facebook. You can record and edit video, create podcasts, do audio interviews, and take great pictures. In essence, YOU have the power to become the media you’ve been waiting for to cover your story. I’ve been able to accomplish this very thing around the topic of black women and uterine fibroids in my book, Loving My Fibroids Away: A 10-Day Detox Plan. I used the power of blogging to create an ebook that essentially launched my freelance writing career. I wrote the book on a laptop at the local library because my own laptop imploded. Then I spent the evenings on my crappy cell phone (at the time) editing my work in Google Docs. No fancy equipment needed. All that hard work paid off because now I get to work as a copywriter and content creator from wherever I want in the world that has a reliable internet connection. I accomplished all of that because I learned how to build my own audience.

If you want to catch up on the whole group chat that inspired this post, then click here to visit the Women Owned Business Wednesdays Facebook page.