How is the best way to start the self-publishing process?

[Joss]

Get it edited by a professional editor before you offer it for sale. And, I don't mean any old editor. There's no litmus test to call yourself an editor; anyone can say they're an editor and charge you money. Make sure this person has a professional background as an editor in the publishing industry. They're expensive, but when you pay a cheap "editor" you'll get what you pay for and their lack of editing experience might end up making your book worse.

Hire a professional designer to design your cover. A bad cover can kill your book sales. Also, don't price it too high, and it's possible that you might have to price it lower than traditionally published books. See how traditional publishers (and authors) go about promoting and marketing their books. They usually do giveaways and give away free copies in the beginning and they might also heavily discount the book. this is something you should consider. Yes, you'll lose money by just giving it away, but if that person likes the book that could mean a good review on amazon (don't be afraid to let them know to review your book once they've read it) and that could also mean a loyal reader who'll eagerly await your next book. Think long-term, not short-term. Don't spam your facebook, twitter, and blog with messages asking people to buy your book. I've heard from one publicity agent who specializes in books, most of your social networking posts should be about anything other than your book. Constantly mentioning it will annoy the people who follow you and might cause you to lose followers - I know I've personally unfollowed self-published writers who did nothing but promote their book every hour of every day on twitter or facebook, and yes it's highly annoying.

And, this is from the latest self-published breakout star - keep in mind that this is still a rare occurance - he said that it took a while before his books caught on. So be patient. But, whatever you do, remember that if your self-published book has poor sales then no traditional publisher or literary agent is going to look at it. Many self-published authors get poor sales and then go to a publisher or literary agent for "help." That's backwards and these authors end up disappointed.

BEFORE you jump into publishing, research the different ways in which you can promote and market your book and come up with a plan BEFORE you publish it. This will keep your headaches and frustrations to a minimum. Utitlize social networking sites like twitter and facebook and don't forget to get your own personal website where your book is listed and a link to where readers can buy it. Check out some published author websites and see how

Don't register your copyright until you are absolutely sure your book will not go through more editing. If you register the copyright and then make drastic editing changes, you'll have to get the newer version copyrighted, so it ends up being a waste of money.

BTW, once you self-publish this book, it'll be hard to try to get this book traditionally published unless you have proof of selling thousands of copies. that's hard for any self-published author to accomplish. So, if your real goal is to get traditionally published, ALWAYS go that route first, because if you self-published first then finding a traditional publisher will be almost impossible...unless you're Amanda Hocking or James Locke. This doesn't matter if you self-publish this book and then write a different book (not a sequel) and try to get that newer, unrelated book traditionally published.

Good luck with your endeavors. absolutewrite.com/forums has a good forum for aspiring authors, some are traditionally published and some are self-published, though most are just aspiring. You can get more info from them about how they go about marketing and promoting their work.