Who Would Benefit From This Self-Publishing Course?

You’ve written, or are in the process of writing, a book and want to publish it yourself, rather than work rely on a publisher, what do you do? This course outlines all the tasks involved and the skills needed to succeed in self-publishing a book.

If you’re intending on becoming a publisher yourself, the Successful Self-Publishing Diploma Course provides a comprehensive overview of the entire process – giving you a great foundational knowledge to build upon with further, degree-level education.

What will you learn?

You’ve got a great idea for a book and you’ve started putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys) or you may have already finished it! How will you get it out into the world? You could hire a traditional publisher but you’ll lose creative control and royalties can be 7-25% per book sold (with 25% being on the incredibly generous end) or you can self-publish, keep total creative control and earn up to 70% of the royalties of each book. Tempted? Take this course and you’ll learn the skills needed in self-publishing your book – cover design and layout, proofing, publishing, distributing, and marketing.

The Successful Self-Publishing Diploma Course begins by guiding you through the basics of self-publishing. You’ll quickly get answers to the big questions, such as why you should self-publish and the benefits of doing so and, conversely, reasons self-publishing may not be for you. There are legal obligations you need to fulfil and to self-publish requires money, the course will talk you through what to expect in both these areas.

With your book written and your working title in place. This course will show you the process of finessing the details, large and small, to get your text ready for publication. You’ll learn the dos and don’ts of titling your book and what to include in your cover text, how to self-edit or hire and work with an editor, how to prepare your text for the layout process, and what the established conventions that you should use in book anatomy, are.

Formatting should be invisible, unnoticed by the reader, but done poorly and inconsistently and the smallest of errors will pull your readers from the story, ruining the content of your work. You’ll learn how to use layout to enable your content to flow – with proper use of book sizing, page layout, fonts, spacing and alignment of text. Formatting for eBooks is also covered.

We are taught the metaphor ‘never judge a book by its cover’ but when it comes to books – we do. When confronted by a wall or screen of book covers and all you have to go off, as a customer, is a title and a cover, you will find yourself quickly judging covers and titles – giving just seconds to each. From this course, you will learn the do’s and don’ts of book cover design, from colour theory, graphics and images to fonts, copy placement, formatting and reproduction, to ensure yours is the cover that stands out and the book that gets bought. Even if you intend to commission a designer to do the work for you this essential knowledge will give you everything you need to understand what is needed and to get the cover you want.

With your files ready and book complete you need to understand the process of printing the finished work. The Successful Self-Publishing Diploma Course walks you through production, including the different printing methods available and how to convert your book into an eBook. It also stresses the importance of proofreading, how to proofread, and the common conventions used by proofreaders, should you choose to hire one.

Where many self-publishers fail is through not fully understanding the distribution, because it doesn’t matter how good your book is, if no one can buy it you’re not going to make any money and it’ll be back to the 9-5. This course provides the knowledge you need to successfully get your book into bookshops, work with distributors and wholesalers, and price your book effectively for both printed and eBook versions.

You’ve published a book – don’t forget to tell people about it! Though before you publish, you need to have a marketing plan in place that will fit the content of your book. You’ll learn how to make sure your book is accurately represented in online bookstores and how to use tools such as social media, YouTube trailers, paid-for advertising, and mailing lists to promote and sell your book. You’ll also discover how to carry your marketing efforts on after publishing and through to your second book.