There’s a lot to learn about self-publishing and I certainly don’t know everything. However, I thought it might be helpful for others just starting out to read what I’ve learned so far. I’ve broken this up into sections (accessible in the menu):
Writing, Editing, Cover, Publishing, Marketing, Misc
KDP articles and resources
Metadata Keywords – NEW – Find out how to fill out the metadata keywords.
Why isn’t my book selling? Discusses your cover, blurb, Look Inside, and more.
Handling criticism, especially negative reviews.
How to market your fiction book using low cost means.
Understanding AMS ads (the basics). For more detailed info, see the AMS section in the marketing your fiction link below.
Cover Designers – a list from highest to lowest cost. I mention this also in the marketing post at the bottom, but it’s worth a separate link, too.
KDP paperback cover calculator – this does the same thing their downloaded Excel sheet does but it works online.
You can also find the original forum posts by following these links:
KDP: Keywords Question
KDP: article-why-isnt-my-book-selling
KDP: article-genre-fiction-marketing-101
KDP: article-if-you-cant-handle-the-heat-dont-publish-or-how-to-handle-criticism
KDP: article-possible-ways-to-fix-please-fix-the-highlighted-errors
KDP: article-how-to-calculate-kdp-print-costs-plus-an-online-calculator
NEW!!
KDP: know-your-book-reviews
KDP: know-your-publishing
KDP: know-your payments
KDP: know-your-pirates-copyright-infringement
Other Resources
If you’d prefer most of the above in book form, you can buy Know Your Self Publishing by C. Dale Brittain.
If you are unfamiliar with Derek Murphy, he writes several books on self publishing. I found his book, The Plot Dot, very helpful for my own style of writing (plotting without much of an outline).
In one of Derek’s latest newsletters, he posted two links. One is to a PDF of his Indie Author Survival Guide In it, he has links to several articles that talk about common questions new authors might have: why write at all, the art of book design, choosing the right keywords, overcoming procrastination, book launch basics, marketing, earnings, building an email list, getting book reviews, blogging, scammers, and when to simply give up.
The other link is to his videos on how to do basic cover creation. I recommend checking those out.