‘Cause when you are your own publisher, you get to hire your dream book team!

It’s so funny when I talk to people and they seem like they know what’s involved in publishing independently, also known as self-publishing. They know they’re not working with a publisher, but the steps from manuscript to publishing seems to be this void no one wants to talk about. Probably because it involves the author investing in people to help them!

While it may seem like a chore, consider it a privilege to hire your own book team. Remember, if you worked with a publisher, you wouldn’t get to choose who you worked with unless there were very extenuating circumstances that warranted a change in personnel for your book.

Here are the four professionals you need to hire when you self-publish a book.

1. Structural, line, and/or copyeditors

If you’re concerned about story flow and timelines (especially for fiction), you probably want to hire a structural editor, also known as a developmental or substantive editor. Some of these editors will also be able to do line editing, which involves suggesting style, flow, or narrative improvements to your manuscript.

Copyeditors are eliminating spelling, grammar, punctuation, and other errors, looking at syntax, fact-checking, and making sure things like footnotes/endnotes and reference lists are following the appropriate style guide. Some copyeditors will also do line editing.

Your best bet is to hire one or two of these editors who can also do line editing, or your costs will go up the more people you hire.

What about proofreaders? While publishers may have proofreaders that will go through your manuscript again (either before or after the book has been formatted), if you hire a capable copyeditor as a self-published author, you shouldn’t need to also hire a proofreader. It’s up to you.

I do both types of editing (line editing usually with copyediting) and include proofreading as part of the copyediting process.

2. Cover designer

Self-published books had a reputation for having shitty covers, and I think that’s because authors were doing covers themselves. DO NOT DO! Because there are so many small press and vanity/hybrid publishers out there now, I can tell you that they are also putting out shitty covers.

The great thing about being an indie author is you can hire a professional who designs covers for Big 5 books. Many of these folks also freelance, so if you love a traditionally published cover, see if you can find out who designed it and you can contact them yourself.

Even though my designer for my second book asked me what covers I liked, I should have researched and given her the top 5 bestselling books in my genre. This might help them spark ideas and also know what is trending. ‘Cause you don’t want your book to look outdated.

Some cover designers also handle book interiors (called interior formatting) and even ebook design, but check.

3. Book formatter(s)

If your cover designer does not do interiors or ebooks, you’ll need one or two other professionals to do this for you.

I recommend your book cover already be in the design stage before you hit this step, because it’s nice to have your inside title page be a version of the cover (black & white or greyscaled).

I do both interior formatting and ebooks, as long as they don’t have any complex design requirements.

4. Marketing strategist, manager, and/or publicist

Ideally, we all have a three-person marketing team to make us look good when our book launches and just tell us where to show up, sign books, and take photos. But this all depends on your strategy and resources.

Want to focus on local readers? Then you’ll be planning a local book launch (or multiple) in your area, maybe post on social and do geo-targeted ads, and focus on local media.

Want to go international? Most readers can buy your book online from anywhere in the world. So you can do virtual events, in-person tours, social media, blogs, emails, as many media/podcast interviews as your heart desires, and as many author collaborations as you can.

If you know how to pitch the media and podcasts but content isn’t your forte, maybe consider a content manager who can also help you plan your launch events.

If you like having control over your content and planning your own events and don’t have a media list, maybe hire a publicist.

My online course, How to Publish Your Bestselling Book, also covers all the different marketing avenues you can take, or you can read some of my past posts:

Need a ghostwriter, editor, or marketer to help you publish and market your book so you can get it in the hands of readers? Read more about my author services here and contact me if you’re ready to begin! Or sign-up to my email list to get monthly whispers in your inbox.